The stars shine (at night/in the night)

[Sitifan]

A native speaker says, "The stars shine at night."
However, another native speaker says, 'The stars appear at night, but they shine "in/during" the night.'

Who do you think is right?
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Thank you very much for your reply.

[Yankee]

Hi Sitifan

I think you should ask Native Speaker #2 to explain the reason for his or her comment in more detail. I suspect NS #2 did not actually mean that "The stars shine at night" is wrong.

It is quite normal and natural to say something such as "The stars shine at night."

Although it would also be possible to use 'in' or 'during', I would expect those prepositions to be much less likely to be the preposition chosen for that sentence.

'At night' is a standard expression -- just as 'in the morning', 'in the afternoon', and 'in the evening' are standard.
.
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"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Sitifan]

We usually use "at night" to express an action that occurs at a more or less
precise point in that time period.

"I go to bed at night."

We use "in/during the night" to express an action that occurs over a period of
time within that time period.

I sleep (usually for eight hours) during the night.

The stars appear at night, but they shine "in/during" the night.

I hope that this helps.

Peace,

David
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Thank you very much for your reply.

[Ralf]

Hi David,

I don't think that your contradistinction has any considerable degree of distinction for the matter in question. As Amy mentioned, NS #1 would not be misunderstand by NS #2, because NS #1 used a very natural and common phrase. Imagining a situation when NS #2 would be likely to use the preposition 'in' or 'during', I can think of the following situation:

NS #2: 'The stars shine at night!'
ET #1: 'What's night?'
NS #2: 'That's the dark period which separates two bright periods.'
ET #1: 'And the stars shine during this period?'
NS #2: 'Yes, the stars shine during the night, because the sun is hidden behind the earth.'
ET #1: 'Why is that?'
NS #2: 'Well, that's a different story.'

All the best,

Ralf

PS - The same applies to 'I sleep 8 hours during...'. You should use 'at' here, too. R.
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