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In the end or at the end?
Which preposition is correct?

in the end = finally, after something has been done/discussed/considered

Example sentences:

What did you decide to do in the end?
In the end, we didn't go there.
But the only thing that counts in the end is how many people got infected.
In the end, we will obtain victory by being consistent.
I know it will benefit us in the end.
But in the end her hunger for drugs had rendered her useless.


at the end of something = in the final part of something

Example sentences:

We were going to sing it at the end of our performance.
At the end of the experiment, the participants completed a survey.
Mary's scores at the end of the first phase indicated positive improvement.
At the end of each lesson, a two to three-minute evaluation followed.
At the end of the film, Adam returns to his village with a new girlfriend.

Only "at the end" can be followed by "of". It seems to be wrong to say "in the end of something", so even if some native speakers of English use it, you should avoid it.
If you don't use "of", you can use either "in the end" or "at the end". It is also worth knowing that statistically, when you don't say "of something", "in the end" is more often used than "at the end".


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Wyjaśnienie w języku polskim:

in the end = w końcu, ostatecznie
at the end = w końcowej części, pod koniec, na końcu

Przykłady:

In the end, we didn't go there. = W końcu tam nie poszliśmy.
At the end of the experiment, the participants completed a survey. = Na koniec eksperymentu uczestnicy wypełnili ankietę.

Jeżeli w zdaniu podajemy czego jest to koniec, stosujemy "at the end" + "of something".
Jeżeli fraza ma mieć znaczenie podobne do "finally" stosujemy "in the end".
Stosowanie "in the end of something" uważane jest za błąd. Natomiast stosowanie "at the end" bez "of something" jest dopuszczalne. Dzieje się tak dlatego, że często wiemy z kontekstu o czego koniec chodzi, więć nie musimy w zdaniu dodawać "of something".