At the end of the day (FOCUS EXPRESSIONS) – English Grammar Profiler

‘at the end of the day‘ can be used literally, meaning the time of day, but is also an informal phrase that means:  when everything is taken into consideration.  

*It contains the most common 5 part N-gram in English: ‘at the end of the’

iWeb 392146

English Grammar Profile C1 Point 8 in the category of FOCUS is defined as:

fixed expressions in the front position for focus.

Within the EGP examples,  + we have added the COCA frequency.

. At the end of the day , 1092

. All in all , 1058

. All things considered , 130

. When you think about it , 124

. When it comes down to it , 69

PEARSON’S GSE 66 B2

adverbial phrases to make comments.

The GSE additions in COCA show that these are extremely rare which would suggest the level would be more like C2:

Practically speaking … (93) At the end of the day… (in EGP)

Taking the long view… (11)  = consider what is likely to happen in the future over a long period

EXPERT EXAMPLES:

Practically speaking, these laws drive HIV underground.

TED

PELIC student examples:

All in all, I have a very busy plan for the weekend.

Chinese Female

All things considered, I will choose the Sony VAIO notebook.

Korean Female level 3 writing class

All things considered, living in a small town and living in a big city

both are [are both] great choice[s] depend[ing] on [your] personal situation and value[s].

Taiwanese Female level 5 writing class

When you think about it, it makes sense.

Spanish Female level 5 writing class

At the end of the day, I was no longer feeling bad.

Turkish Female level 4 grammar class.

*However, this last example seemed to be used as a time phrase.  It may also be the most frequent in the COCA corpus for the same dual uses.