When I was a student ______ your age, I tried out for our school
volleyball team.
of or at to fill in the blank?
Our teacher told us that “at” is incorrect. He said “at one’s age” should only be used as an adverbial modifier, like in
At your age, you should be able to work out your own future.
While “of one’s age” can be used as a postpositive attributive , like in the first sentense or in
Boys (of) your age ought to be sweethearting.
Or as a predicative like in
When I was (of) your age, I worked on the farm.
I wonder what our teacher said is correct. I just feel so natural to say at in all these contexts.
Best Answer
This is a fun question, because it reveals something about English that I never noticed, even after speaking it for 42 years or so.
Your professor is partially correct, but there's more to it. "At your age" is a set phrase with a negative connotation that almost always means, "...you should/shouldn't be doing the thing I'm about to mention or just mentioned." Another common construction using "at" is "at the age of X," e.g.:
("At the tender age of...", indicating youthful innocence, is a common cliche.) "At the age of" feels like formal or written English, whereas "at your age" is casual speech (and maybe a little dated). You can also omit "the age of" and just say, "He left home at 16," wherever it would be unambiguous to do so.
Now, for your first sentence:
Neither "of" nor "at" sounds remotely natural to me. The best words to put in the blank would be nothing at all ("When I was a student your age..." is perfectly natural English) or "about."
"Boys of your age" and "boys your age" are both acceptable. However, "When I was of your age" is not. I'm having trouble figuring out what the rule is, though. Anyone?
Finally, I've never heard "sweetheart" used as a verb, but it sounds so nice I wonder if you're quoting a famous line.