"What is the difference between in the end and at the end?"

[samybassam]

What is the difference between on time and in time?"
"What is the difference between in the end and at the end?"
Michael Swan’s excellent Practical English Usage (Oxford University Press), provides a succinct answer to both of these questions:
"On time = at the planned time; neither late nor early:
[IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Desktop/Prepositions%20-%20in%20time%20v%20on%20time%20-%20grammar%20-%20central%20-%20British%20Council%20-%20LearnEnglish_files/spacer.gif[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Desktop/Prepositions%20-%20in%20time%20v%20on%20time%20-%20grammar%20-%20central%20-%20British%20Council%20-%20LearnEnglish_files/structure-common-bullet-bar-green.gif[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Desktop/Prepositions%20-%20in%20time%20v%20on%20time%20-%20grammar%20-%20central%20-%20British%20Council%20-%20LearnEnglish_files/spacer.gif[/IMG]Peter wants the meeting to start exactly on time.
In time = with enough time to spare; before the last moment:
[IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Desktop/Prepositions%20-%20in%20time%20v%20on%20time%20-%20grammar%20-%20central%20-%20British%20Council%20-%20LearnEnglish_files/spacer.gif[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Desktop/Prepositions%20-%20in%20time%20v%20on%20time%20-%20grammar%20-%20central%20-%20British%20Council%20-%20LearnEnglish_files/structure-common-bullet-bar-green.gif[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Desktop/Prepositions%20-%20in%20time%20v%20on%20time%20-%20grammar%20-%20central%20-%20British%20Council%20-%20LearnEnglish_files/spacer.gif[/IMG]He would have died if they hadn’t got him to the hospital in time."
"In the end = finally, after a long time:
[IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Desktop/Prepositions%20-%20in%20time%20v%20on%20time%20-%20grammar%20-%20central%20-%20British%20Council%20-%20LearnEnglish_files/spacer.gif[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Desktop/Prepositions%20-%20in%20time%20v%20on%20time%20-%20grammar%20-%20central%20-%20British%20Council%20-%20LearnEnglish_files/structure-common-bullet-bar-green.gif[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Desktop/Prepositions%20-%20in%20time%20v%20on%20time%20-%20grammar%20-%20central%20-%20British%20Council%20-%20LearnEnglish_files/spacer.gif[/IMG]In the end, I got a visa for Russia.
At the end = at the point where something stops:
[IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Desktop/Prepositions%20-%20in%20time%20v%20on%20time%20-%20grammar%20-%20central%20-%20British%20Council%20-%20LearnEnglish_files/spacer.gif[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Desktop/Prepositions%20-%20in%20time%20v%20on%20time%20-%20grammar%20-%20central%20-%20British%20Council%20-%20LearnEnglish_files/structure-common-bullet-bar-green.gif[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator/Desktop/Prepositions%20-%20in%20time%20v%20on%20time%20-%20grammar%20-%20central%20-%20British%20Council%20-%20LearnEnglish_files/spacer.gif[/IMG]I think the film’s a bit weak at the end.