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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
In vs. at
When to use in and when to use at when referring to place.
Top answer
' At ' is a point reference, so it is used when the place is so far away that it is conceived as a point or when its dimensionality is otherwise unimportant: I was at school all day. My plane landed at Paris en route to Berlin. ' In ' is a 2- or 3-dimensional place reference, so use it when you are conceiving of the location's dimensionality or are constrasting its inside with its outside: I was in school until I graduated in 1960.
- ' At ' is a point reference, so it is used when the place is so far away that it is conceived as a point or when its dimensionality is otherwise unimportant: I was at school all day.
- My plane landed at Paris en route to Berlin.
- ' In ' is a 2- or 3-dimensional place reference, so use it when you are conceiving of the location's dimensionality or are constrasting its inside with its outside: I was in school until I graduated in 1960.
- My plane landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport at 8:30, but I didn't get in to Paris until 9:30.
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2 Answers
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'At' is a point reference, so it is used when the place is so far away that it is conceived as a point or when its dimensionality is otherwise unimportant: I was at school all day. My plane landed at Paris en route to Berlin.
'In' is a 2- or 3-dimensional place reference, so use it when you are conceiving of the location's dimensionality or are constrasting its ins
'In' is a 2- or 3-dimensional place reference, so use it when you are conceiving of the location's dimensionality or are constrasting its ins
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In addition to Mr M's detailed information, I'd like to add that for a foreign student of English it's a fairly good rule of thumb to use at to refer to small places and in to refer to large places. Of course this "rule" doesn't always apply and sometimes both prepositions are correct. Some examples of small places:
at the station (Also in if you want to under
at the station (Also in if you want to under
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