preposition: in the back/ at the back

Question

hello,Could you tell me which preposition 'in' or 'at' is correct in the sentence below?Something is at/in the back of the picture.thank you

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Could you tell me which preposition 'in' or 'at' is correct in the sentence below?

Something is at/in the back of the picture.

Prepositions are very idiomatic,as you probably know. I hear both of these, but for your English exam, I'd advise you to say 'at'.

Best wishes, Clive

Davkett · Answer

This sentence strikes me as quite odd, since both at and in sound wrong to me. The statement seems to be talking about what's in the picture, that is, what's in the depicted space of the picture. Generally, we can divide pictorial space into foreground, middle ground and background. The background is normally not referred to as the back of the picture. The back of the picture would normally mean the backside of the picture (versus the front side). But if that's the case, the phrase would be on the back. If the intended meaning of back here is background, the phrease would be in the background.

If the picture was of a room, one might certainly say something like, "There's a table at the back of the room in the picture", but not, "There's a table at the back of the picture".

Anonymous · Answer

in the back of the pictur because it´s also said in the picture

preposition: in the back/ at the back

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