Which one is correct ?

Question

They dined in at a Chinese restaurant.They dined in a Chinese restaurant.They dined at a Chinese restaurant.Which is correct ?

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

I think you have a couple of different collocations confused.

We dined last night. -- We ate last night.

We dined in last night. -- 'In' is an adverb, and 'dine in' is an intransitive phrasal verb meaning 'eat at home'.

We dined out last night. - As above, but 'dine out' means 'eat in a restaurant'.

We dined out at/in a Chinese restaurant. -- The prepositional phrase 'at/in a Chinese restaurant' is an adverbial modifying 'dine out'. Either preposition will serve, though 'at' is more common, I think.

We dined at/in a Chinese restaurant. -- Since 'restaurant' is in the context, 'out' is really redundant, and we can revert to the simple intransitive verb 'dine'.

Anonymous · Answer

Let me elabrate my question.....

Where did Tan family dine in ?

I wrote " They dined in a Chinese restaurant.

But my teacher said it is incorrect. I should write it

They dined in at a Chinese restaurant.

Please explain....

Mister Micawber · Answer

No, your teacher's version is wrong - at least, in my AmE.

Which one is correct ?

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