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Ask for help > at school or in school?
at school or in school?
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class centre
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at school or in school?
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Hi dear friends! We mustn �t sleep AT school or IN school? Please help me out and explain why...! Thanks a lot |
3 Nov 2015
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douglas
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In my opinion, both are acceptable, but "in" is probably better in this case.
"At" usually implies a location (as if looking at a map) and is used when speaking more generally.
"In" would be used more when you are talking about the internal workings of the school or something specifically in the classroom.
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3 Nov 2015
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tareq
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Dear friends ,At refers to a bigger and a whole place so we say at school as we don �t really know where exactly are you going to sleep at school. But in refers to a specific place at school as in the classroom or in the library and so on,so it is grammatically unacceptable to say�: I sleep in school but I sleep in the garden or so�
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3 Nov 2015
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cunliffe
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Douglas and tareq are right - both are acceptable. There is a slight difference in nuance. At is more about the physical presence, whereas in is more about school as a notion. She is at school - she is there now. She is in school may mean something similar to of school age. I �m sure there �s a good link somewhere.... I think in this instance, BrEnglish would prefer at. |
3 Nov 2015
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class centre
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Thanks a lot dear friends! That is what I could feel but could not define distinctively. Now I have it clear. Have a nice evening! |
3 Nov 2015
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LyallR.Jones
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The difference between in and at, for those that need examples to understand  : In is used when you are at a place for the purpose of the place. So lets use school as the example and a janitor and a student as the subjects; the student studies in school but during break time he is at school, the janitor only works at school, to clarify the "sleep in/at"; a student played video game all night therefore he slept in school ( he was asleep during class) due to the heavy snow the students had to sleep at school (the students slept at school after class was finished) so for the students you can utilize both in or at but for different meanings, however the janitor can only be used with at; the janitor is homeless, so at night he sleeps at school.
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4 Nov 2015
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shigu
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And what about a teacher? Does he she work at in school? |
4 Nov 2015
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cunliffe
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I work in a school. I work at Topexcel High School. English, eh?;-) |
4 Nov 2015
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LyallR.Jones
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Dear cunliffe so far the doubt has been about the construction: "verb" in/at "noun" (Topexcel High School is a proper name), if one of your students is having problems with "to be" would you clarify it using "to do" ? Dear shigu the purpose of a school is education, for education to occur someone needs to learn from something, so like a student a teacher can work in a school if the "work" is teaching however he/she can also work at school given the right circumstances; The principal at a certain school asked the teachers to work overtime to put up Christmas decorations, while the teachers were putting up decorations they were not working in school, they were working at school.
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5 Nov 2015
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