AT vs. IN (VERBS WITH DEPENDENT PREPOSITIONS)

Hello again everyone and welcome back to the Daily Vitamin. I hope your day is going well.

Many verbs have dependent prepositions. This means that if you use the verb with an object, you must use a preposition. The best way to remember these prepositions is to learn them together with the verb.

Remember that after a preposition you must use a noun or a gerund (-ing verb form).

Here are some verbs with the prepositions AT and IN:

⇒ To arrive at
It means: to reach a place when you have come from another place.

Example 1: When you arrive at the airport, park the car and go to the arrivals terminal.

⇒ To look at
It means: to direct your eyes at something or someone.

Example 2: Can you look at what I've written to see if it's correct?

⇒ To stare at
It means: to look at someone or something very directly for a long time.

Example 3: I hate it when people on the underground stare at me. I find it so rude!

⇒ To succeed in
It means: to achieve something you wanted or planned to do.

Example 4: I finally succeeded in putting up the bookshelf, although the instructions were not easy to follow.

⇒ To specialise in
It means: to be an expert or to concentrate your studies in a particular area.

Example 5: He specialised in international relations while he was studying political science at university.

⇒ To participate in
It means: to take part in something.

Example 6: Would you like to participate in our theatre group? We meet every Wednesday night.

As usual, I encourage you to write your own sentences with one or more of these expressions with IN and AT and post them on one of our social media sites (Facebook or Bluesky). We will give you feedback about your sentences as soon as possible.

Tomorrow will be our final lesson of the week and we will look at some adjectives used with AT and IN.

Enjoy the rest of your day!