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What's the preposition in the sentence

He did very well in/at high school.

Some differentiate between the two prepositions, some say it's negligible. Which one is accepted?

What about university:

He was an average student in high school but really did well at university.

ColleenV
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Zohar Levi
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  • Yes, this sounds good. While I liked @Astralbee's answer (well written), it didn't sound good--or maybe it was British-biased. – Zohar Levi Oct 28 '21 at 20:45

2 Answers2

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There are contexts where the two prepositions are interchangeable, and others where they are not.

For example, they tend to be interchangeable when talking about attendance or presence at school:

  • John is at school today
  • John is in school today

But "at school" means more than just being currently present in school. It idiomatically means that someone is of school age, normally attending school.

For example:

-Is your son at school yet?
-No, he's only 2.

In your example, which talks about someone's historic performance, "at school" is most appropriate, because it would idiomatically refer to his period of schooling rather than just the hours he was physically present "in" his school. Saying "he did well in school" just doesn't sound right - it could be taken to mean that he didn't do well when he was outside of school (eg at home).

Astralbee
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I'm in high school = you're studying in highschool I'm at highschool = you're in highschool exactly places.

chip chop
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