[Grammar] Prepositions In/at

[Waawe]

Hello,

should I say:

"Have a look at the book, page 10" or "Have a look in the book, page 10" or can we use both of them?

"I'll look at the newspaper to see what's on at night." or "I'll look in the newspaper to see what's on at night." or both?

Thank you.

Good day to you.

W

[aya_aya7121]

"Have a look at the book" and "I'll look at the newspaper..." are correct.
You can't use the preposition "in" in these sentences.

[David L.]

All these are correct, Brit. Eng.:

"Class -have a look at your books, page 10"

"Have a look in the book, (on) page 10".

"May I have a quick look at your newspaper?"

"John - have a look in the newspaper and see what's on telly tonight." (colloquial)

[aya_aya7121]

Originally Posted by David L.

All these are correct, Brit. Eng.:

"Class -have a look at your books, page 10"

"Have a look in the book, (on) page 10".

"May I have a quick look at your newspaper?"

"John - have a look in the newspaper and see what's on telly tonight." (colloquial)

Dear David L,
Can you explain to me why these are correct
Thank you very much
( Please sympathize with my superficial knowledge)

[Barb_D]

aya, prepositions are very hard and often don't make sense. Adding to the confusion is the fact that there are differences to how prepositions are used in different English-speaking countries.

I would look "at" the paper if it were lying on the table or I just glanced at it superficially, and I would look "in" the paper if I needed to find, in the example given, the TV listings.

You look in a book, look on a page, turn to a page... it's confusing and hard to remember.

[j.brar]

interesting
i never realized that fact thnku david

[Waawe]

Originally Posted by Barb_D

aya, prepositions are very hard and often don't make sense. Adding to the confusion is the fact that there are differences to how prepositions are used in different English-speaking countries.

I would look "at" the paper if it were lying on the table or I just glanced at it superficially, and I would look "in" the paper if I needed to find, in the example given, the TV listings.

You look in a book, look on a page, turn to a page... it's confusing and hard to remember.

Dear Barb_D,

what would, for example, a teacher instruct their students to do in class, then?

#1 Have a look at your books, page 10.
#2 Have a look in your books, page 10.
#3 Look at your books, page 10.
#4 Look in your books, page 10.

Will you mark the options correct/incorrect for me?

Thanks a lot.

Waawe

[Barb_D]

Hi Waawe,

The US-English way to say this would be:

Have a look in your book. Turn to page 10.
Have a look in your book on page 10.
Look in your book on page 10.
Turn to page 10 in your book.
Look at page 10 in your book.
Open your book to page 10, and look at the top of the page, where it says...

(I believe that I've seen in the UK that they do something with "at" a page where we do "to" a page, but I'm not at all sure about that.)

[supada]

Originally Posted by Barb_D

Hi Waawe,

The US-English way to say this would be:

Have a look in your book. Turn to page 10.
Have a look in your book on page 10.
Look in your book on page 10.
Turn to page 10 in your book.
Look at page 10 in your book.
Open your book to page 10, and look at the top of the page, where it says...

(I believe that I've seen in the UK that they do something with "at" a page where we do "to" a page, but I'm not at all sure about that.)

Wow pretty much confusing.

[David L.]

#1 Have a look at your books, page 10.
#2 Have a look in your books, page 10.
#3 Look at your books, page 10.
#4 Look in your books, page 10.

Consider the difference between, "Look at this box." and "Look in this box."

'at' is asking the person to turn his attention to the box, to 'look at it.'

'in' goes further - (i) turn your attention to the box, AND (ii) look specifically at something (in this sentence, 'to see what is inside the box'.)

'look at your books, page 10' asks them, at some point in the lesson, to now turn their attention to the book, and turn to page 10. The teacher might then say, "Now, at the bottom of the page, you will see a small diagram of..."

compare

"Have a look in your books, page 10, and find Hamlet's actual words to Ophelia at this point in the play."