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Will we say- I was born at Tacoma in Washington or I was born in Tacoma in Washington?

equinox
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    Both are "in," since they are areas rather than single places. You would probably say you were born "at" Tocoma General Hospital since a building is small enough to be considered a location (though "in" the hospital would also be true). – Andy Bonner Sep 03 '21 at 19:21
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    I could say I was born 'at' or 'in' a hospital, but only 'in' a house. – Michael Harvey Sep 03 '21 at 19:23
  • Possibly 'at' a palace, castle, country mansion, etc. – Michael Harvey Sep 03 '21 at 19:33
  • No, it doesn't because my query is about places in relation to each other. I am aware that 'at' is used for specific/smaller locations and 'in' is used for bigger/enclosed spaces. But what about sentences that put places in relation to each other? For example, I am at my house. There are five rooms in my house. In this particular sense, will we not say 'at Tacoma in Washington'? – equinox Sep 03 '21 at 20:07
  • When I took piano exams as a child, I remember noticing that, in the brief biographies of composers supplied in the books of set pieces, they used _at_ for smaller towns and _in_ for cities - for example "W.A. Mozart, born at Salzburg 1756, died in Vienna 1791". – Kate Bunting Sep 04 '21 at 08:32

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In modern usage usually we use 'at' for a point, a small place, village or small town, and 'in' for a larger area such as a city, state, region, country, or continent. As Tacoma has a population of around 200,000, I would use 'in'.

At, on or in a place (Cambridge Dictionary

Michael Harvey
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  • Up to around 50 - 100 years ago, people sometimes said 'at Bristol' (my home town, current population. 700,000), but now it's always 'in'. – Michael Harvey Sep 03 '21 at 19:37