0

Example 1

I talked to him at an event.

Example 2

I talked to him in an event.

Example 3

I talked to him at a wedding.

Example 4

I talked to him in a wedding.

When we talk about an event such as a meeting, wedding, or party, it seems that both "in" and "at" can be used but convey slightly different meanings.

What are the differences?

"At" simply says I am just a more passive participant while "in" says I play a more active role?

vincentlin
  • 1,393
  • 1
  • 14
  • 29
  • Does this answer your question? [Should I say "She is in the park" or "She is at the park"?](https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/40439/should-i-say-she-is-in-the-park-or-she-is-at-the-park) – DoneWithThis. Nov 26 '22 at 08:08
  • 3
    _In a wedding_ is unidiomatic, and _in an event_ would only make sense if the event was some kind of performance and your talking to him was part of the performance. – Kate Bunting Nov 26 '22 at 09:36
  • @KateBunting does using "in" in my example make it sound like I am the bride or bridegroom while "at" means I am just a guest? I heard people say that when talking about an event (wedding, party, etc), there is a difference between "in" and "at". – vincentlin Dec 05 '22 at 03:41
  • No, it doesn't - as I said, it's just unidiomatic. I don't know why [this Ngram](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=in+a+wedding&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3) shows a sudden spike since 2000, but most of the examples found are 'in a wedding dress' or 'in [a book entitled] _A Wedding [something]_' – Kate Bunting Dec 05 '22 at 09:55

0 Answers0