Ask the Editor

Which preposition should I use in “I work _____ a small company.” at? in? for?

Question

Which preposition should I use in the sentence “I work ___ a small company”? at? for? in?
 —  V. Chan , Hong Kong

Answer

In the sentence “I work _____ a small company,” you can use either at or for. 

“At a small company” is the more common way to say this, but both prepositions are absolutely fine and have almost exactly the same meaning. 

I think that “for a small company” puts slightly more emphasis on the fact that the speaker is an employee of a larger organization and not in control of it. But the difference is slight, and I’m not sure that all native speakers would agree with me. 

Thanks for your question!

Archive

Link to this page:

You can read more articles in the archive