Teacher Discussion Forums

Hello people

When am I supposed to say I work at/in/for/with?

Thanks in advance

José

Hi Jose
I'll give you a few examples, just to get the ball rolling. I'm sure someone will come up with some general rules for you before too long.

"I work at the Patent Office. I work in the Training Section. I work for the government. I work with three other men and a woman."
OR
"I work at developing software programs for language learning. I work in a team of ten people. I work for nine hours a day. And I work with both a PC and a Mac."
OR
"I have to work at a very rapid pace in a sterile laboratory for the best results, and with very little margin for error".

You can also say:
"I work at making sure that my efforts are recognised by the boss (although that's giving a different meaning to the word "work").
"I work in electrical engineering".
"I work for peanuts (= very little pay).

Sorry, Jose. You were probably only looking for the first example, and not all those other overlapping uses . Maybe someone like Stephen Jones will see this post, an apply his analytical mind to sorting it out for you.

Good luck.
Norm.

Hey Norm, your example has cleared some points, thanks very much, although I am still in want for more strctural/analytical answeres, tell me, have you seen something like "I work with American Airlines?", that's one example with "work with" that I can't figure out, have you any idea about it?


Please reply

José

"I work with American Airlines" could suggest that you're not actually employed directly by them, but rather you're doing some sort of advisory or consultative work. If you say "I work for American Airlines" you're more likely to be an employee i.e. it says something about the working relationship.
The principal of my college often talks about "working with the unions" (although what happens in practice is another story), but he'd never work for the unions.