What is the difference between the two statements "You wanna be cool? Take Spanish at school!" and "You wanna be cool? Take Spanish in school!"
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Was there a reason for changing from Italian to Math to Spanish? – KillingTime Jan 09 '24 at 17:35
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It might vary with local idiom. I think USA says 'in school' and UK says 'at school'. – Weather Vane Jan 09 '24 at 17:38
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No, just want to see if it changing the school subject would change the overall meaning. . – Tom Jan 09 '24 at 17:38
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You've tagged this [syntactic-analysis]. Are you asking about differences in syntax (I don't think there are any, although I'm prepared to be wrong), or simply about differences in meaning between at and in? – Andrew Leach Jan 09 '24 at 17:40
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The difference in meaning if there is one – Tom Jan 09 '24 at 17:42
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I studied Spanish at school OR in school. Both would be used and on both sides of the pond, afaic. In any case, "in school" is not American English per se at all. – Lambie Jan 09 '24 at 17:47
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To me (UK) "in school" weakly suggests a time period "while in full-time primary or secondary education", while "at school" more likely refers to a location or environment ("I studied Spanish at school but learnt Hebrew at Temple and Russian from my mother"). I don't think it matters in the particular example, unless you're telling people to study at a particular place. – Stuart F Jan 11 '24 at 09:48