I am at the supermarket or I am in the supermarket?

The above question is generated from a clarification sought by a reader. The poser is, however, not a new one as many had pondered the slippery relationship between ‘at’ and ‘in’ as well as other related prepositions.

Do we say someone is at a supermarket, restaurant etc. or he is in it?

Apart from answering the question in today’s lesson, we will revisit similar ones like those involving whether one sleeps on a bed or in it,  or sit on a chair or in a chair. Consider the following:

I met Juliet … a restaurant. (at/in)

Who is the fellow sleeping … my bed? (on/in)

The young man sitting … the sofa is from Kaduna. (on/in)

At a restaurant, in a restaurant

Both ‘at a restaurant’ and ‘in a restaurant’ are correct but in different contexts. It is true that each indicates a place, but there is a difference in terms of the specific locations. If the person is around the restaurant, on the premises (whether in front, beside or behind it), he is at the restaurant. But if he is right inside it, he is in the restaurant. The implication is that even when the guy is inside eating, he can tell someone, say on the phone, that he is at the restaurant while he can still say he is in the restaurant. But he cannot say he is in the restaurant when he is outside. In other words, ‘at’ is more encompassing than ‘in’ in the situation.:

I met Dr James at the restaurant. He was about to alight from his car when I saw him.

Dr James wasn’t yet in the restaurant when I got in. I guess he was still at the facility’s car park.

On the chair, in the chair

Both can also be correct. It is, however, the type of chair involved that dictates whether you are sitting on it or in it. If it is one that looks enclosing, to the extent that you look covered when you sit, then you are in the chair. But if it is a chair with a simple or flat structure/surface flat, like a stool or sofa, you simply sit on it:

Phyna sat calmly on the sofa as if she was not a celebrity.

The fellow who sat on the chair didn’t see me.

Phyna sat in the chair with winding golden arms, like a celebrity that she was.

The chair is so deep that it will be difficult to see the childlike actor Aki or Pawpaw if he sits in it.

In the bed, on the bed

I remember that, in March 2019, we sought to resolve the confusion that usually surrounds the preposition required — between on and   in —when one is sleeping. Do we sleep on a bed or in a bed? Again, it depends on the positioning. If you sleep wrapped in the bed cover or the duvet, you are in bed. But  if you just lie on on it, you are on bed — the way some other objects like a cat, a book or paper can be on it:

The way Akin slept in the bed, burying himself in the duvet, suggested he wasn’t feeling fine.

Akin slept on the bed twiddling with his phone, as he rested his head on the duvet which he folded like a pillow.