在中小学英语教材中我们经常遇到带有in school, at school, in the school, in this school, in our school, at the school, at that school, at our school, go to school, go to the school等这些介词短语的句子。初学者常常问教师：in和at在这些词组中能否互相替换？school之前用冠词、物主代词、指示代词与不用它们的含义有何不同。本文拟谈谈school 与介词at, in, to等的搭配常见习惯用法，供大家教学时给学生们作解释之参考。

　　一、当school指实际建筑物或具体的场所“学校”表示地点时，在其前要加定冠词、物主代词或指示代词。例如：

　　①The teacher has taught at the school since 1980.

　　② Mr Smith is going to give us a talk in our school.

　　③ He is an English teacher in the No.14 Middle School.

　　④ I study at Yu Ying Middle School.

　　⑤His parents want to go to the school and attend a parents' meeting.

　　通过上述例句我们可以看出：含有school的词组往往与“上学；求学念书”等无丝毫牵连时，其前有限定词(冠词，物主代词和指示代词)，起表示地点的作用。只是at侧重于强调其事业性质和场所的作用方面，而in则侧重于强调在其范围、建筑物之内。

　　二、当school与介词at, in, to搭配且其前不带任何限定词时，它们表示“上学；求学；上学念书”等意义。例如：

　　① My brothers and I are all at school. 我和我的兄弟们都在学校读书。

　　② We should keep him at school for another year. 我们应该让他再读一年书。

　　③ They go to school at six every day. 他们每天六点去上学。

　　④ Don't be late for school. 上学别迟到。

　　⑤ There is no school on Sundays. 星期日不上学。

　　⑥ They are in school. 他们在上学。

　　三、at school, in school除了表示“上学；求学”之外，at school还含有on the school premises的意思，in school还含有in the school building的意思，即它们都表示“在学校校舍里”。例如：

　　①I was at school until almost half past five yesterday. 我昨天差不多在五点钟以前一直都在学校里。

　　②Pupils are not allowed in school before 8:30 a.m. 上午八点半以前，学生不得进入校内。

　　③ He is at home, not in school. 他在家，不在学校里。

　　(文/丁元明；英语辅导报初中教师版04~05学年第19期；版权归英语辅导报社所有，独家网络合作伙伴新浪教育，未经许可，不得以任何形式进行转载。)