Business English: Prepositions with WORK

In this lesson, you are going to learn six prepositions that can be used with the verb 'work' and the difference between each one of them and how to use them correctly. 

Do the exercise and the end to practise. 


AS

Formula: work as + occupation 
Questions: What do you do? | What do you work? | What is your job? 

Examples: 

• I work as a sales assistant. 
• What do you do as a product designer? 
• I work as a public relations manager. I'm in charge of creating content for press releases and coordinating all public relations activities. 

Note: You can also say 'I'm a photographer', 'I'm an architect', etc. 


IN 

Formula: work in + place or field (industry or type of job) 
Questions: Which industry do you work in? | Which department do you work in? 

Examples: 

• She works part-time in a library. 
• My mother has always worked in education. 
• Most of my friends work in customer service. 
• I worked in a Chinese restaurant a few years ago. 
• I prefer working in a professional environment. 
• I work in the sales department of a small software company. 
• If you want to pursue a career in interior design, you need to have a creative mind as well as academic training and networking skills. 

Note: Use 'work in' with words like 'school', 'bank', 'hospital', 'hotel', 'factory', 'shop', etc. to talk about the place where someone works. 

Remember: Don't use 'work in' with the name of a company or organisation. 


FOR 

Formula: work for + person, company or organisation 
Question: Who do you work for? | How long have you been working for this company? 

Examples: 

• I work for a small Danish company. 
• He works for an IT company. 
• I worked for Microsoft for five years and then moved to another company. 
• I've been working for a state-owned company in Beijing. 

AT 

Formula: work at + a particular place or organisation  
Questions: Which ... do you work at? 

Examples: 

• I worked at Microsoft for five years and then moved to another company. 
• I've been working at Ontario Ministry of Education for less than a year now. My colleagues are really friendly and I'm glad that I get a good work-life balance although my job can be a bit boring sometimes. 
• I'm working at the bookstore in my area this summer. 
• He's working at his desk. 

Note: You can use 'work at' when you are talking about a well-known company or organisation or when they person you are talking to knows it already. 


ON 

Formula: work on + project or task 
Question: What are you working on? 

Example: 

• Our team has been working on this project for two years. 
• I often go on business trips and work on projects in the company's offices overseas. 
• Many employees become unmotivated when they work on repetitive tasks. 
• I'm working on financial budgets at the moment. 
• I work on car design. 

​

WITH 

Formula: work with + someone  
Questions: Do you like working with ...? | What do you like about working with ...? 


Examples: 

• I work with both local colleagues and foreign ones, who are mostly from Denmark. 
• In my job, I work closely with the design team to create attractive designs for our partners. 
• Some people love the idea of working with children but don't have the skills or personality for it. 

Exercise

Complete the sentences with the prepositions as, in, for, at, on and with. Sometimes more than one is possible. 

1. Kevin works ............... the finance department of a Japanese company. 
2. Most parents in China want their children to work ............... the public sector because of job security. 
3. She works ............... a model agency.  
4. I work ............... a publishing company.  
5. I work ............... a photographer ............... a family-owned studio in Melbourne.  
6. I worked ............... a software engineer ............... Microsoft. 
7. At the moment, I'm working ............... a research project ............... a multinational company. 
8. My best friend and I work ............... the same company.  
9. I spent the evening working ............... my office.  
10. My sister has been working ............... advertising after college.  
11. I'm working ............... the monthly report.  
12. There are 15 employees who work ............... the HR department.  
13. Would you consider working ............... Starbucks? 
14. He works ............... the hospital. 
15. I work closely ............... our foreign partners and I travel a lot.  

Answers: 
1. in; 2. in; 3. for; 4. for; 5. as, in; 6. as, at/for ('at' because it's a well known company); 7. on, for; 8. for; 9. in; 10. in; 11. on; 12. in; 13. at/for ('at' is more common); 14. in/at ('at' when it is a particular hospital); 15. with; 


Other Business English lessons: 
Collocations with Job (Part 1) 
Collocations with Job (Part 2) 
English Lesson: Jobs and Skills 
Business English: Working in an office 
Business English: How to Talk about Your Job Responsibilities 


Please LIKE and SHARE with friends! 

DO YOU NEED ENGLISH FOR WORK?

Take 40 lessons on topics which include: phone calls, socialising, presentations, meetings, time management, problem-solving, company structure, figures, trends, marketing, selling, and more.

Business English Speaking Course