- I don’t want a job “where” I’m stuck in an office all day.
- I think I’d like to have a job “where” I can help people.
I don’t know why “where” is used in these two sentence, can I use “that” instead of “where”?
Thank you!!
You would have to change the sentences a little, but that can be made to work. “I don’t want a job that sticks me in an office all day…” “I think I’d like to have a job that helps people.”
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Where is used here to mean in which or wherein. It is informal grammar.
You perform work ‘in’ (or during) a job. A job is something ‘in which’ (or ‘wherein’) you do something.
If you use ‘that,’ then you would have to change the grammar of the sentence: the job does something to you.
I don’t want a job wherein I’m sitting in an office all day long.
I don’t want a job that keeps me in an office all day.
I think I would like to have a job in which I can help people.
I think I would like to have a job that allows me to help people.
Some people would consider wherein (or even in which) to be archaic or stilted language that is too formal, so they intuitively use informal grammar and drop the ‘in’ from wherein and just say ‘where.’
“a job where”
https://twitter.com/search?q=“a%20job%20where”&src=typd&lang=en
“a job in which”
https://twitter.com/search?q=“a%20job%20in%20which”&src=typd&lang=en
“a job wherein”
https://twitter.com/search?q=“a%20job%20wherein”&src=typd&lang=en
All three mean the exact same thing.
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Thank you very much. I know the difference now.
My pleasure, lilyyang.
By the way, I should note that there are inevitably exceptions, especially in the informal grammar.
For example:
from Twitter:
“This kid from my HS applied for a job where I work at…how awkward.”
(This could be from a teacher who works a second job. Without further context, it’s difficult to say.)
More properly:
A student from my high school applied for a job at the place where I work. How awkward!
‘Job’ has multiple meanings, but in this context, ‘job’ should refer to the paid position of employment. But in the informal grammar, ‘at my job’ can mean ‘at my place of employment.’ This is how we end up with phrases like “a job where I work at” or “the people at my job.” It’s more intuitive and easier to say than “a job at the place where I work” or “the people at the place where I work.”
Consider the following sentences. What are they trying to say?
These high school students where I work at saw me and ran away.
A customer where I work at fired me up for the first time ever.
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