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My friend says that "at" could be used with "reach" e.g. "i couldn't reach at the airport" but I don't think that's possible because "reach" is a transitive verb which doesn't require preposition so, what do you think? could "at" be used with "reach" or not?

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  • What is the intended meaning of the sentence? "They could not reach at what at the airport"? This sentence is confusing to me, and does not seem correctly formed with this combination of at and reach.
    – Sean Pianka
    Commented Feb 22, 2018 at 18:29
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    Unfortunately a comment was deleted by the migration. Fumblefingers commented; "the construction to reach at usually means to attempt to reach out and grasp. It's usually "literal" in that it's rarely used particularly figuratively (mostly it's limited to being something you can do with your outstretched arm)"
    – Andrew Leach
    Commented Feb 22, 2018 at 18:44
  • Thank you @Andrew. It also occurs to me that to reach at = to stretch towards also occurs as to reach for.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Feb 22, 2018 at 18:51

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"Reach" has several meanings, primarily:

reach (v):

  1. (with adverb of direction) Stretch out an arm in a specified direction in order to touch or grasp something. Leith reached for the nearest folder
  2. (with object) Arrive at; get as far as. "Goodbye," she said as they reached the door

Neither of these commonly uses "at". You reach for something, or you simply reach something, but you would not reach at the airport -- unless you were describing reaching for something while at the airport.

I reached for my luggage at the airport, but found it had been stolen.

This sentence is odd but grammatical.

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    Worth pointing out that the at is sort-of included in the meaning of reach (your second sense) so adding it is redundant.
    – Will Crawford
    Commented Feb 22, 2018 at 19:49
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To reach a person at some place=to get in touch with them, by telephone or message.

To reach a place=to arrive at a place in the sense of have enough gas in your car. To manage to get to a place.

I was not able to reach the airport [no gas]. I was not able to reach Susie at the airport [talk to her on the phone]

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  • "If you have any questions, you can reach at [email protected]", "Please reach at [email protected] to get a custom quote". Does these sentences look grammatically correct to you @Lambie
    – 0aslam0
    Commented Nov 21, 2019 at 16:41
  • @0aslam0 That is incorrect. It 's: You can reach me at [email protected]" //reach a person [me, him, her, us] at y.
    – Lambie
    Commented Nov 21, 2019 at 17:21

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