Learn English – “Nitpick at someone” vs “nitpick about something”

prepositionsword-usage

Tell me please if the following sentence is correct.

My teacher is constantly nitpicking at me.

I have looked up the verb nitpick in a few dictionaries and what I saw is that nitpick is used with the preposition about, but then there must be a thing or some kind of work that people nitpick about. For example:

My boss was nitpicking about the work I had done.

So is it possible to say nitpick at someone meaning finding fault with someone?

Best Answer

Yes, but in the experience of this US English speaker we usually nitpick at a thing, not a person, like "nitpicking at the work I had done."

We also often use nitpick with no preposition, like "nitpicking the work", which is actually equally common. For example,

Their real mission was to nitpick the unit on the slightest thing.

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