stood at attention vs stood to attention

Both phrases are correct, but they are used in different contexts. 'Stood at attention' is the more common phrase and is used to describe someone standing in a formal, attentive posture. 'Stood to attention' is less common and is typically used in British English to mean the same thing.

Last updated: March 19, 2024

stood at attention

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English to describe someone standing in a formal, attentive posture.

This phrase is used to describe a person standing in a formal, attentive posture, often in a military or ceremonial context.

Examples:

The soldiers stood at attention during the national anthem.
She stood at attention while the officer inspected the troops.
The students stood at attention when the principal entered the room.

Alternatives:

stood to attention
stood in attention
stood at ease
stood in formation
stood in line

stood to attention

This phrase is correct but less common than 'stood at attention'. It is typically used in British English to mean the same thing.

This phrase is used to describe a person standing in a formal, attentive posture, often in a military or ceremonial context. It is more commonly used in British English.

Examples:

The soldiers stood to attention as the general approached.
He stood to attention when the Queen entered the room.

Alternatives:

stood at attention
stood in attention
stood at ease
stood in formation
stood in line

What Our Customers Are Saying

Our customers love us! We have an average rating of 4.79 stars based on 283,125 votes.
Also check out our 2,100+ reviews on TrustPilot (4.9).

"Thank you!"
Sachi Nakama July 2024
"I have literally been through chat, PI, claude, bard and bing and I got conflicting answers! Thank you! Human intelligence reigns!"
Retha July 2024
"Faster than AI"
CYNTHIA December 2023
"This was very helpful and I personally think this site is the best."
Kaden October 2023
"It was extremely thorough and very helpful!"
imperialelisa October 2023
"7 years without any disappointment. Always 100% satisfied. You guys are the best in the world at what you do. Thank you so much :)"
Zubair Alam October 2023
"In a world of text messages and online communication, this is great to have as a live tool. Thank you."
Selena October 2023
"Without textranch I would be stuck!"
宏祐 October 2023
"Accuracy and fast response. Personal comments from editor. Thank you."
Clh September 2023
"I wasn't aware of this service, it's fascinating and more reliable than standard IA tools available on the internet"
Arturo September 2023
"The fact that you can get reliable fast feedback on your texts."
Vinicius Antonio August 2023
"you guys are better than grammarly i'm being honest here"
ordinary July 2023
"OMG! This is really good than any other text correction tools I've used so far. Highly recommend this."
Vehan July 2023
"Very fast and accurate. thank you."
mojtaba July 2023
"I love this app because it's help to writing skills all of students ♥️"
Tarisini July 2023
"This was exactly the mistake I was looking for, the wording dind´t sound right at first. Better than grammarly!"
Ente July 2023
"The immediate help that I received was reassuring and very satisfactory. Thanks."
priiiyanshuu July 2023
"this helps A LOT for my studies."
kathnunez02 June 2023
"Woow!! I would never have expected such precision! Thank you soooo much!!"
Berta June 2023
"Real Time Editor and not AI. Many Thanks."
Priya June 2023
"The very first thing excites me about Textranch is how much your editors care."
sepideh June 2023
"The fact that texts are checked by human editors rather than by AI, etc. I appreciate this!"
Анна June 2023
"Feel welcome, immediate response, high quality feedback"
martin.roy June 2023
"This is the best app that I have ever seen"
Burulai May 2023

stood at attention vs stood to attention