10 exercises — how "at first glance" sets up an initial impression later revised by closer inspection, and how the two phrases work as a pair.
Quick reference
At first glance: introduces a surface-level impression, often later corrected
Fixed word order: "at" + "first" + "glance" — no article, never pluralized
Natural pair: often followed by "on closer inspection" to reveal the deeper truth
Needs a following contrast: works best with a clause that complicates the first impression
Register: neutral, common in both spoken code reviews and written postmortems
0 / 10 completed
1 / 10
A code review comment reads: "___ , this refactor looks like a pure rename, but it actually changes the return type of a public method." Which phrase best signals a first impression that turns out to be misleading?
At first glance introduces an initial impression, often one later revealed to be incomplete or wrong. "At the first glance only" awkwardly adds "the" and "only" to a fixed phrase. "In first sight" confuses this with "at first sight," used mainly for love/attraction, and misuses the preposition. "On the first look of it" is not natural, idiomatic English.
2 / 10
Which sentence uses "at first glance" correctly?
"At first glance, the two functions look identical, but one mutates its input and the other doesn't" correctly introduces a surface-level impression that a following clause complicates or corrects. It cannot introduce a bare future plan, an instruction, or a scheduled future event.
3 / 10
Fill the blank: "___ , the bug seemed to be in the frontend, but it turned out to be a stale cache on the CDN."
At first glance has a fixed word order: "at" + "first" + "glance." The other options scramble this into invalid, meaningless sequences.
4 / 10
Which pair correctly distinguishes "at first glance" from "on closer inspection"?
These phrases work as a natural pair: "At first glance, the two config files look the same. On closer inspection, one has a trailing whitespace character that breaks the parser." The first gives a quick surface read; the second reveals a deeper, more accurate finding.
5 / 10
A postmortem reads: "___ , the outage appeared to be caused by the new deploy, but the deploy had actually finished twenty minutes earlier." Which best completes the sentence?
At first glance is the correct, fixed form. The other options scramble the required word order into invalid phrases.
6 / 10
Which sentence contains an error in the use of "at first glance"?
"At first glance that we discussed at the offsite, the server rebooted overnight" incorrectly attaches a relative clause and applies the phrase to an event that has no accompanying "first impression vs. reality" contrast. "At first glance" needs a following clause that complicates or corrects the initial impression. The other three sentences use it correctly.
7 / 10
Choose the sentence where "at first glance" is best replaced by "on the surface" without changing the meaning.
"On the surface, the two dashboards show the same numbers, but one is cached and lagging by an hour" preserves the meaning exactly. The other options misuse the phrase as an urgency marker, an unrelated possessive-sounding construction, or a pairing with a specific future date.
8 / 10
A design doc states: "___ , this approach seems simpler than the alternative, but it doesn't handle concurrent writes correctly." Which best fits?
At first glance is the correct, standard form — no article before "first" and "glance" stays singular and uninflected. Option A wrongly pluralizes "glance." Option B wrongly adds "the." Option D wrongly uses a gerund form.
9 / 10
Which register note about "at first glance" is accurate?
"At first glance" is a neutral phrase equally at home in spoken code reviews ("At first glance this looks fine, but let me dig deeper") and written design docs. It always sets up a surface-level impression that a following clause then complicates, refines, or corrects.
10 / 10
Which sentence best demonstrates "at first glance" setting up a surface impression later corrected by deeper investigation?
"At first glance, the failing test looked flaky, but it turned out to be a genuine race condition triggered under load" is the textbook use: an initial surface read followed by the deeper, more accurate finding. The other options misuse the phrase as a command intensifier, insert it awkwardly mid-clause, or pair it incorrectly with a specific future date.