Search "Past tense joke" on google. ???

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi,

  1. Search “Past tense joke” in google. OR
  2. Search “Past tense joke” on google. ???

Many thanks in advance

2

People use both “in” and “on”. I personally prefer “on”:

Search for “past tense joke” on Google.
Search Google for “past tense joke”.

There seems no reason to capitalise “past”.

Note that if you “search X”, then X is the place you’re looking, not the thing you’re looking for. Therefore “Search ‘Past tense joke’” literally makes no sense. Of course, it’s still obvious what it’s intended to mean, and, for me, omitting “for” in the first sentence actually just makes it feel abbreviated, rather than turning it into nonsense. On the other hand, omitting “for” in “Search (for) my keys in my bag” does turn the sentence into nonsense.

3

Nowadays, many people seem to use ‘google’ as a verb. For example, “Please google that word for me”. Is it acceptable or not?

4

I find it acceptable in informal contexts.