In VS of

Question

I've seen quite many example sentences with in which I usually think: why not 'of'.

"The strike laid the groundwork for an increase in wages."

My question is.. 'in' in the sentence above makes more sense than of ?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,
I've seen quite many example sentences with in which I usually think: why not 'of'.

"The strike laid the groundwork for an increase in wages."

My question is.. 'in' in the sentence above makes more sense than of ?
I wouldn't say that, except that 'in' is more idiomatic.
Prepositons are often pretty idiomatic.

Clive

CalifJim · Answer

moon7296I've seen quite ~~many~~ a few example sentences with in which ~~I usually~~ make me think: Why not 'of'?

Yes, that use of in is very common, so you should get used to it and try to understand it.

The grammatical pattern is "X in Y", where X is a word that indicates change of some kind:

change, alteration, modification, variation, fluctuation, deviation, improvement, decline, increase, decrease, expansion, development, advance

and Y is a word that indicates some measurable phenomenon which is seen to undergo the change:

taxes, prices, stock market prices, wages, population, manufacturing, art, music, ...

representing an almost infinite number of phenomena that may be measured in some way and found to exhibit changes over time.

____________

The result is expressions like the following:

an increase in wages, an improvement in living conditions, a decline in housing starts, a new trend in fashion, developments in solar power, a fluctuation in signal strength, an expansion in political power, a detrimental change in tax policy, a revolution in the manufacture of batteries, advances in chemistry

In most cases the meaning is, "If you look at phenomenon Y (usually over a period of time), you will see that it can be described as X." In other words (following the examples above),

If you look at wages, you will see that they are increasing.
If you look at living conditions, you will see that they have improved.
If you look at housing starts, you will see that they are declining.
If you look at fashion, you will see that there is a new trend.
If you look at what is being done in the area of solar power, you will see developments.
If you measure the strength of the signal, you will see that there is a fluctuation.
...

(In a fairly similar way, we have expressions like a twist in the rope, a bend in the road, a bend in the river.)

CJ

Moon7296 · Answer

Wow... I really admire the way you put the answers for the questions.

You haven't just answered the question but you expanded almost the all related part of the pattern.

I've observed you always try to put an answer like you did for this question.

Thank you very much.

p.s) I've found 'EnglishForward' does not store every questions and answers; old questions are deleted as new questions is piled up.

1. Does it truly happen in the EnglishForward website?

2. If so, questions and answers need to be moved to the individual memory space if one wants to keep them?

Towel hat 101 · Answer

Illness of today’s society

Illness in today’s society

Which is correct ?

Towel hat 101 · Answer

Illness of today’s society....engaging in someone else’s life and not minding their own business.

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