When do we use “adept in” and “adept at”? - English Stack ...

2 Answers 2 · 2 · 1 · 1 · These two Google Ngrams provide more substantial evidence (than raw Google data) that 'adept at the art of' is becoming as ... EnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforlinguists,etymologists,andseriousEnglishlanguageenthusiasts.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Collaborateandshareknowledgewithaprivategroup. CreateafreeTeam WhatisTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore Whendoweuse“adeptin”and“adeptat”? AskQuestion Asked 5years,7monthsago Active 2years,10monthsago Viewed 38ktimes 4 2 Iwasreadingachapteronchoosingtheappropriateprepositionandfoundtherearetwodifferentusesofadeptwithtwodifferentprepositions,namely“in”and“at”. Theexamplesthatweregivendidnothelpmetounderstandthedifferencewell. word-choiceword-usageprepositionsadjectives Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedJan16,2018at7:46 herisson 71.4k99goldbadges171171silverbadges318318bronzebadges askedAug7,2016at20:54 HumayunAlRasheidHumayunAlRasheid 4111goldbadge11silverbadge33bronzebadges 2 Ithinkyou'requiteright.EvenfindingthemorecommonpairingonGoogle('adeptinfishing',say)doesn'tguaranteethebestanswer,anddictionariesbelowOEDlevelseemoflittleuse.ThefewGoogleNgrampairsI'vecheckedsuggestchoicesI'dfeelhappierwith. – EdwinAshworth Aug7,2016at23:06 Adeptinafield.Adeptataskill. – HotLicks Apr21,2019at1:55 Addacomment  |  2Answers 2 Active Oldest Votes 6 Inshortpopularitywisetwousescanbediscerned: Adeptatwordendingin-ing;E.g.Iamadeptatanswering. Adeptinthenounofwhatever;E.g.Iamadeptintheartofanswering. Adiveintothedigitizedgooglecorpusrevealssomepatterns: adeptinverb(ing)resultsin5khits adeptatverb(ing)resultsin55khits Thereforeatiswidelymorecommonwhenfollowedbysuchaverb. Adeptin/at,followedbythenounof,theresultisdifferent. adeptinthenounofresultsin4.7khits adeptatthenounofresultsinmeager900hits AfterthesetwothatareprettyclearIlookedatadeptat/innounandhereitgetsmurkier.Onthefirstlookatseemstobewinningwith6.3khitsversus2khitsforin.Howeveralotofthosearenominalizedverbsendingon-ing(7outofthetop10).Theotherthreeareselfasusedinself-whatever(management,study...),probleminwhatlookstoexclusivelyproblemsolvingandfinallymathematics.Thelastalsoclaimsthetopthreespotintheadeptinsearch.Thatleaves158'at'vs110'in'formathematics.Politicsis95'at'to66'in'.Musichowever'137'intojust50'at'. Theonlyobviouspatternseemsthatnounorverb,ifthewordendson-inguseadeptat. Onaspeculativenoteitmightbeshiftingtowardsadeptatnoun,sincealotofentriesintheadeptinnounresultsaremoreobscure,oldorfantasybased(alchemy,astrology,occult,sorcery,necromancy,woodcraft),theyalsoseemmorenegativeoverall(deceit,crime,villainy,intrigue,politics;)). Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedJun15,2020at7:40 CommunityBot 1 answeredAug8,2016at14:21 HelmarHelmar 5,32877goldbadges2929silverbadges6565bronzebadges 1 WhilethequestionhasbeenclosedongroundsIamnotabletorelateto,thisanswerhasfinallyclarifiedthislongsought-afterquestionwithbothempiricismandhumour.Thanks! – dakab Aug31,2016at19:42 Addacomment  |  0 Well,shootingfromthehiphere,I'dguessthatitshouldsoundcorrect,butthatanswerisofnohelptosomeonelookingforaruleoranon-nativeEnglishspeaker. I'llsaythatyou'duseinwhentalkingaboutageneralskillandatwhenbeingmorespecific.Someexampleswhichsoundrighttomyear: He'sadeptatpuzzle=making. She'sadeptinthefieldofstudyregardingpuzzle-making. He'sadeptatmakingotherslookfoolish. She'sadeptintheartofmakingheradversarieslookfoolish. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedApr21,2019at1:51 answeredAug7,2016at21:58 ChowzenChowzen 14388bronzebadges 11 2 WhileIthinkthere'sanelementoftruthinwhatyousay,it'sworsesuggestingarulethatdoesn'treallyworkthanmakingalesspreciseclaim.IfyoucompareGooglehitsfor"adeptindancing"and"adeptatdancing",you'llseetheyareapproximatelyequal.Also,'adeptinneedlework'and'adeptatneedlework'giveroughlysimilarresults.'Adeptinsports'and'adeptatsports'areneck-and-neck./Answersofthe'shooting-from-the-hip'varietyareneverexactlyappreciatedonELU. – EdwinAshworth Aug7,2016at22:14 1 @EdwinAshworthItsoundstomelike2.5millionpeopleouttherearewrong.IdofreelancecopywritingandproofreadingforextracashandIwoulddefinitelyatleastsuggestthat"adeptattheartof"bechanged.Itjustsoundsbad. – Chowzen Aug7,2016at22:16 1 Ithinkyoumakeavalidpoint;thedownvoteisn'tmine(thoughI'dguessit'sforanunsupportedanswer).I'vetriedtofindatleastapartialpattern,linkingsay'adeptin'to'skilledin'(followedbymore'verby'ing-forms,fieldsratherthanparticulars)and'adeptat'to'goodat',butresultsIwouldn'texpectkeepappearinginGoogledata.'Skilledinchess'isthefavouredform(19/20relevanthitsinthefirsttwopagesof30000hits).'Adeptinfishing'seemstooutperformtheat-version. – EdwinAshworth Aug7,2016at23:02 ThesetwoGoogleNgramsprovidemoresubstantialevidence(thanrawGoogledata)that'adeptattheartof'isbecomingasacceptableas'adeptintheartof'.I'mwithyouinpreferringthelatter,butamanti-prescriptivistenoughnottoconsiderthealternativeincorrect. – EdwinAshworth Aug7,2016at23:16 @EdwinAshworth--Ineversaidthatanythingwas"incorrect,"Iwasgoingwithwhat"soundsrighttomyear."Also,bytheby,thedayyoufindmeusingGoogleNgramstodeterminewhetherasentencesoundsgoodornotisthedayyou'llfindmedeadatmydesk,aletteropenerprotrudingfrommylifelesschest.:) – Chowzen Aug7,2016at23:24  |  Show6morecomments YourAnswer ThanksforcontributingananswertoEnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchange!Pleasebesuretoanswerthequestion.Providedetailsandshareyourresearch!Butavoid…Askingforhelp,clarification,orrespondingtootheranswers.Makingstatementsbasedonopinion;backthemupwithreferencesorpersonalexperience.Tolearnmore,seeourtipsonwritinggreatanswers. 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