Learn English – What preposition should be used in “the conversation has been driven […] the subject”

prepositionsword-choice

When you're trying to get the other party to converse about given subject, you drive or steer a conversation towards it. What preposition should be used with the following sentence?

The conversation has been driven […] [at] the subject.

Would into or onto be the correct preposition?

Best Answer

If you’re going to use “driven” in this context, I think you’ll need to go with “by” as your proposition, followed by the person or (more often) the concern defining the conversation or moving it forward (not, as in your example, the destination of the driving).

Example: The conversation was driven by Andrew's love of all things British.
or: The conversation was driven by their shared desire not to harm the bees.

To stay closer to the statement you’re looking for, you rightly suspect that “steering” will work perfectly.

As for the preposition, I recommend “toward(s)” as in:

I managed to steer the conversation towards school bus fires so that I could tell my heroic tale.

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