Grammar and Prepositions – ‘Succeed in Verb-ing’ Versus ‘Succeed at Verb-ing’

grammarprepositions

This answer says that succeed at is used when talking about at tasks. But when I checked Google Ngrams, I found out phrases like succeed in bringing is more popular than their at version.

Should at or in be used in cases like this?

Example sentence for context:

I never thought I'd succeed in bringing him to a place like this.

Best Answer

Both are acceptable. I’m an AmE speaker and I personally say “succeed at…” more frequently, but I imagine that may be up to personal taste.

If you look closely at the answer you’ve linked, they actually say that both are acceptable, and provide more context into when one might be preferable over the other. They are mostly equivalent, but can be very subtly different (e.g. “at” for specific tasks, “in” for longer-term goals).

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