aim in doing something

[jiang]

Dear teachers,

While I was looking for "aim..." phrases I found the following title on the Internet "US aim in prodding Iran: negotiation?". It seems to me there is a phrase "an aim in doing something". I then consulted my dictionary and found two more examples in two dictionaries:
What's your aim in working so hard?
What's your aim in doing so?

This is "aim in doing" a collocation?

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance.

Jiang

 

[David L.]

Not so much collocation, but that one of the prepositions that 'aim' can take is 'in'. Since the latter is a preposition, then it takes a gerund:
"Our aim in bringing this to the attention of the public is two-fold:..."

 

[jiang]

:-D
Dear David,

Thank you very much for your explanation. Now I see.

Jiang

Not so much collocation, but that one of the prepositions that 'aim' can take is 'in'. Since the latter is a preposition, then it takes a gerund:
"Our aim in bringing this to the attention of the public is two-fold:..."