In vs. at

[Allen165]

"I'm going to destroy him in basketball."

I think "in" should be "at." Am I right?

Thanks.

 

[ollieacappella]

Hi Jasmin165. Just to let you know, I'm not a teacher.

I would say that you are correct. "In" would still make sense in spoken English and would refer specifically to basketball practice or a basketball match, but a better word to use if you wanted to say this would be "during". "During basketball" seems bizarre but sometimes in spoken English we refer to sport practice sessions by the name of the sport. For example, "Are you going to basketball tonight?".

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi Jasmin165. Just to let you know, I'm not a teacher.

I would say that you are correct. "In" would still make sense in spoken English and would refer specifically to basketball practice or a basketball match, but a better word to use if you wanted to say this would be "during". "During basketball" seems bizarre but sometimes in spoken English we refer to sport practice sessions by the name of the sport. For example, "Are you going to basketball tonight?".

"I'm going to destroy him at basketball" is correct if you are not talking about a specific match or game.

"I'm going to destroy him during the basketball game tonight" would be correct if you are going to specify when you're going to do it, though "I'm going to destroy him at basketball tonight" would still be correct.

Saying "at basketball" makes it clear that what you mean by "destroy" is that you are going to beat him, specifically with reference to that sport. If you say "destroy him during basketball", someone might think that you are going to actually destroy (kill) him by some method, and it will coincidentally happen during a basketball match.