We are busy (in) preparing for the examination.

[sitifan]

We are busy (in) preparing for the examination.
Source: https://www.cpsenglish.com/question/3529

Is the preposition "in" optional or redundant in the above sentence?

 

[5jj]

Drop it.

 

[SoothingDave]

You could be busy "in preparation" but the original sentence is better.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think "preparing" is a present participle functioning as a modifier, so no preposition is needed before it.

Preparing for the examination, we are busy.

The participle phrase modifies "we".

 

[Tarheel]

Preparing for the examination, we are busy.

I guess that's okay, but I can't imagine saying that. Instead, I might say I am busy preparing for the examination.

 

[Skrej]

We are busy (in) preparing for the examination.
Source: https://www.cpsenglish.com/question/3529

Is the preposition "in" optional or redundant in the above sentence?

It's just flat out incorrect, at least in AmE. Definitely don't use it with your original.

 

[tedmc]

Preparing for the examination, we are busy.

That sounds weird to me.

 

[Matthew Wai]

That sounds weird to me.

I meant to show that the participle phrase was a modifier.

 

[Flask]

We are busy (in) preparing for the examination.
Source: https://www.cpsenglish.com/question/3529

Is the preposition "in" optional or redundant in the above sentence?

I think "in" will only sound natural there in modern English when "busy" is separated from its accompanying -ing phrase:

How busy are you in preparing for the examination?
We haven't had time for any recreational activities, so busy are we in preparing for the examination.

Here are a couple of published examples of such usage:

"We hardly flinched anymore at the birthday cake tradition, so busy were we in finding out about each other, so happy to discover that as sisters with very different lives we had many feelings in common." (New York Times, 1983)

"So busy were we in devising and managing distractions, and justifying our privileges, we failed to see how distraction had become its own playful truth and ripe for manipulation by new powers." (Nigel Tubbs, Socrates on Trial, 2021)