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Plays a role "in" or "at" doing something?

English Language & Usage Asked by ouranos on March 4, 2021

I am writing a scientific article, in which I need to describe the main drivers of a certain phenomenon.

I would like to say that the driver X plays an important role at modifying Y. But my supervisor corrected me to: driver X plays an important role in modifying Y.

Which one is correct? None of us are native English speakers, which makes it a bit tricky.

One Answer

“In” appears to be the more common preposition used after “play a role”:

play a part/play a role

If something or someone plays a part or plays a role in a situation, they are involved in it and have an effect on it.

They played a part in the life of their community.

The U.N. would play a major role in monitoring a ceasefire.

(Collins Dictionary)

Also Google Books shows that play a role in is the more common collocation.

Correct answer by user 66974 on March 4, 2021

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