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I encountered a strange expression as follows:

These two summary statistics are useful in looking for differences in the groups, and we are in for a surprise: an additional 8% of patients in the treatment group had a stroke!

It seems that I have never seen the preposition 'in' being used in a way like the two in's bolded in the above quote.

What's more, I cannot comprehend the 'looking for' after the first 'in' because I don't know what its subject is. Is the subject 'we' mentioned before the second 'in'?

What grammar rules am I missing?

Thanks in advance.

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    "Are useful in looking" can be paraphrased as "help us to look for differences". "In for a surprise" can be paraphrased as "It's certain that we will receive a surprise".
    – BillJ
    Commented Mar 23, 2022 at 16:04

1 Answer 1

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The first in has the same function as the following simpler sentence, which I hope you can understand:

These two summary statistics are useful in the following situation:

That sentence could be followed by "looking for differences in the groups", your quote simply omits the "the following situation".

The second in is an adverb and part of the idiomatic expression in for:

in for
: certain to experience
// in for a rude awakening

(source: Merriam-Webster)

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