When the word "summit" is used in the sense of an assembly of leaders, which proposition should be used? At or in? For example; 'the leaders met AT/IN the g20 summit shared their concerns over the prevailing recession'
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1Hello, Jithu. Have you checked online to see which preposition is normally used?– Edwin AshworthCommented Aug 14, 2017 at 15:58
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Yes I have already.. I came across lines like "they met for the summit". Had I already had an answer, I wouldn't be asking this question. Thank you Edwin for your suggestion anyways.– JithuCommented Aug 14, 2017 at 16:04
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3googling "met at the summit" (with quotes) => 4.3 million results. googling "met in the summit" => 3 results. That's a useful strategy which you can reuse in future.– Max WilliamsCommented Aug 14, 2017 at 16:10
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Then, it's at the summit.. Thank you guys for your quick response.– JithuCommented Aug 14, 2017 at 16:13
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1This is always assuming that summit is used as a noun. It could be an adjective, as in: they met for summit talks/ for a summit conference etc. In this case for has a role to play.– WS2Commented Aug 14, 2017 at 17:20
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3 Answers
'The leaders met at the g20 summit shared their concerns over the prevailing recession.'
The summit is an event. It refers to what happened at a particular time at a particular place.
The meetings at the summit were activities of organized groups in which one may be included so the leaders were in the meeting but at the summit. There is a subtle difference between being at a meeting and being in a meeting. A spectator is at a meeting not in it. In the same way, the spectators at a football match are at the game but only the players are in the game.
The term "summit" in your usage is accepted shorthand for "summit meeting". The leaders would share concerns IN the summit meeting. If you instead wrote that the leaders met AT the summit, I'd assume they were congregating on a mountaintop somewhere... :)
Most commentators would use at for both yet strictly, in would indicate in the official chambers and prolly on summit business, while at could equally include meeting in the bar afterwards and discussing nothing but sports.
By the way, I don't understand why anyone would want to down-vote that perfectly reasonable question.