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The question is about prepostion

The lightning stikes make townspeople quiver in fear.

Vs.

The lightning stikes make townspeople quiver with fear.

The first sentence is taken from an online game, which I think the aforementioned "dependent preposition" is used by a native Englishman. Moreover, I believe this is wrong, and the second sentence (from my research) is more correct.

Is there by any chance "quiver in fear” (as set phrase) can be used? Or should it only be "quiver with fear"?

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  • Your research is wrong, not the game. I wonder how you arrived at that conclusion?
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Jun 9, 2018 at 9:26

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Both are perfectly acceptable: "quiver with fear" is more common, but "quiver in fear" is somewhat more stylish. Here is an NGram showing that there is not much difference between them in current usage.

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    +1 And yet quiver in delight is odd whereas quiver with delight is well attested. I wonder why we're in fear but not in delight.
    – TimR
    Commented Jun 9, 2018 at 9:24
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    The same goes for other synonyms of quiver as well. This is one of those cases where there is no single “correct” preposition, but either one can be used. (Although, interestingly enough, this doesn’t hold true for every single verb.)
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Jun 9, 2018 at 9:26

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