I'd like to know which preposition to use in the following:
We were disappointed in/at the fact that no one is interested in our products.
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Related ell.stackexchange.com/questions/22990/…– Luciano PetrilloCommented Aug 16, 2021 at 14:52
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The sentence would be more natural without 'fact'. We were disappointed to find no one is interested in our products. Or you could use 'to hear', 'to discover' or 'to learn' (followed, if you like, by 'that') instead of 'to find'. Is there some particular reason for wanting to use 'the fact'?– Old BrixtonianCommented Aug 16, 2021 at 14:53
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Just curious about what preposition to use with "the fact." If you had to use "the fact," which preposition would you use?– ApollyonCommented Aug 16, 2021 at 15:05
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Very wordy: would definitely advise "We were disappointed that no one is interested in our products". If you insist on using "the fact", use "by": "We were disappointed by the fact that no one is interested in our products"--but I strongly advise against that construction; feels very awkward & unnecessary... gives off big "trying to hit the word count requirement in 6th grade" vibes.– nephCommented Oct 12, 2021 at 21:41
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3 Answers
I think for you to sound more grammatical, you can choose another word to use like "by". But if you want to choose between the two,pick "at"
Disappointed is tricky: it can occur with any of several prepositions before the source of disappointment. Roughly:
- disappointed in someone: This suggests someone did something wrong or let you down.
- disappointed at: To me this suggests a hint of surprise (like surprised at).
- disappointed with/by: Fairly generic ways of saying something disappointed you. With may emphasize that you consciously evaluated something and determined it was disappointing, rather than having the disappointment directly triggered in you by something external.
But these differences are subtle and probably not consistent across speakers. E.g., searching the web you can find plenty of restaurant reviews with "disappointed in/at/by/with the meal".
More discussion here.
The second one is correct. "At" is used to show the cause of something with adjective.
