2

I wonder which prepositions are suitable to fill in the blank in this sentence:

The percentage of renewable enegy ____ the total energy production was 10%.

I feel that in, to, and out of are all correct, but I'm not sure.

Improve this question

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
1

"in" and "out of" are correct, although "out of" is better. "to" is factually wrong, it implies a ratio of renwable energy, as in "The ratio of renewable energy to non-renewable energy production was 9 to 1". "to" is appropriate when comparing two separate things.

Improve this answer
0

If any, it would be 'of', but really the sentence would sound very odd and unprofessional because you've already used that proposition. Effectively you're stating the denominator twice. I'd suggest you rethink it completely.

You should just say:

  • The percentage of renewable energy produced was 10%.
Improve this answer
0

  • The percentage of renewable energy in the total energy production was 10%.

    (The percentage of the total energy production that were renewable energy is 10%.)

    (Renewable energy constituted 10% of the total energy production.)

  • The percentage of arts graduates in the cohort was 10%.

  • The percentage of boys among the students was 10%.

  • The percentage of [members of some subgroup] in/among [the group] was 10%.

As we are merely regarding a part of a whole, I think that in and among are the most natural options: to is patently wrong since we aren't discussing ratios; out of seems to suggest extraction or partitioning of the objects.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .