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		Grammar and Linguistics > "in" or "at" the warm-up stage?     
			
		 "in" or "at" the warm-up stage? 
		
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 ironik
 
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							| "in" or "at" the warm-up stage? 
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							| Hi friends, I have seen both "in" and "at" used with the word "stage". I was wondering, is one of them wrong, or does it make a difference in the meaning? 
 In the pre-listening stage, I referred to the
book but did not repeat the instructions; and at the while-listening stage, I
did not check comprehension.   Can we use them interchangibly? 
 Thank you and have a great Saturday  |  19 Jan 2013      
					
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 yanogator
 
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							| When used with "stage", "in" would mean "during" and "at" would indicate the situation. It �s somewhat like the difference between a continuous tense (which emphasizes the duration of an activity) and a simple tense (which just gives the information).   In your examples, you are talking about a stage of a lesson, so "in" would be best, because it is about the activity and its performance.   If you are talking about a stage of development of a student, then it �s similar to talking about the student �s age or level, so you would use "at".   It wouldn �t be wrong to use them interchangibly, but you would lose a natural distinction.   Bruce |  19 Jan 2013     
					
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 ironik
 
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							| Thanks a lot, Bruce, I am enlightened!  |  19 Jan 2013     
					
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 cunliffe
 
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							| It �s a nice distinction, Bruce. I wasn �t quite sure how to answer this. |  19 Jan 2013     
					
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