Many important bilateral and multilateral meetings and negotiations are held ______ regular intervals.
- (a)with
- (b)at
- (c)in
- (d)on
Answer
B
Why
Correct — B, at. Recurring events spaced at fixed points in time are described with 'at regular intervals' — English pairs 'at' with 'interval', as in 'at intervals'. 'In', 'on' and 'with regular intervals' are not idiomatic for this time expression.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)with — 'With regular intervals' is not the idiomatic pairing; English fixes 'at' with 'intervals'.
- (c)in — 'In regular intervals' is not idiomatic for this recurring-time expression.
- (d)on — 'On regular intervals' is not idiomatic for describing events spaced at fixed points in time.
Concept
A cloze item on the prepositional phrase 'at regular intervals'.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.
Practice
- practice — not a real PYQ
The buses run ______ ten-minute intervals.
- (a)in
- (b)on
- (c)at
- (d)with
Answer(c) at — 'at ... intervals' marks recurring timing.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Inspections take place ______ regular intervals.
- (a)at
- (b)in
- (c)by
- (d)for
Answer(a) at — the fixed collocation is 'at regular intervals'.