Sign In Get Started
Prepositions after adjectives

“Cooperative in” or “cooperative with”?

Cooperative with is the main pattern for people or groups working well together. Cooperative in refers to a specific activity or area.

Quick answer

How is cooperative used with prepositions?

Use cooperative with for the person, team, or organisation someone works well with. Use cooperative in for the activity or process where someone shows cooperation.

The staff were cooperative with investigators.
She was cooperative in resolving the dispute.
They remained cooperative with each other.

Choose the pattern by meaning

These forms are not interchangeable. Choose the construction by meaning, not by which preposition appears most often.

1
cooperative with + person or group

Working well with others

Use with to show the people or organisations involved in cooperation.

The company was cooperative with regulators.
He is usually cooperative with new colleagues.
2
cooperative in + activity

Showing cooperation in a process

Use in for the task, process, or area where cooperation happens.

They were cooperative in negotiations.
The witness was cooperative in answering questions.

See the difference in context

The same subject can take different constructions because each sentence answers a different question.

Construction
Example
Meaning
cooperative with
She was cooperative with the police.
Shows who someone cooperates with.
cooperative in
They were cooperative in the investigation.
Shows the activity or process where cooperation occurred.
cooperative on
The teams were cooperative on the project.
Possible in some contexts, especially for shared work on a task.

Common mistakes

Some combinations appear in real text but do not mean what learners often assume.

Using in for people

Use with before the people or groups involved.

✕ He was cooperative in the auditors. ✓ He was cooperative with the auditors.

Using with for activities

Use in for the process or activity.

✕ She was cooperative with solving the issue. ✓ She was cooperative in solving the issue.

Forgetting the object after cooperative with

With should be followed by a person or organisation.

✕ The manager was cooperative with. ✓ The manager was cooperative with the inspectors.

Quick practice

Choose the expression that matches the intended meaning.

1. The employees were cooperative ___ management.
2. She was cooperative ___ completing the report.
3. The agencies remained cooperative ___ each other.

Check your sentence in context

Paste the complete sentence below. Linguix checks the preposition together with grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style.

Free to try · No signup required

Frequently asked questions

Which is more common: cooperative with or cooperative in?

Cooperative with is more common because it often refers to people or organisations working together.

Can cooperative in describe actions?

Yes. It can describe cooperation in tasks, discussions, or investigations.

Is cooperative on correct?

It can be used for collaboration on a project or issue, although cooperative with is still the main pattern for people.

calm, in, calm, for, calm, about "candid about" or "candid in"? capable of or in? careful about, with, of, in or on? careless about, with, in, of or on? caribbean in, for, with, to or on? "catastrophic for" or "catastrophic to"? "cautious about" or "cautious in"? celtic in, for, on, at or to? central to, in, for, at or of? "certain of" or "certain about"? "challenging for" or "challenging of"?

Write with confidence in Linguix

Create a free account to check complete texts, apply suggestions, and save your documents.

Create a free account