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I have 3 phrases with missing prepositions which I have doubts of:

  1. Bei Diesem Käfer handelt es sich ___ ein sehr seltenes Exemplar. I don't actually understand the phrase and therefor can't even think of the right preposition.

  2. Sie hat drei Jahre __ ihrer Promotion gearbeitet. I think it's "für" here. Am I right?

  3. Konzentrieren Sie sich __ das Vokabellernen! I think here it's "an". Right?

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looks like homework to me – Emanuel Dec 7 '12 at 22:17
@Emanuel It's not really a homework. I study myself, without a teacher, and a friend gave some cards to me to learn prepositions, but I need to fill the gaps first. These 3 I didn't find in my dictionary:( – Victoria Khinevich Dec 9 '12 at 9:13
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you cannot really look up prepositions in the dictionary as it highly depends on the context which one to use – Emanuel Dec 9 '12 at 13:01

closed as not constructive by Emanuel, user unknown, Baz, Em1, Hubert Schölnast Dec 8 '12 at 15:08

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1 Answer

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  1. The meaning is in fact just "This bug is a very rare specimen" - but the to be is expressed here by "sich um etwas handeln".

  2. It could be "für ihre Promotion" but here it should be "an ihrer Promotion". Note that "Sie hat für ihre Promotion gearbeitet" might suggest that she needed to work for three years (e.g. as waitress) to financially back up her life as researcher.

  3. I think also in English you concentrate on something.

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