Is "in hopes of"

English as a Second Language
1

When the suitor contacted her in hopes of finding a partner, Malik told him to call a land line to speak to her “mother”.

Is " in hopes of" correct? Should it be “in the hope of” instead?

Thanks.

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2

You can use both. Here’s what I found in Merriam Webster:

  • He returned to the crime scene in (the) hope of finding further evidence.
  • She waited in hopes that he would show up.

Hope this helps.

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3

When the john contacted her in hopes of finding a partner, Malik told him to call a landline number to speak to her “mother.”

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4

When I read the original sentence, I thought it was a strange situation, so I did a search for the original text to get context. There is a lot of context. @Kohyoongliat has simplified the original, but that, too, is a strange and complex situation. Without all of the context, it’s difficult to make an understandable sentence here,

This involves a matchmaking site, so I think that “suitor” would be better than “john” - a man looking for a prostitute.

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5

I’d go for ‘in the hope of’.

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6

I agree. It sounds much better than ’ in hopes of’. Yet, I looked it up and had to conclude that both are possible and acceptable, Anglophile.

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7

I’m fine with “in hopes of”.

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8

I like “in hopes of” better than “in the hope of”.

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9

I’m also OK with “in hopes of”. That’s a very common way of saying it. I’d venture to guess that it’s the most common way.

“In the hope of” is also OK and common. Other variations are “in high hopes” or “with high hopes”.

Webster calls “in hopes of” and the variations idioms. So they are used as-is.

I’m curious what part of speech this is. A prepositional phrase? The word hope can be a noun or verb. There are also gerund forms and maybe adverbial forms of hope.

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10

This reminds of a piece Alan wrote a couple of years ago:

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