Position the Prepositions appropriately

Sakshi Education

A preposition is a word placed before a noun or a pronoun to show its relation to something else in the sentence.

It is impossible to write correct (i.e., idiomatic) English without a full understanding of prepositions. There is no basis on which we can justify an unusual usage of a preposition. The only justification is the correct usage itself. That is why it is so important that we should make a special endeavour to know the appropriate prepositions. Sometimes, grammatical errors may be forgiven, but blunders of wrong idioms and wrong prepositions will not be!

For instance: "The watch is on the table," where "on" is the preposition, or "The book is not with me," where "with" is the preposition.

The following are examples of right usage of prepositions with examples.

Abide with: Refers to a person
Ex: The wife promised to abide with her husband in all circumstances.
Abide by: Refers to a thing
Ex: The rebel refused to abide by the rules and regulations of the organization.
Apply for: Refers to a thing.
Ex: Wasim Akram wanted to apply for the post of Indian Cricket Coach.
Apply to: Refers to a person
Ex: The candidate applied to the Manager.
Angry at: Refers to a thing
Ex: Gary Kirsten was angry at the horrible performance of the Indian Cricket team.
Angry for: Refers to an action
Ex: I am angry for your disrespecting me.
Angry with: Refers to a person
Ex: My friend was angry with me for not lending him money.
Arrive in: Refers to a country
Ex: The U.S. President arrived in India.

Arrive at: Refers to a place
Ex: Sharma arrived at Mathura.
Amuse at: Refers to a thing
Ex: The teacher was greatly amused at the student's ignorance.

Amuse with: Refers to action
Ex: The children amused themselves with throwing pebbles at the fishes.
Annoyed at: Refers to a thing
Ex: The minister was annoyed at his subordinate's absence.

Annoyed with: Refers to a person
Ex: Hyderabad cricket fans were annoyed with the selectors for not picking V.V.S. Laxman in the World Cup Team.
Anxious about: Refers to 'the result of something'
Ex: People of Telangana are very anxious about the fate of the proposed new State.

Anxious for: Refers to 'safety or health'
Ex: All mothers are always anxious for the safety of their children.
Ask from: Refers to a person
Ex: The beggar asked some money from the passers-by.

Ask for: Refers to a thing
Ex: My friend asked me for some money.
Arm oneself against: Refers to a danger
Ex: We should arm ourselves against all kinds of risks in life.

Arm oneself with: Refers to weapons
Ex: Vidya armed herself with a dagger and a pistol.
Attend to: Refers to a thing
Ex: I did not attend to the telephone call.

Attend upon: Refers to serving a person
Ex: When the rich man was sick, none of his friends attended upon him.
Account for: Refers to a thing
Ex: You have to account for your bad behaviour.

Account to: Refers to a person
Ex: You'll have to account to God, one day, for all your demeanour.
Argue against or about: Refers to a thing
Ex: The lawyer argued against reservation in the government sector for certain sections of the people.

Argue with: Refers to a person
Ex: Sushma Swaraj argued with Manmohan Singh on the issue of inflation in food prices.
Apologize for: Refers to a thing
Ex: Harish apologized for not replying to his friend's letter.

Apologize to: Refers to a person
Ex: Sonia Gandhi apologized to the opposition leader in Lok Sabha.
Authority over: Refers to a person
Ex: My teacher has authority over several other teachers in the English language.

Authority on: Refers to a subject
Ex: Sachin Tendulkar is a great authority on cricket.
Agree with: Refers to a person
Ex: The Prime Minister did not agree with the Opposition Leader.

Agree to: Refers to 'a proposal, plan, opinion, or idea.'
Ex: The Home Minister did not agree to the Police Commissioner's plan.
Busy at: Refers to a thing
Ex: My friend was busy at work when I went to meet him in his office.

Busy with: Refers to action
Ex: Santosh said he was busy with a meeting.
Cause for: Refers to 'anxiety/worry'
Ex: I think you should not have any cause for worry.

Cause of: Refers to 'trouble'
Ex: That culprit is the chief cause of all the misunderstandings between the two friends.
Compete with: Refers to a person
Ex: One should always compete with oneself, but not with others.

Compete for: Refers to a thing
Ex: More than ten thousand participants will be competing for the grand prize.
Consult with: Refers to a person
Ex: You should consult with a dermatologist for your skin problems.

Consult on: Refers to a thing
Ex: The newly married couple consulted on their prospective plans.
Compare with: Shows points of resemblance as well as of difference between two things of the same class
Ex: Sachin Tendulkar was compared with Don Bradman.

Compare to: Shows points of resemblance only between two things of the different classes
Ex: Anger is compared to fire.
Confide in: Refers to a person
Ex: Rajesh confided in his girl friend and she never deceived him.

Confide to: Refers to a person
Ex: If you confide your secrets to everyone, you will become very vulnerable.
Consist in: Means 'remain'
Ex: The beauty of a poem consists in its style.

Consist of: Means 'composed of.'
Ex: The language consists of fluency, diction, intonation, etc.
Correspond with: Refers to a person
Ex: Prasad corresponds with his manager very frequently.

Correspond about: Refers to a thing
Ex: I corresponded about my itinerary.
Differ with: Refers to a person
Ex: The editor differed with the reporter on the veracity of the news.

Differ from: Refers to a thing
Ex: Written English differs from Spoken English.
Enquire of: Refers to a person
Ex: I enquired of him the way to the railway station.

Enquire into: Refers to a matter
Ex: CBI is enquiring into the case of embezzlement.
Enamoured with: Refers to a person
Ex: Devdas was enamoured with Paro.

Enamoured of: Refers to a thing
Ex: MS Dhoni was enamoured of Deepika Padukone's charms.