25 Words and Their Prepositional Pals

25 Words and Their Prepositional Pals 25 Words and Their Prepositional Pals 25 Words and Their Prepositional Pals By Mark Nichol You probably know a preposition a word that shows a relationship between two words or phrases by demonstrating place, time, or another quality when you see it, but that’s grammar. What about usage? Which prepositions go with a given verb or adjective, and when? Some choices are no-brainers, but others can present a challenge. Here’s a guide to various words that require writers to choose from more than one preposition depending on meaning and sentence construction: 1. Abide â€Å"with us for a while,† â€Å"by the rules† (or â€Å"I can’t abide him†). 2. Answer â€Å"to him for what you’ve done,† â€Å"for what you’ve done.† 3. Caution â€Å"about unsafe conditions,† â€Å"against the rash proposal.† 4. Compare â€Å"with other products that make the same claims,† â€Å"apples to oranges.† 5. Confide â€Å"in her about my problems,† â€Å"to him what I really think.† 6. Conversant â€Å"about climate change,† â€Å"in several languages,† â€Å"with aspects of technology.† 7. Differ â€Å"from other species in their diet,† â€Å"with them about the cause of the company’s failure,† or â€Å"about public policy,† â€Å"on public policy,† or â€Å"over public policy.† 8. Different â€Å"from what he was used to,† â€Å"than he was used to.† From is the preferred usage, but than substitutes for â€Å"from what.† (â€Å"Different to† is a Britishism.) 9. Dissent â€Å"against the status quo,† â€Å"from the majority opinion.† (To or with are not considered standard usage.) 10. Dissimilar â€Å"to her previous sculpture.† (From is considered incorrect.) 11. Enamored â€Å"of every woman he meets.† (With is considered incorrect.) 12. Equivalent â€Å"in amounts,† â€Å"to the earlier result.† (With is not considered standard usage.) 13. Excerpt â€Å"from their book was reprinted without their permission.† (Of is considered incorrect.) 14. Forbid â€Å"him from attending,† â€Å"him to attend.† (To is considered the more correct of the two choices.) 15. Identical â€Å"to the one she saw yesterday,† â€Å"with the one she saw yesterday.† (Language purists consider with more correct, but use of to is significantly more common.) 16. Independent â€Å"of the group, he protested the plan.† (From, as in â€Å"Independent from her family,† is considered incorrect.) 17. Instilled â€Å"instilled a few drops of the solution into the wound,† â€Å"in him a drive to succeed.† (With, as in â€Å"Instilled with a drive to succeed,† is considered incorrect.) 18. Oblivious â€Å"of the warning signs,† â€Å"to the noise†; the choices are often interchangeable. (About is often used in association with oblivious, but it’s not considered standard usage.) 19. Vexed â€Å"about her behavior,† â€Å"at her behavior.† The correct preposition to use with the following words depends on whether the object is a person or a thing: 20. Comment â€Å"about her† or â€Å"to you about what happened,† but â€Å"on the issue.† 21. Impatient â€Å"with him,† but â€Å"about the delay,† â€Å"at the delay,† or â€Å"with the delay.† 22. Inquired â€Å"of him where he was going† and â€Å"after her whereabouts,† but â€Å"into their progress† or â€Å"about the vacant apartment.† 23. Mastery â€Å"over all other competitors,† but â€Å"of the skill.† 24. Reconcile â€Å"with her boyfriend,† but â€Å"to the loss of her boyfriend.† 25. Succeed â€Å"as a businessperson,† but â€Å"to the position.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Fly, Flew, (has) FlownFlied?36 Poetry TermsThe 7 Types of Possessive Case