Following is a fragment from LSEG listing few common prepositions.
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Most verbs may be followed by any preposition needed to satisfy the link to prepositional complement.
However, there is a significant category of verbs named "verbs with preposition" which have
embedded certain prepositions in their form. Few examples are highlighted next.
1. TO GET: to get off; to get into; to get on; to get out; to get over; to get around; etc.
2. TO GO: to go about; to go by; to go down; to go in/out; to go with; to go without; etc.
3. TO LOOK: to look at; to look about; to look for; to look on; to look into; to look up; etc.
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Fragment
from LSEG: verbs with preposition.
In addition to verbs with preposition, there is a numerous category of "verbs with adverbial
particle and preposition". |
1. About: He was about to speak. They rowed about the lake.
2. At: We stopped at the traffic light. At first (adverb) it seemed harmless.
3. But: He was the last but one. But for her help, we would have drowned into
despair.
4. By: To die by inches. I shall be back by nine o'clock.
5. For: Mary sent this book for me. Are you for New York? He was in for about
two hours.
6. From: I got a letter from him. She poured from the bottle.
7. In: She lives in Boston. I took lessons in Mathematics.
8. Of: The door of the hall was ajar. She was the wife of a doctor.
9. On: The tree has no leaves on. Pull on your socks!
10. Over: Look over this lesson again. The play was over (adjective).
11. To: Give it to July. We drove to town.
12. Up: The cat got up tree. Time is up (adjective)!
There are nouns, adjectives, and even adverbs which require they are followed or preceded only by certain
prepositions.
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Fragment
from LSEG: using prepositions.
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Fragment
from LSEG: using "different from" vs. "different than".
NOTE
Despite their apparent simplicity, using prepositions is one of the toughest topics in English grammar,
because they set many times atypical meanings. The instance presented above (using "from" or
"than" with the adjective "different") exemplifies perfectly well how difficult it is to
handle the English preposition.
The aberrant character of the English preposition is due to the fact that English grammar was never taught
in (most) schools appropriately. Native-speakers learn English "as it is spoken
locally/regionally", therefore new verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs are developed "in the
wild" or "on the street". In turn, many of the new verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs
take, accidentally, only certain prepositions, based on the "people use to say that" argument.
In contrast, some prepositions have definite, precise meanings per se (on; to; at; from), as they should.
There are many instances when UK and USA interlocutors do not understand each other, although they both
converse in English! That "wild" development of the English grammar needs to be stopped and, in
order to do that, native-speakers need to start learning grammar.
Unfortunately, excepting few isolated islands of culture, in all English countries today the accent is on
learning the spelling of the words. That practice is just a particular form of memory training having
insignificant grammatical importance.
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