List 11 - Prepositions
Sentence examples: prepositions after verbs (abandon to - cry over)
abandon to: They abandoned the village to the advancing army.
abstain from: The delegates decided to abstain from voting.
acclimate to: The sooner she acclimates to living in this big city the better it is for her.
accuse of: They accuse him of not telling the truth.
acquaint with: Fred would like to get acquainted with the new neighbour’s daughter.
acquit of: The jury acquitted him of murder.
act for: John is looking for an experienced lawyer to act for him.
act on: Acting on a tip-off, police launched a pre-dawn raid on a house.
adapt to: I find it hard to adapt myself to my new workplace.
adapt for: Shakespeare’s plays have been adapted for children.
adapt from: The play had been adapted from a novel.
add to: Increase in fuel prices will add to the cost of the project.
adjust to: She took a while to get herself adjusted to her new surroundings.
admit to: He admitted to eating my pizza.
admit into: Those without tickets will not be admitted into the stadium.
advance towards: The army advanced rapidly towards the capital.
advise on: We appointed him to advise us on all financial matters.
advise to: The group members were advised to arrive early
affix to: Wong affixed the stamp to the wrong corner of the envelope.
afflict with: He’s severely afflicted with an unknown disease.
agree on: They belong to different parties, but they agree on everything.
alternate with: Jack and Jill alternated with each other in bathing the dog.
apologize for: He apologized for the awful thing he said.
appeal to: The organization appealed to the public for blood donation.
appear from: It appears from what he says that he did all the work.
apply to: The restrictions do not apply to foreigners.
approve of: His mother does not approve of his smoking.
argue against: He argued against inviting her to the party.
argue for: She argued for having her at the party.
argue with: Why do you argue with everybody including me?
arrange for: We have arranged for Bob to meet you at the airport.
arrive at: By the time we arrived at his place, he had already left.
assent to: The members assented to the proposal without much debate.
assist in: He volunteered to assist me in organizing the festival.
balk at: Jim balked at doing what he has to do.
band against: The workers banded against the takeover of the business by an outsider.
bargain with: The retailer bargained with the wholesaler for bulk discounts.
beg for: I beg for forgiveness from God for all the sins I’ve committed.
beg with: I beg with her that she will leave me for good.
begin by: The comedian began the show by performing the pigeon mating dance.
benefit from: The whole of mankind has benefited from the advancements in science.
bequeath to: What her father bequeathed to her included a collection of rare stamps.
beset with: His journey across the desert was beset with all sorts of danger.
bestow on: The President bestowed a medal for bravery on him.
betray to: The leader was betrayed to the police by gang members.
beware of: We should always beware of pickpocket in crowded places.
blame for: He was unfairly blamed for something he did not do.
blush at: He blushes at the thought of befriending her.
boast about: Crocket always boasts about his knowledge of crocodiles.
boast of: He keeps boasting of his new wife.
borrow from: Each time I borrow six books from the library.
bother about: I’m not really bothered about getting along with my mother-in-law.
bother with: Let’s not bother with waiting for a bus. Let’s go by taxi.
brag about: He’s always bragging about his newfound wealth.
brag of:: Brain likes to brag of having the most beautiful girlfriend.
brood over: She’s still brooding over the separation between her and her husband.
build of: One of the three little pigs’ houses was built of straw.
burden with: Mary burdens me with her troubles as if I have no problems of my own.
care about: All she cares about is talking about other people.
caution about: The policeman cautioned him about his fast driving.
caution against: The zookeeper cautioned them against feeding the animals.
cede to: Alaska was ceded to the United States by Russia.
celebrated for: The country celebrated for its scenery, food and wine.
chance on/upon: I was very shocked to chance upon a decaying human body.
characterize by: Must we always characterize people by their appearances?
charge against: We are not allowed to charge personal expenditure against profits.
charge at: Last night I dreamed about ten rhinoceroses charging at me in a shopping mall.
charge for: I will not buy it if they charge for delivery.
charge in: A woman has been charged in connection with the bank robbery.
charge into: She charged into my room uninvited.
charge to: My wife charged all her shopping to my account.
charge with: They finally arrested the man and charged him with multiple murders.
choose between: She had to choose between giving up her career or hiring a nanny.
cite for: Lack of sleep was cited as the main reason for her frequent feelings of exhaustion.
clamour for: The crowd clamoured noisily for his instant resignation.
clear of: We are clearing the blocked drain of debris.
clutter up: My desk is always cluttered up with piles of papers, books and stationery.
coincide with: My view on this case coincides exactly with yours.
collect for: So far they have collected only a few signatures for the petition.
collide with: Her car collided with a taxi.
combine with: She successfully combines her career with family responsibilities.
comment on: People are always commenting on my big ears.
commit to: He ought to be committed to a mental asylum for the way he behaves.
communicate with: I’ve learnt how to use sign language to communicate with the chimpanzee.
commute between: People commute daily between their home and workplace.
commute from:. His sentence was later commuted from death sentence to life imprisonment.
compare to: Compared to the monkey, our bodies are less hairy.
compensate for: The company will compensate you for the loss of a thumb.
compete with: Small independent shops find it hard to compete with the large supermarkets.
compete against: Businesses have to compete against each other to survive.
complain about: My mother-in-law always complains about the weather.
compliment on: Many members of the audience complimented her on her speech.
comply with: Most of the time we have to comply with regulations.
compose of: How many letters does the longest word compose of?
conceal from: He had to conceal the truth from his wife.
concede to: The candidate conceded victory to his opponent.
conceive of: It is rather difficult to conceive of a crime-free environment.
concentrate on: It is hard to concentrate on my reading with the dogs barking loudly outside.
concern about: Some parents do not show concern about what their children do.
concern with: She does not concern herself with other people’s problems.
conclude by: He concluded his speech by thanking everyone for being present.
concur with: After the discussion, they concurred with each other on this issue.
confer with: The councilors are conferring with each other to find a solution to the problem.
confer on: An honorary degree was conferred on him by the university.
confess to: He confessed to being a double agent.
confine to: Dr Quack was confined to his room by a bout of flu.
confirm by: The public negative perception of the crisis was confirmed by the latest poll results.
confuse with: The teacher always confused one twin with the other – they look so alike.
congratulate on: They congratulate her on her superb performance on stage.
consent to: Her mother would not consent to her marriage.
consign to: The cases of wine have already been consigned to the wine merchant.
consort with: He was suspected of consorting with the enemy.
consult about: She consulted her doctor about the painful lump on her nose.
contract for: The company contracted for the supply of fuel.
contrast with: He contrasted his present girlfriend with his former one.
converge on: A huge crowd converged on the palace ground to listen to the President.
converse with: They find it hard to converse with each other as each holds a different view.
convert from: John was converted from paganism to Christianity at an early age.
convert into: We were shown the process of converting iron into steel.
convince by: He was not easily convinced by her arguments.
convince of: She tried to convince me of her non-involvement.
convulsed with: They were convulsed with laughter to see the circus clown perform.
cooperate with: The accused’s colleagues are cooperating fully with police investigation.
cope with: Although a single mother, she has no problem coping with a baby and a full-time job.
correlate with: Meagre wages were found to correlate with high staff turnover.
correspond to: Information on the first copy does not correspond to that on its duplicate copy.
correspond with: I still correspond regularly with her although we are both married.
couple with: Heavy drinking coupled with late nights caused his health to deteriorate rapidly.
cram for: Study throughout the year and you avoid cramming for the exam at the last minute.
cram with: She crammed her attic with a lot of worthless stuff.
crave for: Since the death of her mother, she has been craving desperately for affection.
credit to: The refund was credited to my account.
crow about: I still think passing my exam is nothing to crow about.
cry over: Why waste our time crying over him?
Sentence examples: prepositions after verbs (dabble in - furnish with)
dabble in: When I was little I used to dabble in water.
dance to: As soon as the music is played, couples got up and danced to it.
debate on: People are unhappy that there has been no public debate on these issues.
debate with: I see no point in debating with someone who holds extremist views.
declare to: He declared to us that he will be unable to chair the meeting.
declare on: The African nation has declared war on locusts which destroyed crops.
decrease from: The prison population has decreased from ten thousands to nine thousands.
decrease in: Human beings decrease in size as they grow older.
dedicate to: He has dedicated his entire life to helping the homeless.
deduce from: The police deduced from the evidence that more than one person were involved.
defeat by: Our team was defeated by two goals to one.
defraud of: The accountant defrauded his company of tens of thousands of dollars.
delegate to: An able administrator should be able to delegate authority to the right person.
deliberate about/on: They spent hours deliberating on the matter.
deliver to: The postman delivered the letter to her house.
demand from: They demanded an apology from me for something I said.
demote from: The soldier was demoted from sergeant to corporal.
denounce for: He was widely denounced for his deviant religious teachings.
depart from: The first train departs from Birmingham at 6.00 a.m. tomorrow.
deprive of: The prisoners of war were deprived of proper medical attention.
describe to: The main witness described briefly to the police what happened.
desist from: He was warned to desist from such undesirable behaviour.
despair of: She despaired of reviving the relationship that existed between her and Jack.
detect in: He detected a change in her attitude towards her.
deter from: Heavier penalties may deter motorists from committing more traffic offences.
deviate from: We had to deviate from our usual route due to a fallen tree across it.
die from: My dog died from its wounds sustained in a fight with another dog.
die of: More and more people are dying of cancer of various parts of their bodies.
differ from: Humans differ from monkeys in their not having a tail.
digress from: The story-teller digressed from his story for a while.
direct to: He directed the traveler to the railway station.
disabuse of: I didn’t say anything to disabuse him of that belief.
disapprove of: Mother strongly disapproves of her daughter dying her hair red and blue.
discharge from: He was certified clinically insane and discharged from the army.
disconcert by: We were disconcerted by her statement.
discourage by: She is easily discouraged by adverse criticisms.
discourage from: Incentives have been cited to discourage students from playing truant..
discriminate against: You should not discriminate against people from ethnic minorities.
discriminate between: We were unable to discriminate between fake and genuine goods.
disguise as: He disguised as a clown to entertain children.
disgusted by: They were disgusted by her antisocial behaviour.
dismiss from: She was unfairly dismissed from her job.
dispossess of: The captors dispossessed the captives of their valuables.
disqualify from: He was disqualified from participating for flouting a rule.
dissent form: John dissented from the majority opinion.
dissuade from: His mother dissuaded Mike from taking up car racing.
distinguish between: It is important to distinguish between fact and fiction in the film.
distinguish from: It’s difficult to distinguish one of the twins from the other.
distinguish in: He distinguished himself by scoring the highest number of goals in the season.
distract from: He is easily distracted from whatever he’s doing by the slightest noise.
diverge from: The path diverges from here and we don’t know which one to follow.
divert from: Traffic had to be diverted from the main road due to a major accident.
divide between/among: The money was to be divided equally among the children.
drive for: You look tired; why not let him drive the car for you?
drive to: I always like to drive to the sea-side.
elaborate on: He refused to elaborate on his next course of action.
eliminate from: Jack was eliminated from the competition by a stronger opponent.
embody in: The ideals of equality and freedom are embodied in the country’s constitution.
embroil in: Bob found himself unexpectedly embroiled in a heated argument.
emerge from: When the deer emerged from behind the bush, the hunter shot it dead.
emigrate from: When his family emigrated from their homeland, he was only five years old.
employ as: Ryan was employed as a security officer at the airport.
encompass by: The entire area was encompassed by a dense forest.
encourage by: We were greatly encouraged by the massive support for our proposal.
engross in: Granny often engrossed herself in her writing.
enjoin from: He was enjoined by law to stay away from her.
enrage by: She was enraged by his derogatory comments.
enrich by: My life has certainly been enriched by extensive reading.
entitle to: Everybody is entitled to his or her own opinion.
entrust to: The parents entrusted their baby to a nanny when they had to go overseas.
entrust with: I entrusted her with the responsibility to manage the business while I was away.
envelope in: The mountain peaks were enveloped in clouds.
equip for: I think we are well equipped for the climb.
escape from: The prisoner was captured two months after he escaped from the prison.
escape with: She was very lucky to escape with her life.
estimate at: The crowd of protesters was estimated at three thousands.
excel in: Johnny excels in a number of things including swimming.
exclude from: They exclude us from the trip.
excuse from: We requested to be excused from participating.
expatiate on: Once again he is expatiating on his favourite topic of communism.
expect from: Wives expect faithfulness from their husbands.
expect of: Faithfulness is expected of a husband.
expend on: The government has to date expended two million dollars on the housing project.
explain to: The mystery was not fully explained to the viewers.
export to: The country exports huge quantities of military wares to third world countries.
extract from: After five hours of interrogation, the police extracted a confession from him.
extricate from: Finally, he managed to extricate himself from a very difficult situation.
feel like: Sometimes I feel like taking a walk in the rain.
feel toward: I can’t describe how I feel toward that girl but I think I like her.
fight against: The defending champion is going to fight against the challenger tonight.
fight for: Freedom is something that is always worth fighting for.
figure on: I was figuring on meeting him tomorrow.
fill with: We have filled all the glasses with wine and are now ready to propose a toast.
focus on: The astronomer focused his telescope on the comet.
fool with: He fooled with his neighbour’s dog once too often and got badly bitten on the hand.
forget about: James drank a bit too much and forgot about catching the train home.
forgive for: I will not forgive him for not forgiving me for what I said about him.
fret about: She always has something to fret about.
frighten by: Mrs. Muffet was frightened by a hairy spider while sitting on a park bench.
frown at: The lady frowned at him for talking very loudly on his cell phone.
furnish with: Each of the six bedrooms is furnished with a big desk, swivel chair and soft rug.
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