Prepositions And The Words That Use
Them
Many idiomatic expressions tested on the exam involve
prepositions. There's no overarching grammatical rule that tells you which
prepositions go with which verbs. Again, the rules are determined by usage,
so you'll have to "listen" to the expression and determine if the verb
is followed by the correct preposition.
Be on the lookout for commonly tested prepositions
like "of," "at," "by," "in," "from," "to," and "for". If you have difficulty
determining whether a usage is correct, try testing out the idiom in a
simpler version of the sentence.
Example:
Although he was considered as a leading proponent for the controversial
new initiative, the professor nevertheless sought refuge from the media
uproar.
The sentence above becomes:
The professor was considered as a proponent.
Does anything sound unusual? Could this sentence be
worded differently? In fact, to be, not as, is the correct
idiom:
The professor was considered to be a proponent.
If you don't have a lot of faith in your ability to
hear idiom errors, keep a running list of verbs and the prepositions that
they use.
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