Use of prepositions after verbs & adjectives – part 1

Level: B1

PREPOSITIONS AFTER VERBS

This is the most commonly used verbs after the preposition:

apologise FOR	I apologised for my rudeness.
apply FOR	I applied for the job and got it.
believe IN	Do you believe in ghost?
care FOR	Would you care for a cup of tea?
consist OF	The book consists of 20 chapters.
depend ON	My future depends on that company.
die OF	She died of tuberculosis
dream ABOUT	Last night I dreamt about a trip to Africa.
dream OF	He dreams of living in America.
happen TO	What happened to your old bike?
hear ABOUT	Have you heard about their divorce?
laugh AT	Don’t laugh at me. I know I look silly.
listen TO	When I arrived she was listening to classical music.
look AT	Look at those clouds! They remind me of sheep.
pay FOR	I’ll pay for dinner.
remind OF	He reminds me of his father.
shout AT	Don’t shout at me.
smile AT	She smiled at me and left the room.
spend ON	I spent all my money on CDs.
think ABOUT	What are you thinking about?
think OF	What do you think of my haircut?
throw AT	The boy threw the ball at me, but I failed to catch it.
wait FOR	I’ve been waiting for him all morning.

In English, there is a group of verbs that we use without prepositions.

The most commonly used are:

answer	She didn’t answer my question.
discuss	We need to discuss our problems.
enter	He entered the building through the main entrance.
leave	I left the room as soon as she came in.
call / phone	Ryan phoned me earlier that morning.
reach	We reached Madrid on 7th of July.

These are the most popular prepositions used after adjectives:

angry WITH (sb) FOR (sth)	I’m angry with you for doing that!
afraid/scared OF	I’m afraid/scared of spiders.
bored/ fed up WITH	I’m fed up/ bored with watc.hingTV all night.
disappointed WITH	His parents were disappointed with him.
famous FOR	The city is famous for its museums.
full OF	This sentence is full of mistakes.
good/bad AT	Ken is very good at languages.
interested IN	Are you interested in photography?
jealous OF	She’s so jealous of her husband that she doesn’t even allow him to meet with his colleagues.
proud OF	She’s very proud of her children.
responsible FOR	We are all responsible for what happened last night.
shocked AT/ BY	I was shocked at the news of her death.
similar TO	You are very similar in appearance to your mother.
sorry ABOUT / FOR doing	I’m sorry about the accident. I’m sorry for breaking your favourite cup.
surprised AT / BY	Are you surprised by the news?
tired OF	She was tired of doing the same thing every day.
worried ABOUT	I’m worried about you, Max. You look ill.

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