Prepositions before Nouns

Instructions
The words used in the quiz are commonly found in formal writing. Learning how to spell and use these different prepositions properly will help improve your chances of being successful in your exams.

Some verbs and adjectives are followed by a certain preposition. To find which preposition(s) follow(s) the verb or adjective, look the verb or adjective up in an online dictionary, such as the Cambridge Dictionary, or use a corpus, such as the British National Corpus. Memorising these phrases instead of just the preposition alone is the most helpful.

Some common verb + preposition combinations + noun

About: worry, complain

• She worries about the future.
• He complained about homework.

To: contribute, refer

• I hope to contribute to the research.
• Please refer to the other example.

Some common adjective + preposition combinations + noun

Of: aware, capable

• She is aware of exam time.
• He is proud of his results.

To: accustomed, opposed

• You must get accustomed to the register.
• I am opposed to this view.