Download B – Functions: Adjectival and adverbial uses of prepositional phrases

Introduction to English Phrases
Professor Flávia Cunha
1. NOUN PHRASES
Full References
The discussion of the choice of language noted that a single concept is often signaled by a variety of
words, each word possessing slightly different connotations. We can indicate that people are less than
content by saying they are angry, irate , incensed , perturbed , upset , furious , or mad. The broader our
vocabulary, the greater our options and the more precisely we can convey our meaning.
And yet no matter how wide our vocabulary may be, a single word is often insufficient. A single word, by
itself, can appear somewhat vague, no matter how specific that word might seem. The term “dog” may be
specific compared to “mammal,” but it is general compared to “collie.” And “collie” is general compared
to “Lassie.” Then again, many different dogs played Lassie!
Suppose you want to indicate a female person across the room. If you don’t know her
name, what do you say?
That girl.
If there were more than one, this alone would be too general. It lacks specificity.
The girl in the blue Hawaiian shirt…
The taller of the two cheerleaders by the water cooler…
When a single term will not supply the reference we need, we add terms to focus or
limit a more general term. Instead of referring to drugs in a discussion, we might refer
to hallucinogenic drugs. We might distinguish between hard drugs and prescription
drugs. In so doing we modify the notion of a drug to describe the specific one, or ones,
we have in mind. (Then again, at times we are forced to use many words when we
cannot recall the one that will really do, as when we refer to that funny device doctors
pump up on your arm to measure blood pressure instead of a sphygmomanometer).
Nouns
To begin our discussion, we must first establish the notion of a noun.
English teachers commonly identify nouns by their content. They describe nouns as
words that "identify people, places, or things," as well as feelings or ideas—words like
salesman, farm, balcony, bicycle, and trust. If you can usually put the word a or the
before a word, it’s a noun. If you can make the word plural or singular, it's a noun. But
don't worry...all that is needed at the moment is a sense of what a noun might be.
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Noun Pre-Modifiers
What if a single noun isn't specific enough for our purposes?
modify a noun to construct a more specific reference?
How then do we
English places modifiers before a noun. Here we indicate the noun that is at the center
of a noun phrase by an asterisk (*) and modifiers by arrows pointed toward the noun
they modify.
white house
*
large
man
*
Modification is a somewhat technical term in linguistics. It does not mean to change
something, as when we "modify" a car or dress. To modify means to limit, restrict,
characterize, or otherwise focus meaning. We use this meaning throughout the
discussion here.
Modifiers before the noun are called pre-modifiers.
noun together form a noun phrase .
NOUN
All of the pre-modifiers that are present and the
PHRASE
pre-modifiers noun
*
By contrast, languages such as Spanish and French place modifiers after the noun
casa blanca
white house
*
homme grand
big man
*
The most common pre-modifiers are adjectives, such as red , long , hot . Other types of
words often play this same role. Not only articles
the
water
*
2
but also verbs
running
water
*
and possessive pronouns
her
thoughts
*
Premodifiers limit the reference in a wide variety of ways.
Order:
second, last
Location:
kitchen, westerly
Source or Origin:
Canadian
Color:
red, dark
Smell:
acrid, scented
Material:
metal, oak
Size:
large, 5-inch
Weight:
heavy
Luster:
shiny, dull
A number of pre-modifiers must appear first if they appear at all.
Specification:
a, the, every
Designation:
this, that, those, these
Ownership/Possessive:
my, your, its, their, Mary’s
Number:
one, many
These words typically signal the beginning of a noun phrase.
Some noun phrases are short:
the table

*
3
Some are long:
the second shiny red Swedish touring sedan
*
a large smelly red Irish setter
*
my carved green Venetian glass salad bowl
*
the three old Democratic legislators
*
Notice that each construction would function as a single unit within a sentence. (We
offer a test for this below,)
The noun phrase is the most common unit in English sentences. That prevalence can
be seen in the following excerpt from an example from the section on the choice of
language:
The stock market’s summer swoon turned into a dramatic rout
Monday as the Dow Jones industrial average plunged.
The stock market’s summer swoon turned into a dramatic rout
*
*
Monday as the Dow Jones industrial average plunged.
*
*
To appreciate the rich possibilities of pre-modifiers, you have only to see how much
you can expand a premodifier in a noun phrase:
the book
the history book
the American history book
the illustrated American history book
the recent illustrated American history book
the recent controversial illustrated American history book
the recent controversial illustrated leather bound American history book
Noun Post-Modifiers
We were all taught about pre -modifiers: adjectives appearing before a noun in school.
Teachers rarely speak as much about adding words after the initial reference. Just as
we find pre -modifiers, we also find post -modifiers—modifiers coming after a noun.
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The most common post-modifier is prepositional phrases:
the book on the table
*
civil conflict in Africa
*
the Senate of the United States
*
Post-modifiers can be short
a dream deferred
*
or long, as in Martin Luther King Jr.’s reference to
a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves
*
and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together
at a table of brotherhood.
What does King have?
A dream?
No. He has a specific dream. Once we are
sensitive to the existence of noun phrases, we recognize a relatively simple structure to
the sentence. Here we recognize a noun phrase with a very long post-modifier—thirtytwo words to be exact.
We do not get lost in the flow of words, but recognize structure. At the point that we recognize structure
within the sentence, we recognize meaning. (Notice also that post-modifiers often include clauses which
themselves include complete sentences, as in the last example above.)
Post-modifiers commonly answer the traditional news reporting questions of who ,
what , where , when , how , or why .
Noun post-modifiers commonly take the
following forms:
prepositional phrase
the dog in the store
*
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_ing phrase
the girl running to the store
*
_ed past tense
the man wanted by the police
*
wh - clauses
the house where I was born
*
that/which clauses
the thought that I had yesterday
*
If you see a preposition, wh - word ( which, who, when where ), -ing verb form, or that or which after a
noun, you can suspect a post-modifier and the completion of a noun phrase.
The noun together with all pre- and post-modifiers constitutes a single unit, a noun
phrase that indicates the complete reference. Any agreement in terms of singular/plural
is with the noun at the center.
The boys on top of the house are .............
*
Here the noun at the center of the noun phrase is plural, so a plural form of the verb is
called for (not a singular form to agree with the singular house) .
The Pronoun Test
In school, we were taught that pronouns replaced nouns. Not so. Pronouns replace
complete noun phrases. Pronoun replacement thus offers a test of a complete noun
phrase. Consider:
The boy ate the apple in the pie.
What did he eat?
The boy ate
the apple in the pie.
*
Want proof? Introduce the pronoun “it” into the sentence.
noun, we’d get
*The boy ate
If a pronoun truly replaces a
the it in the pie.
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No native speaker would say that!
The boy ate
They’d say
it.
The pronoun replaces the complete noun phrase, the apple in the pie .
This pronoun substitution test can be particularly useful. Not all prepositional phrases after a noun are
necessarily part of the noun phrase – they could be later predicate or sentence modifiers. In other words,
we must not only identify noun phrases, we must parse out other material, and in that act recognize
broader aspects of sentence structure.
Discuss the three sentences:
1.
2.
3.
1. The boy ate the apple in the pie.
2. The boy ate the apple in the summer.
3. The boy ate the apple in a hurry.
Only the first includes a noun phrase longer than two words: the apple in the pie.
Boxes Within Boxes: Testing for a Complete Noun Phrase
The goal of reading, we noted above, is not to recognize grammatical features, but to
find meaning. The goal is not to break a sentence or part of a sentence into as small
pieces as possible, but to break it into chunks in such a way that fosters the discovery of
meaning.
Consider one of the examples above of a prepositional phrase as a post-modifier:
the book on the table
Book is a noun at the center of the noun phrase. But table is also a noun.
analyze the noun phrase completely, on all levels, we find:
If we
the book on the table
*
on the table

*
We can have prepositional phrase within prepositional phrase within prepositional
phrases:
…the book on the table in the kitchen…
*
on the table in the kitchen…
*
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in the kitchen …
*
We don't want to recognize every little noun phrase. We want to recognize the larger
ones that shape the meaning.
The book is not "on the table." The book is "on the
table in the kitchen."
The Senate of the United States is composed of two legislators from each State.
Question: Who is in the Senate?
a) two legislators
b) two legislators from each State?
The answer is b). The full Senate consists of two from each state (100 people), not
simply two! We read the sentence as
The Senate of the United States
is composed of
two legislators from each State.
*
If we read the sentence as
The Senate of the United States
is composed of two legislators
from each State.
we miss the meaning.
Earlier we noted that pre -modifiers in noun phrase can be expanded to significant
length. For the most part, we increased the length of the pre-modifier by adding
additional adjectives, a word or two at a time. Noun phrase post -modifiers can be
expanded to much greater lengths. We can add long phrases which themselves contain
complete sentences.
the park where I hit a home run when I was in the ninth grade .
*
The sentence within the post-modifier is printed in boldface.
The following sentence indicates something was lost.
What was lost?
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He lost the book by Mark Twain about the Mississippi that he took out of the
library on Sunday before the game so that he could study during half time when
his brother was getting popcorn.
The answer is the complete phrase
……… the book by Mark Twain about the Mississippi that he took out of the
library on Sunday before the game so that he could study during half time when
his brother was getting popcorn.
The base term book is modified as to author (Mark Twain), topic (about the
Mississippi), as well as intent or purpose (that he took out of the library on Sunday
before the game so that he could study during half time when his brother was getting
popcorn.) We assume that he has another book by Twain about the Mississippi that he
did not lose. Want proof? What would be replaced by “it”?
The full reference of a noun phrase is often “conveniently” ignored in movie
advertisements. Janet Maslin, movie critic for The New York Times , complained when
an advertisement for the video tape of John Grisham’s "The Rainmaker" quoted her as
describing the movie as director Francis Ford Coppola’s “best and sharpest film,” when,
in fact, her review stated:
John Grisham’s "The Rainmaker" is Mr. Coppola’s best and sharpest film in
years.
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2. ADJECTIVES/ADJECTIVE PHRASES
1) Adjective Phrase



The head of the adjective phrase is the adjective.
It usually modifies nouns (or pronouns which stand in for them).
The words that modify the adjective are the adverbs.
E.g.:
He was so very happy.
He was happy.
2) Characteristics of the Adjective
E.g.:
(a) She’s a pretty girl. (it qualifies a noun, pre-modifying it)
(b) The girls are pretty. (it also modifies a noun, but here it comes after a linking verb – or
copula – standing as a complement of the subject – “predicativo do sujeito”)
(c) She looks quite young for her age. (Here an adverb pre-modifies the adjective)
(d) She’s more beautiful than her sister is. (Adjectives can also come in comparative and
superlative forms, but they do not vary in degree or gender)
3) Syntactic Functions of Adjectives
(1) ATTRIBUTIVE (Pre-modifying nouns)
E.g.:
The beautiful painting.
A mere child.
His main argument.
My former friend.
A medical school.
These are all examples of noun phrases that include an adjective phrase. In these cases,
the adjective phrases are only the adjectives themselves, for the words that come in front of
them are not adverbs.
(2) PREDICATIVE (They come after a linking verb “be”, “become”, etc.– predicative
function: complement of the subject or of the object)
E.g.:
[I] feel awful. (complement of the subject)
I consider [him] foolish. (complement of the object)
[That he needs it] is obvious. (complement of the subject, in this case, a subject clause)
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[To drive a car] is dangerous. (complement of the subject, in this case, a subject clause)
They considered [what he did] foolish. (complement of the object, in this case, an object
clause)
They considered [working so hard] foolish. (complement of the object, in this case, an
object clause)
[He] is seriously ill. (complement of the subject)
Other examples: [We] are fond of her.
[I] am afraid that [you] are mistaken.
(3) POST-MODIFIER
E.g.:
The people (who were) involved were reported to the police.
(Post-modifier: Reduced relative clause)
The men (who were) present were his supporters.
(Post-modifier: Reduced relative clause)
Anyone intelligent can do it.
I want to try something larger.
(Adjectives come after indefinite pronouns)
- Some adjectives have different meanings when used as post-modifiers:
The president elect. (yet to take office)
The city of London proper. (in the sense of “itself”)
- Legal terms usually come from Latin and therefore keep their original structure:
Attorney general.
Court martial.
Heir apparent.
- Many “a” adjectives occur after nouns:
The house ablaze is next door to mine.
The boats afloat were not seen.
- The same goes in the case of: present, involved and concerned.
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The men present.
The people involved.
- Adjectives ending in “-able” may take both positions (sometimes with some difference
in meaning):
visible stars & stars visible
actors suitable & suitable actors
- Some adjective phrases (underlined) followed by a complement cannot be placed
before the noun:
The boys easiest to teach were in my class.
They have a house larger than ours.
These boxes are too heavy to carry.
The box is so heavy that I can’t carry it. (“that clause” as a complement)
- Some unusual constructions can also be found only in the singular, when the indefinite
article “a” can be placed.
This is too heavy a box...
He was so eloquent a speaker...
- Other possible constructions:
Students brave enough to attempt the course deserve to succeed.
Brave enough students deserve to succeed.
The (rather) timid soldiers approached their officer.
Soldiers timid or cowardly don’t fight well. (coordination of adjectives “or”)
A man usually honest will sometimes cheat.
(4) HEAD OF A NOUN PHRASE (Adjectives as nouns of a noun phrase. Often
adjectives denoting nationalities or with abstract references)
E.g.:
The rich will help the poor.
We will nurse your sick and your hungry.
He’s acceptable to both old and young.
You British and you French ought to be allies.
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The clever Swiss have preserved their neutrality for centuries.
The industrious Dutch.
The very best is yet to come.
He ventured into the unknown.
He admires the mystical.
(5) VERBLESS ADJECTIVE CLAUSE (It generally refers to the subject)
E.g.:
Nervous, the man opened the letter.
The man, (who was) nervous, opened the letter.
The man restrained the woman, aggressive. (Post-modifies “man”, the subject)
The man restrained the woman, who was aggressive. (Post-modifies “woman”, the
object)
Strange, it was she who initiated the divorce proceedings.
Most important, his report offered prospects of a great profit.
(6) EXCLAMATORY ADJECTIVE SENTENCE (All of them are adjective phrases)
E.g.:
How good of you!
How wonderful!
Excellent!
4. Adjective Complementation
1. ADJECTIVE + PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES
She was bad at Mathematics.
Are you interested in languages?
Are you conscious of the difficulties?
2. ADJECTIVE + THAT-CLAUSE
I’m sure (that) he’ll be late.
We’re glad (that) you can come.
It’s true (that) she never turned up.
It’s possible (that) he’ll be a bit late.
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The two last examples are introduced by a grammatical subject (“it”) and therefore the
“that-clause” becomes a “notional subject”.
3. ADJECTIVE + TO-INFINITIVE CLAUSE
He was splendid to wait.
He is hard to convince.
He was furious to hear about it.
He was slow to react.
It is important to have warm clothing. (to-inf. clause = notional subject)
5. Subclassification of Adjectives
(1) ACCORDING TO SYNTACTIC FUNCTION
a) Intensifying Adjectives:
A slight effort.
A clear failure.
An outright lie.
Plain nonsense.
A complete fool.
A perfect idiot.
b) Restrictive Adjectives:
A certain person.
The main reason.
The precise reason.
The only occasion.
The sole argument.
The very man.
c) Related to adverbials:
My former friends.
Past students.
A possible friend.
The present king.
A hard worker.
A good thief.
d) Related to nouns:
A criminal lawyer.
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An atomic scientist.
A woolen dress.
(2) SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION
a)
Stative
X
Dynamic
(On a permanent basis) (Specific of a time)
He’s being careful. / Be careful! (both are dynamic in these contexts)
Be tall! (IMPOSSIBLE = “Tall” cannot be a dynamic adjective).
He is smart. (stative)
He is being smart. (dynamic)
b) Gradable X Non-Gradable
Atomic scientist. (non-gradable)
A very nice moment. (gradable)
c) Inherent X Non-Inherent
That old man. (Inherent = it characterizes the man directly)
An old friend. (Non-inherent = it doesn’t characterize the friend directly, it qualifies the
“friendship”)
The wrong candidate. (Non-inherent = the choice is wrong, not the person)
A firm handshake. (Inherent)
A firm friend. (Non-inherent)
A true report. (Inherent = the contrary of false)
A true scholar (Non-inherent = it is not the contrary of false. Here “true” means “we
can truly say that he is a scholar”)
6. Order of adjectives
DETERMINER + opinion/ size/ shape/ age/ color/ origin/ material/ denominal + NOUN
(or number)
A
beautiful big
oval old blue Chinese wooden
coffee
table.
(All, this, that, two,
ten, etc.)
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3. WHAT IS AN ADVERB?
Basically, most adverbs tell you how, where, or when something is done. In other words, they
describe the manner, place, or time of an action.
Here are some examples:
Type
Adverb
Example
Manner
slowly
Tom drives slowly.
Place
here
The party is going to take place here.
Time
yesterday
I called him yesterday
Many adverbs end with the suffix -LY. Most of these are created by adding -LY to the end of an
adjective, like this:
Adjective
Adverb
slow
slowly
delightful
delightfully
hopeless
hopelessly
aggressive
aggressively
However, this is NOT a reliable way to find out whether a word is an adverb or not, for two
reasons: many adverbs do NOT end in -LY (some are the same as the adjective form), and many words
which are NOT adverbs DO end in -LY (such as kindly, friendly, elderly and lonely, which are
adjectives). Here are some examples of adverbs which are the same as adjectives:
Adjective
Adverb
fast
fast
late
late
early
early
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The best way to tell if a word is an adverb is to try making a question, for which the answer is
the word. If the question uses how, where or when, then the word is probably an adverb. Here is an
example:
Word in context
Question
Adverb?
John plays tennis
aggressively.
How does John play
tennis?
Yes -- uses HOW.
They have a small house.
What kind of house do
they have?
No -- uses WHAT KIND OF, so this is
an adjective.
Steven called the police
immediately.
When did Steven call the
police?
Yes -- uses WHEN.
EXERCISE 1:
Is the underlined word an adverb or not?
1. Be careful! The iron is very hot.
2. A microwave can cook food fast.
3. Jun sang very loudly.
4. This bacon is lovely!
5. Joe dresses very informally.
6. She's a very strange woman!
7. I'm free tomorrow. Shall we meet at five?
8. Jan is very helpful if you have a problem with your computer.
9. Sam walks very shakily, because he's getting old.
10. I get up early every morning.
2. What is an adverb phrase?
An adverb may be a single word, such as quickly, here or yesterday. However, adverbs can also
be phrases, some made with prepositions, others made with infinitives. This page will explain the basic
types of adverb phrases (sometimes called "adverbial phrases") and how to recognize them.
In an ADVERB PHRASE, the Head word is an adverb. Most commonly, the pre-modifier is
another adverb phrase:
e.g.
He graduated [very recently].
She left [quite suddenly].
In the section on adverbs above, you learned about three basic types of adverb: manner, place
and time adverbs. There are at least two more that are important. Frequency adverbs answer the question
"How often?" about an action. Purpose adverbs answer the question "Why?". Here are some examples:
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Type
Adverb
Example
Frequency
usually
Mary usually gets up early.
Purpose
for fun
I write computer programs for fun.
While the first example, usually, is a single word, the second example (for fun) is a phrase
consisting of a preposition and a noun - in other words, it is a prepositional phrase which functions as an
adverb phrase.
All kinds of adverbial phrases can be made with prepositions. Here are some examples:
Type
Adverb Phrase
Example
Manner
with a hammer
The carpenter hit the nail with a hammer.
Place
next door
The woman who lives next door is a doctor.
Time
before the holidays
We must finish our project before the holidays.
Frequency
every month
Sally buys two CDs every month.
Purpose
for his mother
John bought the flowers for his mother.
Adverb phrases made with infinitives Another kind of adjective phrase can be made with the
infinitive form of a verb. Most of these phrases express purpose, as in these examples:
Type
Adverb Phrase
Example
Purpose
to buy a car
I'm saving my money to buy a car.
Purpose
to support the team
The students all showed up to support the team.
Purpose
to show to her mother
Sally brought a painting home from school to show to her mother.
EXERCISE 2:
Complete using an adverb phrase.
I go running ___________ with my friends from the jogging club.__________, we were doing a fivekilometer run from downtown Victoria through Beacon Park. As we were running ___________ at the
edge of the sea, someone shouted "Look!" There was a grey whale out in the ocean, about a hundred
meters from the shore. We all stopped running ____________. It was swimming__________, its tail
flipping out of the water every few seconds.
Hints:
along the cliffs
with a rolling motion
every weekend
last Saturday
to look at the whale
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4. PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES
A – Definition:
A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition followed by a prepositional complement,
which is usually:
a) a noun phrase – e.g. There will be 1400 delegates at the conference.
She studies at Veiga de Almeida University.
b) a wh- clause – e.g. No conclusion can be drawn from what the press reported yesterday.
Please, pay attention to what I am saying.
c) an –ing clause – e.g. By signing the treaty both nations have made an effort towards peace.
By traveling abroad she will improve her english.
Compare the complements:
Eg.
He was surprised
at her remark.
(a)
at what he said.
(b)
at her saying this.
(c)
There two categories of nominal clause which cannot directly follow a preposition:
a - That-clauses – e.g. He was surprised that she said this.
b - To-infinitive verb – e.g. He was surprised to hear her say this.
IMPORTANT: With such clauses the preposition is omitted.
Sometimes, the addition of the fact (that) can serve to convert the that-clause into a form
suitable for a prepositional complement:
eg.
that there were still many problems.
She was aware
of the fact that there were still many problems.
of the many problems which still existed.
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B – Functions: Adjectival
and adverbial uses of prepositional phrases
A prepositional phrase, which has a preposition as its head, can function as an adjective or
adverb.
Let´s think about the functions of the two preposition phrases in this sentence:
The boy from the shop is waiting at the corner
- from the shop :The head of this prepositional phrase is the preposition from. The function of
the phrase is adjectival - it does the work of an adjective by describing the noun boy. It
modifies the noun, answering the question: which boy?
- at the corner :The head of this prepositional phrase is the preposition at. The function of the
phrase is adverbial - it does the work of an adverb by modifying the verb waiting. It answers
the question: where is he waiting?
Adverbial prepositional phrases, like adverbs, modify verbs, adjectives, adverbs or
prepositions, and answer the same range of questions as adverbs:
How? in a hurry, with enthusiasm
When? after the party, at midnight
Where? at the station, near London
Why? for my sake, because of the cold
Adjectival prepositional phrases, like adjectives, modify nouns: for example, they tell you
which boy we are talking about:
The boy in a hurry is waiting over there.
The boy at the station told me.
The boy from London lives here.
The boy with red hair is called Ginger.
The boy behind the shed is smoking.
Important: as some of these examples show, the same phrase can be adjectival or adverbial,
depending on the position it takes in the sentence.
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About the Prepositions:
Some English verbs, adjectives, and nouns must also be followed by specific
prepositions. Unfortunately, prepositional use is idiomatic; it is not based on rules.
An
alphabetical list of verbs, adjectives, and nouns and their correct prepositions is placed below in
order to help. When more than one preposition can be used with a given verb, adjective, or
noun, the different preposition choices are separated by slash (/) marks. Parentheses show the
types of words that may follow a given preposition. Brackets indicate meaning. Some verbs are
in their present tense form; others are in their past tense form.
a.
Prepositions That Follow Verb
Absolved from (wrong doing)
Absolved of (financial liability)
Accompanied by
Accused of
Acquainted with
Acquiesced in/to
Adhered to
Affected by
Agree on (a contract, a date)
Agree to [means “to acquiesce]
Agree with [means “to be in accord with” or
“have the same opinion”]
Allude to
Apply for (a position)
Apply to
Approve of [means to find something good or
suitable]
Attribute to
Based on/upon
Blamed for
Caused by
Charge at/toward/into
Charge with (murder)
Commit to
Communicate to [means to express thoughts
or feelings]
Fill in (a hole or crack)
Filled out (an application)
Filled up (a tank)
Filled with (sound, light, emotion)
Finished with
Founded by (a person)
Founded in (a date)
Founded on [means the main idea that
something else develops from]
Communicate with [used when two people
understand thoughts or feelings]
Compare to [used with similarities]
Compare with [used with similarities and
differences]
Compensate for
Compete for/against
Compete with
Composed of
Confined to
Consent to
Contrast with [used with differences]
Convicted of (crimes)
Convicted on (counts)
Cooperate with
Covered with
Decide for/against (the plaintiff)
Decide in favor of (the plaintiff)
Decide on (a date)
Derived from
Discriminate against
Distinguish between/from
Divided into
Divorced from
Experiment with (drugs)
Participate in
Prevent from
Prohibit from
Protect against/from
Questioned about/concerning
Reach (a conclusion) about
Reach for (a gun)
Recover from
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Free from/to
Gain access to
Gain access to
Impressed by/with
Informed about/or [means to give
information]
Informed on [used when information is given
to police or an enemy]
Interfere with
Object to
b.
Rely on/upon
Rescue from
Resigned from
Respond to
Save for [means to keep money to use for a
specific purpose]
Save from (harm or danger)
Suffer from
Suspected of
Worry about
Prepositions That Follow Adjectives
Accustomed to
Afraid of
Amazed at
Angry about/at/over/with
Anxious about
Appreciative of
Appropriate for
Ashamed of
Averse to
Aware of
Bad at
Bored with
Capable of
Careful about/with
Certain about/of
Clever at
Comparable to/with
Concerned about/with
Confident about
Confused about
Conscious of
Consistent with
Critical of/to
Known for
Liable for (damages) [means “to be likely to”]
responsible for”]
Liable to [means “to be likely to”]
Married to
Nervous about
Oblivious of/to (danger)
Opposed to
Proud of
Qualified for
Quick to
Dedicated to
Delighted at/by/with
Dependent on/upon
Different from
Eager for/to
Enthusiastic about
Excited about/by
Experienced in
Familiar to/with
Famous for
Far above/below/from
Fearful of
Fond of
Glad about
Good at/for
Grateful for
Guilty of
Happy about/with
Hopeful about/of
Inconsistent with
Innocent of
Interested in
Jealous of
Regardless of
Related to
Responsible for
Satisfied with
Sensitive to/about
Similar to
Sorry about/for
Suitable for
Tired of
Tolerant of
Upset about/by/over
Used to
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c.
Prepositions That Follow Nouns
Access to
Amendment to
Approval of
Attempt at
Authority on [area of expertise]
Belief in
Choice between/of
Commitment to
Complaint about/against
Concern about/for/over
Confidence in
Confusion about/as to/over
Dedication of/to
Difference among (three or more)
Difference between (two)
Division between/of
Doubt about/as to
Effect of/on
Experience in/of/with
Explanation for/of
Fear for/of
Idea about/for/of
Knowledge about/of
d.
Liability for
Means of
Need for
In need of
Objection to
Opposition to
Participation in
Possibility for/of
Preference for
Protection against/from
Process of
Protection against/from
Reason for
Reference to
Reliance on
Respect for/of
Response to
Responsibility for
Satisfaction from/in/of
Search for
Skill at/in
Success as/in
Prepositions in Idioms
During the course of (his employment)
In circumstances like (our case)
In contrast
In favor of
In light of
On the contrary
e.
Some adjectives can be followed by either of two or more prepositions
annoyed about (something) - The Ministry was annoyed about criticism in the paper
annoyed with (someone) - They were annoyed with us for charging them
good/bad at (something) - I'm very bad at mathematics.
good/bad for (something) - The expected cut in interest will be good for industry.
good/bad with (something) - She should be in Marketing. She's very good with customers.
responsible to (someone) - The Export Manager is responsible to the Sales Director.
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responsible for (something) - He is responsible for preparing handouts.
sorry about (something) - I am sorry about the job. It's a shame you didn't get it.
sorry for (doing something) - He said he was sorry for keeping me waiting.
(to feel) sorry for (someone) - I feel very sorry for Peter. He has been fired.
Adjective / Preposition Combinations - 'of / on / to / with'
a - Of
Use the following adjectives followed by 'of'. Each group of adjectives have the same or related
meanings. Use the verb 'to be' with these expressions.

nice / kind / good / generous of someone (to do something)
Example: It was very nice of him to buy me a present.

mean of someone (to do something)
Example: It was very mean of Susan to say that to Tom.

stupid / silly of someone (to do something)
Example: I'm afraid it was stupid of me to come.

intelligent / clever / sensible of someone (to do something)
Example: That was quite sensible of Tom.

polite of someone (to do something)
Example: It was very polite of Peter to invite my sister to the party.

impolite / rude of someone (to do something)
Example: I can't believe how rude it was of Jack to shout at his daughter in front of all those
people.

unreasonable of someone (to do something)
Example: Don't be so hard on yourself! It's unreasonable of you to expect to understand
everything immediately.

proud of something or someone
Example: I'm very proud of my daughter's wonderful progress in school.

ashamed of someone or something
Example: She's ashamed of her bad grades.

jealous / envious of someone or something
Example: She's really envious of her sister's wealth.

aware / conscious of something
Example: Teens are often overly conscious of skin blemishes.

capable / incapable of something
Example: Peter is quite capable of conducting the meeting on his own.
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
fond of someone or something
Example: She is so fond of her niece.

short of something
Example: I'm afraid I'm short of cash tonight.

tired of something
Example: I'm tired of your complaining!
b - On
Use the following adjective followed by 'on'. Use the verb 'to be' with these expressions.

to be keen on something
Example: She is very keen on horses.
c - To
Use the following adjectives followed by 'to'. Each group of adjectives have the same or related
meanings. Use the verb 'to be' with these expressions.

married / engaged to someone
Example: Jack is engaged to Jill.

nice / kind / good / generous to someone
Example: She was very generous to me when I was staying with her.

mean / impolite / rude / unpleasant / unfriendly / cruel to someone
Example: How can you be so unfriendly to your neighbors?

similar to something
Example: His painting is similar to Van Gough.
d - With
Use the following adjectives followed by 'with'. Each group of adjectives have the same or
related meanings. Use the verb 'to be' with these expressions.

angry / annoyed / furious with someone for something
Example: I'm furious with my brother for having lied to me!

delighted / pleased / satisfied with something
Example: He is quite satisfied with his results.

disappointed with something
Example: She's really disappointed with her new car.
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
bored / fed up with something
Example: Let's go. I'm fed up with this party.

crowded with (people, tourists, etc.)
Example: Disneyland is crowded with tourists in July.
* EXERCISES:
I – Add a noun phrase, an adjective phrase or a prepositional phrase to the linking verbs.
1. She was __________________________________________________________________.
2. The people on the street seemed ______________________________________________.
3. The sandwich I had for lunch tasted____________________________________________.
4. The film sounds ____________________________________________________________.
5. My parents felt _______________________________________when I entered the
university.
II – Add a prepositional phrase to the following.
1. Wh-clause:
a. She wanted to thank him ______________________________________________________
b. I want to apologize ___________________________________________________________
2. Noun Phrase:
a. That people are bad _________________________________________________________
b. Don’t be jealous _____________________________________________________________
3. ING-clause
a. My neighbors are very happy __________________________________________________
b. The two guys are addicted ____________________________________________________
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