Prepositions Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The right word is since: 'This custom has been in vogue since time immemorial.'

Since time immemorial is a fixed phrase meaning from a time so long ago that no one remembers it. It goes naturally with the present perfect has been, which describes a state continuing from a past point up to now.

For is used with a length of time ('for centuries'), not with a starting point. Till marks an end point, and during marks a span within which something happens, neither of which fits a custom continuing to the present.

Answer: A

The sentence reads There is a wall around the garden.

Around means on every side of something, enclosing it, which is what a garden wall does.

On the garden would put the wall on top of the garden's surface, across the garden would mean a wall cutting through it from one side to the other, and into shows movement towards the inside of something, which a fixed wall does not have.

Answer: B

The sentence reads Where did you buy this book from?

From marks the source or starting point, here the shop or person the book came from. 'Where did you buy it from?' is the natural spoken English question.

For would ask about purpose or price, at needs a place after it (at which shop) rather than ending the question with 'where', and along describes movement beside something. None of them fits after 'buy this book' in this question.

Answer: D

The sentence reads Someone has pasted a notice on the wall.

On is used for something in contact with and supported by a surface, which is exactly where a pasted notice is.

Over the wall suggests above it or covering it, behind the wall would hide the notice from view, and with the wall makes no sense of location. A notice is pasted on a wall.

'Paste', 'stick' and 'hang' all take 'on' for a surface: a poster on the wall, a picture on the wall.

Answer: C

The sentence reads Distribute all these sweets among the children.

Among is used when something is shared out in a group of three or more, and 'the children' here is such a group. Between is the usual choice for dividing something between two people or things.

Under and over describe position, not sharing, so they cannot follow 'distribute' in this sense.

Answer: B

The sentence reads It is six by my watch.

By is used to mean 'according to', as in 'by my watch' or 'by my reckoning'. So the sentence says that, according to my watch, it is six o'clock.

Near six would be an approximation of time, not a source of it. On and at my watch would describe a position on the watch, not the time it shows, so they do not give the meaning the sentence needs.

Answer: C

The sentence reads We should always be kind to animals.

The adjective kind takes the preposition to when it names who receives the kindness: kind to animals, kind to strangers.

'Kind of' is used in 'it was kind of you', and the other choices, on, with and for, are not idiomatic after 'kind' in this sense.

Other adjectives of attitude take 'to' in the same way: cruel to, polite to, rude to.

Answer: B

The correct preposition is for: a cure for COVID 19.

The noun cure takes 'for' before the illness it treats: a cure for cancer, a cure for the common cold. The same pattern holds for remedy, treatment and vaccine.

'A cure of' is used only in the old sense of curing a person ('the cure of souls'), not a disease. 'Cure from' and 'cure about' are not idiomatic. Note that the verb works differently: we cure a patient of a disease, but the noun is a cure for it.

Answer: B

The correct preposition is with: infested with rats.

Infested is always followed by 'with' to name the pests that overrun a place: a house infested with termites, a field infested with locusts.

'Of', 'about' and 'from' do not combine with 'infested'. 'Infested by' is sometimes heard, but it is not among the options; 'with' is the standard form.

The past participle is used here as an adjective in the passive, and 'with' introduces the agent that does the infesting, as in 'crowded with', 'filled with' and 'covered with'.

Answer: D

The correct preposition is with: familiar with this locality.

A person is familiar with a thing, place or subject they know well: 'He is familiar with the rules'. The other construction reverses the roles: a thing is familiar to a person, as in 'This locality is familiar to him'.

Since the subject here is the person ('He'), 'to' is wrong. 'Familiar from' and 'familiar about' are not idiomatic.

Both patterns can describe the same situation: 'He is familiar with this locality' and 'This locality is familiar to him' mean the same.