Prepositions Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The answer is at: Open your book at page ten and start reading.

In British and Indian English a book is opened at a particular page, the point at which it lies open. The same preposition is used in open the book at chapter three.

On is used for where something is printed (the table is on page ten), not for where a book is opened, and upon is only a more formal form of on. Over makes no sense here, since nothing is placed above the page.

Answer: B

The answer is with: Each boy and each girl was presented with sweets.

The verb present takes two patterns: present something to someone, or present someone with something. Here the subject of the passive sentence is the people who received the gift (each boy and each girl), so the thing given must follow with.

To would be right only if the sweets were the subject: Sweets were presented to each boy and each girl. Away belongs with give away, not present, and the sentence cannot do without a preposition, so 'no preposition needed' is wrong.

Answer: C

The commission's key gives (C) for.

Here the preposition links the prize to its field: a prize is awarded for an achievement or subject, so 'awarded the Nobel Prize for literature' reads naturally and is the form the key takes. 'Prize for' also matches how the other Nobel fields are commonly phrased in ordinary prose, such as the prize for peace or for physics.

Option A, 'in', is also seen, because the Nobel Foundation names the award the Nobel Prize in Literature, and this is the reason a careful reader may hesitate. Of the two the key prefers 'for', and the other options fail outright: 'of literature' and 'about literature' do not say what the prize was awarded for.

Answer: B

The answer is to: Does the old lady object to my smoking cigarettes?

The verb object is always followed by to when it names the thing disliked: object to the plan, object to noise. Because to here is a preposition, not part of an infinitive, it is followed by a noun or a gerund, which is why the sentence says my smoking and not to smoke.

Object on, object of and object for are not used. The noun object can take of (the object of the exercise), but that is a different word and a different meaning.

Answer: C

The answer is for: We searched for happiness in vain.

Search for means to try to find something you are looking for, here happiness. In vain means without success.

Without a preposition, search takes the place being examined as its object (they searched the house), which does not fit happiness. Search into is not standard; the idea of investigating is expressed by inquire into or look into. After goes with verbs such as seek after or hanker after, not with search, and in would mean looking inside happiness for something else.

Answer: A

The answer is in: He lives in Church Street. This is the Commission's key and the usual British usage.

In British English a street is treated as an area inside which a person lives, so in is used with the name of a street: in Church Street. At is used with a full street address with a number (at 12 Church Street), and to shows movement towards a place, not where someone lives.

One caution: on is also correct English. American usage prefers on Church Street, and some British speakers use it too, so option D is defensible. The question follows the British convention, which is why A is the keyed answer.

Answer: C

The answer is since: I have eaten nothing since yesterday.

Since marks the point of time from which an action or state continues up to now, and it goes with the present perfect tense (have eaten). Yesterday is such a starting point.

From needs a matching end point (from yesterday till today). Till and until mark the end of a period, so 'nothing till yesterday' would mean the fasting stopped yesterday, which does not fit the present perfect.

Answer: B

The answer is in: The Brahmaputra has its source in the Himalayas.

The fixed phrase is have its source in a place: the source lies within the mountain range. The verb 'rise' would take in as well (the river rises in Tibet).

From would fit 'flows from' or 'comes from', not 'has its source'. Into shows movement towards the inside of something, as in 'flows into the Bay of Bengal'. At is used for a point, such as a town or a spot, not for a whole mountain range.

Answer: A

The answer is on: Put this picture on the wall.

On is used for contact with a surface, and a picture hung on a wall touches its surface, just as a book lies on a table.

At marks a point or position (at the door), to marks direction towards something (go to the wall), and in means inside something (a crack in the wall). None of them describes a picture placed against the wall's surface.

Answer: B

The answer is by: By all means we should try to help the poor.

By all means is a fixed idiom meaning 'certainly' or 'in every possible way'. The preposition in it cannot be changed.

'For all means' and 'of all means' are not English idioms. Because 'by' completes the idiom correctly, 'none of these' is also wrong. Compare the opposite idiom, by no means, meaning 'not at all'. Fixed phrases of this kind have to be learnt as wholes, since the preposition in them does not follow a general rule.