Prepositions Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The right preposition is to: 'His indolence is a great drawback to his success.'

Drawback, meaning a disadvantage or hindrance, is followed by to when it names the thing hindered: 'a drawback to the plan', 'a drawback to his progress'. Indolence, or laziness, hinders his success.

'A drawback of' is used for a disadvantage that belongs to a thing ('a drawback of the design'), which is not the sense here. For, in and about do not form the idiom with drawback in this sentence.

Answer: A

The right preposition is upon: 'She dwells too much upon her past.'

The phrasal verb dwell on or dwell upon means to think, speak or write at length about something, usually something one would do better to leave behind. Upon is the slightly more formal form of the same idiom.

Dwell in means to live in a place ('to dwell in a village'), which does not fit a person's past. Dwell about and dwell to are not idioms in English.

Answer: B

The right preposition is of: the custom is characteristic of that people.

The adjective characteristic takes of when it means 'typical of' or 'marking out' a person, group or thing: 'This is characteristic of his work', 'Such caution is characteristic of the elderly'.

For, in and to do not follow characteristic in this sense. The sentence comes from an old grammar-book exercise; whatever group it names, the preposition is fixed by the adjective.

Answer: C

The right preposition is from: 'He elicited this fact from the witness.'

To elicit is to draw out information or a reaction from someone, usually by questioning. The word comes from the Latin elicere, 'to draw out', so it naturally takes from to name the source: 'elicit a reply from him', 'elicit the truth from the accused'.

With, in and on do not express the idea of drawing something out of a source, so none forms the idiom.

Answer: A

The right preposition is of: 'The beggar is bare of clothes.'

When bare means 'lacking' or 'without', it takes of: 'a room bare of furniture', 'trees bare of leaves'. The beggar is without clothes.

Bare from, bare in and bare by are not English idioms. The pattern is shared by related adjectives of lacking, such as devoid of, empty of and destitute of.

Answer: B

The correct preposition is since: She has been working here since 2019.

With the present perfect continuous, since introduces a point in time when the action began (since 2019, since Monday), while for introduces a length of time (for six years, for a week). 2019 is a point, so for is wrong.

From needs a partner to mark the end (from 2019 to 2024) and does not combine with 'has been working' on its own. By marks a deadline (by 2019 she had finished), which is not the sense here.

Answer: C

The answer is at: The committee has not yet arrived at a final decision.

The fixed expression is arrive at a decision, a conclusion, an agreement or a verdict. When arrive means reaching a destination, English uses at for a point (arrive at the station) and in for a city or country (arrive in Delhi). A decision is treated as a point you reach, so at is the collocation.

Arrived on and arrived for are not used with decision, and arrived in a decision is not idiomatic.

Answer: C

The answer is to: Many young people are addicted to social media nowadays.

Addicted always takes to before its object: addicted to drugs, addicted to gaming, addicted to social media. The noun works the same way: an addiction to something.

With belongs to words such as obsessed with or occupied with; for goes with words such as craving for; on appears in the informal 'hooked on'. None of them follows addicted in standard English.

Answer: C

The answer is from: The old man suffered from severe arthritis for many years.

When suffer names an illness or condition, the preposition is from: suffer from diabetes, suffer from asthma, suffer from arthritis.

Suffered by is a passive pattern (the losses suffered by the firm), not a link to a disease. Suffered with is sometimes heard in speech but is not the standard form tested in exams, and suffered of is simply incorrect.

Answer: B

The sentence needs into: The minister had promised to look into the matter.

Look into is a phrasal verb meaning to investigate or examine something, which is what a minister promises to do with a complaint or an issue.

The other prepositions change the meaning. Look at means to turn your eyes towards something, look for means to search for something you have lost, and look about means to look around you. None of them means to inquire into a matter.