Prepositions Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The preposition is of: 'He was accused of theft'.

The verb accuse takes of before the charge: accused of theft, accused of murder. The person making the accusation is introduced with by (accused of theft by his employer).

'Accused with' and 'accused on' are wrong. The common confusion is with charge, which takes with (charged with theft). 'Accused by theft' would make theft the accuser.

Answer: C

The preposition is with: I filled it with the wrong kind of fuel.

The verb fill takes with before the substance put into the container: fill a glass with water, fill the tank with petrol. The sentence follows the same pattern.

Filled it in means completing a form or a gap, a different phrasal verb. On does not combine with fill in this sense, and by introduces the doer or the means of an action, not the material that fills something, so none of them fits.

Answer: B

The correct preposition is at: You can buy stamps at the post office.

At is used for a point or place where an activity happens, such as a shop, station or office: at the bank, at the post office, at the station.

On and upon describe position on a surface (on the table) and would mean on top of the building. To shows movement towards a place (go to the post office), which does not fit the verb buy.

Answer: B

The missing word is under: she seemed to be under the weather.

Under the weather is an idiom meaning slightly ill or out of sorts, which suits a description of how someone seemed when you met her.

There is no idiom ‘over the weather’ (the related phrase is over the moon, meaning delighted), and ‘against the weather’ would describe a struggle with real weather, not how she seemed. Because 'under' completes the idiom, 'None of the above' is wrong.

Answer: C

The correct word is to: Overeating is not conducive to health.

The adjective conducive is always followed by the preposition to, meaning helpful in bringing something about, as in conditions conducive to learning.

With, in and from do not combine with conducive in standard English, so each of those options produces an unidiomatic sentence.

Answer: B

The right preposition is on: He congratulated her on winning the first prize.

The verb congratulate takes the person as its object and the achievement after on (congratulate someone on something). The same pattern follows the noun: congratulations on your success.

'Congratulated her with', 'congratulated her of' and 'congratulated her about' are not idiomatic English. Of belongs to other verbs, as in accuse someone of, or remind someone of; with follows verbs such as present someone with.

Answer: B

The suitable preposition is from: 'Rupa was happy to receive a letter from her friend Vimal.'

The verb 'receive' takes from to name the sender: we receive something from someone.

'To' would mark the person the letter was sent to, which reverses the meaning. 'For' would mean the letter was meant for Vimal, and 'by' is used for the doer in a passive sentence (a letter written by Vimal), not with 'receive'.

Answer: C

The correct preposition is in: resulted in securing the top rank.

The verb result takes 'in' before the outcome: her efforts resulted in success. It takes 'from' before the cause: her success resulted from her efforts.

Here 'efforts' is the cause and 'securing the top rank' the outcome, so 'in' is right and 'from' reverses the meaning. 'Resulted by' and 'resulted into' are not standard English.

Answer: C

The preposition is within: You must pay the fees within a week.

Within means before the end of a stated period, which is what a deadline of a week means. It is the preposition used with a length of time.

After a week would mean the payment is due only once the week is over. Before and by are used with a point in time (before Monday, by Friday), not with a period such as "a week".

Answer: A

The correct sentence is She has no authority over her son.

The noun authority takes over before the person or thing controlled: authority over her son, authority over the staff. It takes on only in the sense of an expert (an authority on history), and to before a verb (authority to act).

Authority upon, authority for and authority of do not express control over a person, so the other three sentences are wrong.