Prepositions Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The correct preposition is since: absent since Friday last.

With the present perfect continuous ('has been absent'), since marks the point of time at which the action began and which continues up to now: since Monday, since 2010, since last Friday.

For is used with a length of time (for three days), not a point of time. 'Absent from' needs a place (absent from school), and 'by' would mean 'not later than', which does not fit.

Answer: B

The correct preposition is in: takes pride in her beauty.

The phrase is take pride in something. The adjective form uses a different preposition: she is proud of her beauty. Mixing the two produces the common error 'takes pride of'.

'Pride about' and 'pride for' are not idiomatic with 'take'.

The reflexive verb gives a third pattern: she prides herself on her beauty.

Answer: C

The correct preposition is of: Beware of backbiters.

Beware of means be on your guard against something dangerous: beware of the dog, beware of pickpockets. A backbiter is a person who speaks ill of others behind their back.

'Beware from', 'beware to' and 'beware with' are not used in English.

The word is a fusion of 'be' and the old adjective 'ware' (wary), and it is used almost only in the imperative or after verbs such as 'must' and 'should'.

Answer: A

The right word is in: 'I made it to the station in time to catch the last train.'

In time means early enough to do something, which is exactly the sense here: the speaker arrived early enough to catch the train. On time, by contrast, means punctually, at the scheduled moment.

'For time', 'at time' and 'to time' are not idiomatic in this sentence.

Compare: 'The train left on time' (exactly at 9:00) with 'We reached in time to catch it' (before it left).

Answer: A

The answer is in: The essay was written in great detail.

The fixed phrase is in detail (in great detail, in more detail), meaning thoroughly, covering every point.

On, at and with are not used with detail in this sense. (With can follow a noun, as in 'an essay with great detail', but after the verb written the idiom is in.)

Similar fixed phrases with in are in brief, in depth and in full.

Answer: C

The preposition is of: What did you make of the lecture?

Make of means to understand or form an opinion about something. The question asks what the listener thought of the lecture.

Make on and make off do not fit: 'make off' means to leave hurriedly, as in the thief made off with the bag. Since 'of' completes the phrase, 'None of these' is wrong.

Similar phrasal verbs with make include make out (to understand or see), make up (to invent or to reconcile) and make for (to head towards).

Answer: B

The correct preposition is into: He divided the cake into six pieces.

Divide into names the parts something is split into. Divide among and divide between name the people who receive the parts: among for more than two, between for two.

Six pieces are the parts, not the recipients, so among and between do not fit. In is used for the result as a state (cut in half) but not with a number of pieces after divide.