Prepositions Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The blank takes to: Granite is almost impervious to acid-rain damage.

Impervious means not allowing something to pass through or not affected by it, and it is always followed by to: impervious to water, impervious to criticism.

Impervious by, with and of are not idiomatic; the adjective is fixed with to, just as its near-synonyms immune to and resistant to are.

Answer: D

The blank takes in: He is temperate in his response to criticism.

Temperate here means moderate and self-restrained. Adjectives describing behaviour take in before the area of conduct they describe: temperate in his habits, moderate in his demands, restrained in his language.

Temperate with, on and of are not used in this sense. With might seem to fit a person (patient with someone), but here the object is his response, an area of behaviour, which takes in.

Answer: D

The word that completes the sentence is within.

'Within a fortnight' means before the fortnight is over, at any time up to the end of the two weeks. That is the sense of a promise to return soon, which suits a sentence about someone who will be back by a deadline.

'By' and 'on' do not fit before 'a fortnight': 'by a fortnight' is not used for a period of time, and 'on' goes with a particular day or date. 'In a fortnight' is also heard in everyday speech, but it points to the moment when the fortnight ends, not to any time inside it, so 'within' is the closer fit for a deadline and is the keyed choice.

Answer: A

The correct word is to: I look forward to your participation.

In look forward to, the to is a preposition, not part of an infinitive, so it is followed by a noun or a gerund: look forward to your participation, look forward to meeting you.

Look forward for, at or in are not idiomatic English. The phrasal verb is fixed with to, and a common error is to follow it with a bare verb (look forward to meet), which this sentence avoids by using a noun.

Answer: D

The correct preposition is to: The mosquito is a menace to the health of mankind.

The noun menace, like danger, threat and risk, takes to before the thing that is endangered: a menace to society, a danger to health.

For would mean the mosquito is a menace on behalf of mankind's health, which makes no sense. Of is used for what the menace consists of (the menace of malaria), not for what it threatens. On does not combine with menace at all.

Answer: A

The correct preposition is among: Please put this book among all the many others in this group.

Among places something within a group of more than two that is treated as a mass, and all the many others is exactly such a group.

Between is used for two items, or for several items considered one by one, so it does not fit a crowd of books. With would only say the book goes alongside the others, losing the sense of being placed inside the group, and at marks a point in space or time, not a position within a collection.

Answer: B

The correct preposition is over: the rich enjoy influence over every facility in the society.

The noun influence takes over (or on / upon for an effect on a person's mind) when it means power or control exercised across something. Here the sense is control over facilities, so over is the idiomatic choice.

Within would describe influence held inside a group, not exercised on facilities. On is used for an effect on a person or decision (an influence on her thinking), not for command of resources, and for does not collocate with influence in this sense.

Answer: B

The blank takes up in: 'rolled myself up in it'.

To roll oneself up in a blanket is to wrap it around the body by rolling, and 'in' expresses being enclosed by the blanket.

'Down with' and 'down about' are not idiomatic with 'roll', and 'up with' would mean rolling together with the blanket as a companion rather than inside it.

Compare 'rolled up in a carpet' or 'wrapped up in a shawl': 'up' marks the completed wrapping, 'in' the position inside.

Answer: B

The correct word is with.

The verb entrust takes two patterns: you entrust a person with a task or thing, or you entrust a task or thing to a person. Here the person ('me') comes directly after the verb, so the task must follow 'with': 'Don't entrust me with these many responsibilities.'

'By', 'in' and 'for' are not used with 'entrust' in this construction. 'Entrust me by' and 'entrust me in' are ungrammatical, and 'entrust me for' would wrongly suggest purpose rather than the thing handed over.

Answer: D

The preposition keyed is of: 'He is abhorrent of dowry system.'

Abhorrent has two senses. Used of a person who feels the hatred, meaning 'feeling strong hatred or disgust for', it is followed by of, as in the phrase abhorrent of found in the preposition lists of standard grammar books; here it says that he hates the dowry system. In its commoner modern sense, 'hateful to someone', it takes to (the practice is abhorrent to him), but to is not among the options.

For, at and on are not used after abhorrent in either sense.