Verbs + Prepositional Phrases
He talks about leaving.
With gerunds as objects of the phrases
Verbs complemented by prepositional phrases
| VERB + PREP + NOUN | VERB + PREP + GERUND CLAUSE |
|---|---|
Specific verbs are complemented (completed) by specific prepositions. The object of the prepositional phrase could be a noun or a noun phrase, as shown below. |
Or the object of the prepositional phrase could be a gerund clause, as shown below. (A gerund is called a "gerund-participle" in current linguistic descriptions.) |
Jack talked about his job. (noun phrase) He talked about work. (noun) |
Jack talked about leaving his job. |
Jack objects to his work load. |
Jack objects to working overtime. |
Jack doesn't care for accountant work. |
Jack doesn't care for doing the accounting work. |
Jack puts off his vacation. |
Jack puts off taking a vacation. |
complement – a word, phrase or clause which is necessary in a sentence to complete its meaning
Related page Gerund Objects
Verb & Preposition List
ABOUT |
IN |
ON |
agree about We agreed about ending the matter. |
believe in She believes in being well-educated. |
agree on We agreed on renting the condominium. |
argue about We argued about spending money. |
interest in He is interested in being a scientist. |
concentrate on I concentrate on getting experience. |
care about We care about recycling things. |
succeed in He succeeded in winning the race. specialize in He will specialize in making wine. |
congratulate on We congratulated them on getting married. continue on He continued on sleeping all day. |
complain about He complains about getting old. forget about She forgets about calling us. |
give in/into I won't give into his complaining. |
depend on We depend on getting help. |
talk about He talks about getting married. |
|
go on Will you go on working? |
think about We are thinking about joining them |
LIKE |
insist on He insists on coming too. |
worry about She worried about getting lost. |
feel like Do you feel like going out? |
keep on We keep on working. |
dream about He dreams about playing ball. |
plan on She plans on taking a course. |
|
rely on We rely on their assisting us. |
||
AGAINST |
OF |
TO |
decide against We decided against buying a car. |
accuse of He was accused of lying. |
adjust to I adjusted to living in the U.S. |
warn against They warn against giving out info. |
approve of They approved of doing that. |
agree to They agreed to leaving earlier. |
dream of He dreams of playing ball. |
get used to/ be used to We are used to hearing traffic. |
|
AFTER |
in charge of He is in charge of collecting tickets. |
look forward to I look forward to seeing you. |
look after I will look after buying the tickets. |
take care of I took care of making reservations. |
object to I object to doing all the work. |
think of We thought of a new way to fix that. |
||
FOR |
OFF |
WITH |
apologize for I apologized for being late. |
put off He put off going to business school. |
agree with He agrees with exercising daily. |
blame for I was blamed for losing the game. |
cope with She copes with working long hours. |
|
care for I don't care for wearing shorts. |
||
FROM |
OVER |
|
refrain from I refrained from saying anything. |
think over He is thinking over moving away. |
|
stop from He was stopping from going in. |
talk over We talked over buying a new home. |
Pop-Q "
Commonly Confused Verb Expressions
| VERB PHRASE | VERB PHRASE | ||
|---|---|---|---|
CARE ABOUT |
I care about helping people to help themselves. (be concerned) |
CARE FOR |
Do you care for watching game shows? (like, enjoy) |
FEEL GUILTY ABOUT |
I feel guilty about not calling home. (I am regretful.) |
BE GUILTY OF |
He was guilty of stealing other people's credit card numbers. (He was convicted of it.) |
THINK ABOUT
|
You should think about your future. (consider) |
THINK OF |
I didn't think of the possible problems at that time. (predict) |
THINK ABOUT |
Try not to think about your problems right now. (focus on) |
THINK OF |
What did you think of that movie. (have an opinion) |
Also see Phrasal Verbs. (think up, think over, think of)
Common Mistakes
| ERROR | FIX |
|---|---|
He depends and worries about losing financial aid. |
He depends on and worries about losing financial aid. (Do not omit the preposition when coordinating two verbs.) |
They took charge and succeeded in building safeguards for women's rights. |
They took charge of and succeeded in building safeguards for women's rights.
|
Resources
Huddleston, Rodney and Geoffrey K. Pullum. "Syntactic uses of grammaticised preositions." A Student's Introduction to English Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005 Print. (653-61)
_______________ "Coordination of Grammatical Words." (1329)
Swan, Michael. "Prepositions (2): after particular words and expressions." Practical English Usage. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print. (449)
Practice 1
Job Search
- Select the preposition that best completes each sentence (about, against, after, for from, in, like, of, off, on, over, to, with)
- Compare your response to the answer by clicking the "check" button to the right.