ENGLISH MATERIAL FOR BANK PO CLERK VERBS FOLLOWED BY PREPOSITION
Verb + Preposition + Gerund (Verb-Prep Combinations)
Express opinion or comment on activities
Verb + preposition combinations complemented by gerunds
| VERB + PREP + NOUN | |
|---|---|
Some verbs that express opinion or attitude about an activity are paired with particular prepositions and followed by the activity in the form of a noun or noun phrase. | |
| SUBJ + VERB + PREP | PREP COMPLEMENT |
| NP + V + PREP | NP |
Jack talked about | his job. |
Jack objects to | his work load. |
Jack doesn’t care for | accountant work. |
Jack puts off | his vacation. |
| VERB + PREP + GERUND CLAUSE | |
|---|---|
These verb + preposition combinations may also be followed by the activity in the form of a gerund or gerund clause. | |
| SUBJ + VERB + PREP | PREP COMPLEMENT |
| NP + V + PREP | GER / GER CLS |
Jack talked about | leaving. leaving his job. |
Jack objects to | working. working overtime. |
Jack doesn’t care for | accounting. accounting work. |
Jack puts off | vacationing. taking a vacation. |
Categories: NP –noun phrase; N – noun; VP – verb phrase; V – verb; AdjP– adjective phrase; Adj – adjective; P – preposition; PP – prepositional phrase; GER – gerund; Nonfinite Clause: an infinitive or gerund clause (formerly “phrase”); Subord – Subordinator
Functions: Subject: Subject, Predicate: Predicator (V) Complement: elements required by the verb: object, indirect object, predicative complement
prepositional complement – A preposition may be complemented by a number of structures, not restricted to just an noun phrase. Prep Complements
Verb + Preposition Combinations
List
Verb & Preposition Lists
ABOUT |
agree about We agreed about ending the matter. |
argue about We argued about spending money. |
care about We care about recycling things. |
complain about He complains about getting old. |
forget about She forgets about calling us. |
talk about He talks about getting married. |
think about We are thinking about joining them |
worry about She worried about getting lost. |
dream about He dreams about playing ball. |
AGAINST |
decide against We decided against buying a car. |
warn against They warn against giving out info. |
AFTER |
look after I will look after buying the tickets. |
AT |
delight at She was delighted at seeing him again. |
excel at He excels at playing chess. |
laugh at We laughed at walking a cat on a leash |
rejoice at They rejoiced at hearing the news. |
FOR |
apologize for I apologized for being late. |
blame for I was blamed for losing the game. |
care for I don’t care for wearing shorts. |
stand for They won’t stand for having such nonsense. |
IN |
believe in She believes in being well-educated. |
deal in He deals in selling real estate. |
engage in He engages in starting up new businesses |
give in/into I won’t give into his complaining. |
interest in He is interested in being a scientist. |
participate in They will participate in running the race. |
result in Distraction can result in an accident. |
specialize in He will specialize in making wine. |
succeed in He succeeded in winning the race. |
LIKE |
feel like Do you feel like going out? |
FROM |
keep from They tried to keep him from leaving. |
suffer from He suffers from not having Vitamin C. |
refrain from I refrained from saying anything. |
stop from He was stopping from going in. |
OF |
accuse of He was accused of lying. |
approve of They approved of doing that. |
dream of He dreams of playing ball. |
in charge of He is in charge of collecting tickets. |
take care of I took care of making reservations. |
think of We thought of a new way to fix that. |
OFF |
call off He called off playing the game in the rain.. |
put off He put off going to business school. |
OVER |
think over He is thinking over moving away. |
talk over We talked over buying a new home. |
ON |
agree on We agreed on renting the condominium. |
concentrate on I concentrate on getting experience. |
congratulate on We congratulated them on winning. |
continue on He continued on sleeping all day. |
depend on We depend on getting help. |
go on Will you go on working? |
insist on He insists on coming too. |
intend on They intend on waging war. |
keep on We keep on working. |
plan on She plans on taking a course. |
rely on We rely on their assisting us. |
TO |
adjust to I adjusted to living in the U.S. |
agree to They agreed to leaving earlier. |
devote to A dog is devoted to working on your behalf. |
get used to/ be used to We are used to hearing traffic. |
look forward to I look forward to seeing you. |
object to I object to doing all the work. |
WITH |
agree with He agrees with exercising daily. |
charge with They charge him with embezzling. |
mess with They don’t want to mess with hiring lawyers. |
trust with I wouldn’t trust them with doing this correctly.. |
(Huddleston 7 §6.2) (Swan 416 449)
Pop-Q “Dream of“, “Use to” and “Look forward“
Coordinated Verb + Prep Expressions
Including the preposition
Verb and Preposition Expressions Coordinated
| COORDINATED EXPRESSIONS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
When coordinating two verb + preposition expressions, the preposition after the first verb may be omitted if it is the same preposition as the one used after the second verb. However, if the prepositions differ, both must be included. Also, both verb should make sense with the complement after the second verb. | ||||
| SUBJ | PREDICATE | COORD | PREDICATE | COMPLEMENT |
| PREPOSITION AGREEMENT | ||||
Jack | *apologizes apologizes for | but | continues on | looking at his phone during dinner. |
His girlfriend | *objects objects to | and | complains about | sitting alone at dinnertime. |
| VERB FORM AGREEMENT | ||||
Jack | isn’t interested in | or | engage in doesn’t engage in | having a face-to-face conversation. |
His girlfriend | won’t stand for | or | put up with (both share won’t) | being ignored. |
| AGREEMENT WITH COMPLEMENT | ||||
Jack | will agree to | and | adjust to | becoming a better dinner companion. |
Jack | refrained from (answering his phone) | and | concentrated on | being a better companion. (Does not make sense with both verbs.) |
refrain (V) — stop, discontinue
Verb + Preposition Combinations
Gerund Clause Time Frame “Perfect”
Unspecified Time vs. an Earlier (Past) Time
| UNSPECIFED TIME | |
|---|---|
Because the gerund in a gerund clause is not marked for tense, person or number (“a reduced verb”), we have to guess the time frame from the context. The timing is past, current, or future. | |
Jack talked about | changing jobs. |
He complains about | ¹being passed over. (not appreciated or promoted) |
He specializes in | optimizing websites. |
We congratulated him on | finding the new job. |
| PERFECT (PAST) | |
|---|---|
An earlier time may be expressed in the gerund clause by using the “perfect” verb form having + past participle. | |
Jack talked about | having changed jobs. |
He complains / complained about | ¹having been passed over. |
He specializes in | *having optimized websites. (no time differenced is needed) |
We congratulated him on | having found the ideal job. |
¹passed over (passive form) – not appreciated, selected for promotion or a salary bonus (extra pay)
Verb + Preposition Combinations
Commonly Confused
Commonly Confused Verb Expressions
| VERB PHRASE | SENTENCE |
|---|---|
CARE ABOUT be concerned | I care about helping people to help themselves. |
THINK ABOUT consider | You should think about the problem. |
THINK OVER consider | He thought it over before buying the car. |
THINK ABOUT focus on | She is the only thing that he can think about. |
| VERB PHRASE | SENTENCE |
|---|---|
CARE FOR like, enjoy | Do you care for watching game shows? (like, enjoy) |
THINK OF predict, come to mind | I didn’t think of the possible problems at that time. / I couldn’t think of his name. |
THINK OF have high regard for or opinion of | What did you think of that director. |
THINK ABOUT have high regard for or opinion of | What did you think about that movie. |
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Common Mistakes
Errors and Solutions
Error and Solution
| ERROR |
|---|
He depends and worries about losing financial aid. |
They took charge and succeeded in building safeguards for women’s rights. |
| SOLUTION |
|---|
He depends on and worries about financial aid. (Do not omit the preposition when coordinating two verbs; remove losing.) He depends on financial aid. We worries about losing financial aid. |
They took charge of and succeeded in building safeguards for women’s rights. They took charge of building… They succeeded in building… |
Pop-Q “Took charge“
istic Description
| TRADITIONAL DESCRIPTION | LINGUISTIC DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
Prepositional expressions followed by gerunds (Azar 14-2) “Preposition combinations” followed by gerunds “A gerund is frequently used as the object of a preposition Prepositions after particular words and expressions (Swan 449)
verb + to – “to” as a preposition (not as part of an infinitive) Looking forward to… (Swan 298.2) | Grammaticised prepositions (Huddleston 7 §6) “Some prepositions have become grammaticised in the sense of having specific syntactic roles in the language that are not determined by their meaning. He went in. [interior, location] / He is interested in science. [grammaticised] A preposition accepts a gerund-participle clause as its complement. He was interested in going to space camp. [gerund-participle clause / nonfinite] Huddleston (653-61, 1329) |
Categories “Parts of Speech”: N – noun; NP – noun phrase; V – verb; VP – verb phrase; Adj – adjective; AdjP – adjective phrase; Adv – adverb; AdvP – adverb phrase; P – preposition; PP – prepositional phrase; Det – determinative; Subord – subordinator; Coord – coordinator; Interj – interjection.
Functions: Subj – Subject; Pred – Predicate/Predicator – Pred; Comp – Complement – an element that is required by the subject or verb to complete the meaning of the sentence such as DO – direct object; IO – indirect object; PC – predicative complement; Nonfinite Cls – nonfinite clause Inf – infinitive: Ger – gerund; Adjunct– an element not required by the verb, an optional element such as a modifier, a subordinate clause, or a supplemental clause; Supplement – clauses or phrases tacked on but not closely related the central idea of the sentence.
Resources
- Huddleston, Rodney and Geoffrey K. Pullum. “Syntactic uses of grammaticised prepositions.” A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005 Print.
- _______________ “Coordination of Grammatical Words.”
- Swan, Michael. “Prepositions (2): after particular words and expressions.” Practical English Usage. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print.
- Wikipedia contributors. “Sentence diagram: The Reed Kellogg System.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 1 Dec. 2013. Web. 2 Jan. 2014.
Practice 1
Job Search
Read the Context
Jason needs to find a job. He delayed attendance of business school in order to get some work experience first. It is hard for him to become accustomed to the fact that he is unemployed. He is worrying that he will not be able to pay the rent on his condominium. Currently, he needs financial help from his parents. Jason would like to find a job in marketing.
He will select “branding” as his specialty. He will continue until he finds employment. His father is trying to help him. Jasondesires to be independent. He often fails to thank his parents. Jason wishes to do well. For now, he is mentally managing the fact that he is one of the thousands of unemployed college graduates.
Select the verb and preposition expression that completes the sentence.
- Select the response from the list that best completes the sentence.
- Compare your responses to the feedback by clicking the “Check” or “Check 1-12” button.
Practice pages: Verb + PP Prac 1 | Verb + PP Prac 2
