Prepositional Words and Phrases

Using prepositions correctly is one of the difficult parts  of the English language. A verb may have different prepositions to go with it, and thus generating different meanings. To illustrate, take the verb FALL:

Fall apart: break into pieces.

         

e.g. This old house is falling apart; we'd better sell it as soon as possible.

e.g. After the death of his wife, his life began to fall apart.

Fall away: drop away from something.

e.g. The paint is falling away from the side of the house.

Fall back on someone or something: use someone or something as reserve.

e.g. Your father is someone you can fall back on when you run out of money.

e.g. We fell back on the emergency generator when the power went out.

Fall behind: lag behind schedule.

e.g. You are falling behind in your mortgage payments.

e.g. Get cracking, and don't fall behind your work.

Fall by: drop in value.

e.g. The gold price fell by 10 percent within this week.

Fall down on the job: fail to do a job efficiently.

e.g. If you keep falling down on the job, you will be fired!

Fall for someone: be in love with someone.

e.g. He had fallen for his cousin, and soon they became engaged.

Fall in with someone or something: become involved with someone or something.

e.g. I am afraid he has fallen in with the wrong group with people.

e.g. Your son has fallen in with drugs.

Fall into disfavor: lose one's influence.

e.g. The Mayor has fallen into disfavor with his supporters; he might lose in the coming election.

Fall into disgrace: become without honor.

e.g. The Governor fell into disgrace because of his involvement with the murder case.

Fall into disuse: to be used less and less.

e.g. Your car has fallen into disuse; if I were you, I would sell it.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau