Correct Use of Prepositions

A preposition is a word that shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and that of another noun or pronoun.

e.g. The book is on the table.

e.g. This telephone message came from your wife.

e.g. Everybody can go except you.

e.g. The house is situated between the river and the wood.

e.g. That piece of cake was shared among the three boys. (NOT between: between is for two; among is for more than two)

Some words can be a preposition as well as a conjunction.

e.g. He stood before the window. (preposition indicating the relationship between the man and the window)

e.g. Before the police came, the man had fled. (before is a subordinating conjunction joining two otherwise independent clauses the police came and the man had fled)

Consider the following sentences:

e.g. The police came, the man had fled. (incorrect: without a conjunction)

e.g. The police came, and the man had fled. (correct with a conjunction)

e.g. Before the police came, the man had fled (improved: showing the sequence of events with the addition of the subordinating conjunction before)

Do not use prepositions unnecessarily.

e.g. Where are you going to? (NO to)

e.g. Don’t go near to the lake. (NO to)

e.g. The child fell off from his bike. (NO from)

A preposition can introduce a word group called a prepositional phrase or verbal idiom:

     Accompanied by

e.g. All children will be accompanied by their parents.

     Accompanied with

e.g. His speech was accompanied with slander and accusation. (linked with; containing)

     Accountable for

e.g. As an adult, you are accountable for your actions. (responsible for)

     Accountable to

e.g. Your are directly accountable to the manager, and not your supervisor. (reporting to a person)

     Agree on

e.g. This is something we can never agree on.

     Agree to

e.g. I agreed to paying the damages.

     Agree with

e.g. I can never agree with you as far as this is concerned.

     Angry at

e.g. I was angry at your irresponsible behavior.

     Angry with

e.g. Are you still angry with me?

     Contend for

e.g. The job situation is bad: more than fifty applicants contend for that position. (compete for)

     Contend with

e.g. To succeed, you must contend with your lack of confidence. (overcome an obstacle)

     Differ from

e.g. Your account of the event is different from that of your brother.

     Differ with

e.g. You differ with your brother on this issue. (disagree)

     Grateful for

e.g. We should all be grateful for our blessings from God.

     Grateful to

e.g. You should be grateful to your parents for what they have done for you.

     Impatient at

e.g. Now I am becoming more impatient at your lack of enthusiasm. (angry)

     Impatient for

e.g. We are impatient for a response from the government. (waiting eagerly for a result)

     Reconcile to

e.g. My grandfather reconciled himself to old age. (accept an outcome)

     Reconcile with (resolve differences)

e.g. The two brothers finally reconciled with each other and resolved their differences.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Common Sentence Errors

Which of the following sentences are incorrect?

(1) He is one of those few students who get into an elite college.

(2) She is the only one of the students who get into Harvard University.

(3) Everybody thinks they are smart.

(4) None of us is perfect.

(5) None are so wrong as those who think they are always right.

(6) In the burglary, every window, door, and mirror were smashed.

(7) The long and the short of this proposal are that it is easy but costly.

(8) Give and take is important to a healthy marriage.

(9) Politics are something that many like to pursue.

(10) The police are coming.

Incorrect sentences:

(2),(3),(6), (7), and (9)

Go through these sentences once again, and try to see why they are incorrect.

Explanation:

(2) She is the only one of the students who gets into Harvard University. (Improved: there are many students, and she is the only one student who gets into Harvard University. In sentence (1), a few students get into an elite college, and he is one of them.)

(3) Everybody thinks he or she is smart. (Improved: “everybody” is singular. A singular verb is used when “none” means “no one” or “not one” as in(4); a plural verb is used when “none” suggests more than one, as in (5).)

(6) In the burglary, every window, door, and mirror was smashed. (Improved: “every” is singular.) 

(7) The long and the short of this proposal is that it is easy but costly. (Improved: certain common compounds are often considered singular, requiring a singular verb, e.g. “bread and butter”, “give and take” as in (8); and “the long and the short.”) 

(9) Politics is something that many like to pursue. (Improved: some nouns, although appearing plural, such as “economics” and “politics” as in (9), require a singular verb. Likewise, some nouns, appearing singular, such as “police” as in (10), may require a plural verb.)

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

More American Idioms

Learn Some American Idioms

In fine feather: in good condition; in good health

e.g. With a good night sleep, I am in fine feather today.

After all: in spite of everything

e.g. She didn’t get a good score; after all, it was her first attempt.

Late in life: in old age

e.g. It was only late in life that he became a famous writer.

Act one’s age: behave maturely

e.g. Stop behaving like a teenager! Act your age.

No flies on: very alert, smart

e.g. You cannot trick her; there are no flies on her.

Bad sort: an unpleasant person

e.g. He is a bad sort; nobody likes him.

Bag your face: shut up!

e.g. You and your loud mouth! Go and bag your face!

Dance to another tune: change to a different attitude or behavior

e.g. If your parents were here, you would dance to another tune.

A little bird told me: somehow I knew

e.g. “How did you know what I did?” “Well, a little bird told me.”

Add insult to injury: make things worse

e.g. Enough is enough! Don’t add insult to injury.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

My Book Just Published

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Here is the outline of the book:

INTRODUCTION

ONE: THE QUESTIONS AND THE ANSWERS

TWO: THE THINKING MIND

The Composition of the Thinking Mind

The Thinking Process

The Conscious Mind and the Subconscious Mind

The Power of the Thinking Mind

The Role of the Thinking Mind

THREE: THE WISDOM

The Ancient Wisdom

The Eastern Wisdom

The Conventional Wisdom

The Spiritual Wisdom

The Essence of True Wisdom

FOUR: THE TAO

Tao Te Ching

Empty Mind and Reverse Thinking

The Mind and the Now

Humility and the Ego

No Judgment and No Separation

No Picking and No Choosing

No Expectation and No Over-Doing

Control and Spontaneity

Embracing and Letting Go

Attachments and Detachments

The Awakening and the Manifestation

FIVE: YOUR JOURNEY OF LIVING LONGER

The Step of Intent and Desire

The Step of Unlearning and Relearning

The Step of Body Awareness and Mind Focus

The Step of Being and Becoming

The Step of Actions and Inactions

The Step of Recovery and Rejuvenation

The Step of Patience and Perseverance

The Step of Accepting and Embracing

The Step of Confronting Changes and Challenges

The Step of Returning and Awakening

APPENDIX A: THE MEDITATION

APPENDIX B: THE BODY CHEMISTRY

APPENDIX C: THE FAST

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Stephen Lau

Confusing Words

Sensual / Sensuous

Sensual: related to the body; sensuous: related to the five senses.

e.g. It is difficult to be spiritual when one focuses too much on sensual pleasures.

e.g. The painter is able to provide some sensuous images in his painting.

  

Irritable / Irritant

I
rritable means easily made angry; irritant means causing anger or discomfort.

e.g. He has a short temper and is easily irritable.

e.g. Nobody likes him because of his irritant behavior.

Right / Rightly

Right: immediately; rightly: justly, correctly.

e.g. Do it right now.

e.g. Do it right away.

e.g. I rightly canceled the trip.

e.g. We refused the offer, and rightly so.

Sensual / Sensuous

Sensual: related to the body; sensuous: related to the five senses.

e.g. It is difficult to be spiritual when one focuses too much on sensual pleasures.

e.g. The painter is able to provide some sensuous images in his painting.

Defer / Infer

Defer: give way or yield to; infer: conclude.

e.g. He is a good kid: he always defers to his parents' wishes.

e.g. We can infer from your statement that you don't like this policy.

Potent / Potential

Potent: strong, powerful; potential: power that could be, but is not yet.

e.g. He is a potent politician.

e.g. He has great potential in American politics.

Compare to / Compare with

Compare to: state a resemblance to; compare with: put side by side to find out the similarities and differences.

e.g. The poet compares living in this modern world to riding on a bullet train.

e.g. If you compare Plan A with Plan B, you will know that Plan B is much better than Plan A. 

All / All of

All is used for amount, quantity, distance, and length of time.

e.g. all the money, all the way, all day, all night,

All of is used when a simple pronoun follows.

e.g. all of it, all of you, all of us.

All and all of may be used when it refers to number.

e.g. All or all of the employees are satisfied with the new policy.

e.g. All or all of the children in the family have gone to college.

Mediate / Meditate

Mediate means to act as a peacemaker; meditate means to think deeply.

e.g. The Secretary of State is trying to mediate between the two warring nations.

e.g. He meditated revenge after he was insulted by his coworkers.

  

Reverend / Reverent

Reverend: worthy of respect; reverent: showing respect.

e.g. Have you met the Rev. Mr. Johnson?

e.g. He gave a reverent speech on drug addiction.

In regard to / As regards

Both mean with reference to.

e.g. As regards your performance, I think you did a good job (no “to”).

e.g. She is very generous in regard to charity donation.

Effective Writing Made Simple

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Prepositional Words and Phrases

Learn some common prepositional phrases:

DELIVER

Deliver from: save or rescue from.

e.g. The man stranded on the roof was finally delivered from danger.

Deliver of: free from burden or problem.

e.g. What a relief now that we are delivered of our debt.

Deliver up: yield something to someone.

e.g. Will you deliver up the documents to the judge?

GO

Go above and beyond one's duty: exceed what is required of one.

e.g. Do you know that doing what you ask goes above and beyond my duty?

Go against the grain: run counter to one's ideas or principles.

e.g. Taking this without permission goes against the grain.

Go astray: get lost.

e.g. My keys go astray again.

Go back on something: reverse one's position.

e.g. I don't want to go back on my word, but an emergency has happened.

Go for broke: risk everything.

e.g. She went for broke and decided to marry him despite all the rumors about his infidelity.

Go for nothing: fail to achieve anything.

e.g. All our efforts helping out went for nothing.

Go in for something: enjoy doing something.

e.g. I don't go in for that kind of sport.

Go off the deep end: over do something.

e.g. You have the habit of going off the deep end about almost everything.

Go out of one's head: go crazy.

e.g. He saw what happened in front of his eyes, and went out of his head.

RUN

Run against: compete

e.g. I am going to run against him in the coming election.

Run away: leave; escape

e.g. The burglar ran away before the police arrived.

Run down: hit with a vehicle

e.g. The old man was run down by the bus.

Run down: stop functioning

e.g. My lawn mower is running down; I need to get a new one.

Run into: meet by accident

e.g. Yesterday, I ran into an old friend that I had not seen for decades.

Run out of: not have any more of something

e.g. Hurry! We're running out of time!

HELP

Help along: help someone move along.

e.g. We are more than happy to help you along by giving you any assistance.

Help someone on with something: help someone to put on something.

e.g. Please help her on with her coat.

Help out: help someone out at a particular place.

e.g. I'm at the kitchen. Can you help me out?

Help someone to something: serve something to someone.

e.g. Help yourself to more rice.


Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau