The 43 Most Common Prepositions in English | English Vocabulary

Today we'll focus English prepositions. What's the missing word? If you hesitated or if you struggle with prepositions, you're in the right place. Today, you'll learn 43 must-know prepositions. Welcome back to JForrest English. Of course, I'm Jennifer. Now let's get started. I wasn't aware the change until this morning. What's the missing preposition? That's how we'll do this entire lesson through quizzes. Because quizzes force you to remember that information and you're more likely to permanently remember these. I wasn't aware of the change until this morning. Going forward, when you learn vocabulary, don't learn individual words. Learn the word plus the preposition to make sure you can use it properly. I wasn't aware of how much the tickets cost until this morning. This roll is very similar the one I had in Lisbon. Similar to. Don't say similar with, as. I hear those. And they can be mistaken because you might be thinking of other expressions like this rule is the same as the one I had in Lisbon, which is correct. Similar to the same as. Don't worry about taking these notes. I summarize everything in a free lesson PDF. You can find the link in the description. Her accent is completely different. Mine. What do you need? Different from. This is the safe standard choice everywhere. And in any context, just be aware of the fact that native speakers use different than technically it's incorrect, but it is extremely common in American English. You will hear it every single day, but on your IELTS or in any situation, it's the safest to use different from. It took me a month to get accustomed working from home. Did you say accustomed to? Now you can also use used to, and notice because to functions as the preposition, that's why you need the gerund, the verb in ING. So you cannot say, I got accustomed to work from home. That is grammatically incorrect. The whole launch is dependent. One supplier. Dependent on. Now notice this sentence structure. We have be dependent on something. This is the same as to depend on. So again, when you learn certain phrasal verbs like depend on, you can learn alternative structures like be dependent on at the same time. You're eligible. The bonus after 12 months. You're eligible for the bonus. Notice here we have eligible plus for plus the noun, the something. You can also use eligible plus infinitive. So here to is not a preposition is part of the infinitive. You're eligible to apply. To belongs to the verb apply. These figures aren't consistent. Last quarters. Figures means numbers, charts, graphs. Consistent with, and maybe you're learning this for the first time. If so, don't just learn the word consistent, learn the full structure to be consistent with something, which means they don't match. If they're not consistent, they don't match. He's known finishing projects early. He's known for finishing projects early. For is the preposition that belongs with the verb. No, to be known for, because of that, you need a gerund or a noun following it. And that gerund or noun usually represents a task or an output. What about this? She's known the closer around the office. The closer is a nickname. She's known as the closer. And this happens in English where you can have to be known, but if you change the preposition for as the meaning changes. Again, you need to memorize all parts of the phrase, not just the word known. So here known as we have a name or a role. My husband is keen camping keen on, and because on is a preposition that belongs to keen, we need the noun or gerund, which means you're simply enthusiastic about it. Now you can use keen plus infinitive. My husband's keen to go camping. The program consists 12 short modules. Consists of, did you get that one? The delay resulted a lost contract. They didn't get the contract because of the delay. The delay resulted in a lost contract. We use result in plus the effect, the contract being lost, meaning they didn't get it. And I'm explaining that because you could also say the delay resulted a missing signature. There was no signature, so they couldn't process it. Resulted from, because the missing signature is the cause of the delay, not the effect. If I'm helping you improve your speaking skills, I might say you'd benefit recording yourself once a week. You'd benefit from plus noun or gerund. In this case, the gerund recording yourself. And why just once a week? How about once a day? Nobody objected moving the meeting to Friday. Nobody objected to something or doing something. So we use object to plus noun or gerund. You cannot say nobody objected to move the meeting because to is not with the next verb. It's not the infinitive. To is a preposition that belongs with the word before it. Object to because of that noun or gerund. She copes pressure better than anyone on my team. She has the ability to manage or process. She copes with pressure. That's a great expression to cope with something. My father-in-law doesn't approve eating in front of the television. He doesn't approve of this action. We have approve of, which means you think it is right. So in this case, my father-in-law thinks it is right proper to not eat in front of the television, to eat at the table. With the verb approve, you can also directly follow it with a noun. So you don't use a preposition. And this means you authorize it, which is very common in everyday use. You might say finance approved the budget. Finance, representing the department, approved directly something, approved the budget, which means they officially gave their authorization. In a meeting, you might say that accounts the gap in the numbers. The gap means that there's a difference between the two numbers. That being some explanation accounts for the gap. In this context, account for means that explanation is the reason why there's a gap. But you can also use account for to mean make up a share of it. For example, this contract accounts for 40% of our revenue. So you have your graph of total revenue. 40% is from this contract. Or maybe you say to your coworker, nothing is preventing you speaking up in meetings. Nothing is preventing you from. And notice we also have the gerund from speaking up in meetings. Here you can memorize prevent, stop, keep someone from something. And that something is a gerund verb. She stopped me from leaving. The music kept me from sleeping. So there you just learned three different verbs with this one structure. Maybe you say to your friend, that song reminds me my first winter in Toronto. Reminds me of my first winter. The structure is to remind someone of, and then a memory. My first winter in Toronto. Maybe you say to your coworker, let's stick 10 pages. Let's stick to 10 pages. Here the expression is to stick to, and then the something is a plan or an idea. And this means stay within a limit. So the plan is we will write a document that is 10 pages. And if we stick to it, this plan, this idea means that the document will be 10 pages. It will not be 11, 12, or 13. Here's one that confuses many students, even native speakers. She applied a transfer to the Lisbon office. She applied for a transfer. We use apply for plus the thing you want. For example, a job, a grant, a visa, or in this case, a transfer. Compare that to, I applied for universities that year. I applied to, we use apply to plus the organization you send it to. You apply to a company for a position. How about this? They blame the supplier, the delay. They blame the supplier for the delay. You blame someone for something negative, but let's review. They blame the delay, the supplier. Notice the structure is different. They blame the delay on the supplier. So you blame the problem, the delay, on the person responsible, the supplier. How about this one? Have you heard Daniel since he moved? Have you heard from Daniel? Which is the same meaning as has Daniel contacted you? Now notice here, although the sentences mean the same, the structure is different because you contact someone. No preposition, you hear from someone, preposition, or maybe you say, sorry, I've never heard that restaurant. I've never heard of that restaurant. So to hear of something means to know it exists. You can use this next one every day. What did you think the movie? What did you think of the movie? And this is asking for your opinion. What about, I've been thinking going back to evening classes. I've been thinking about, which means you're considering it. There's no quick solution, this problem, solution to this problem. Definitely write that one down. I hear a lot of mistakes with it. There's been a sharp increase, increase, demand, increase, in demand. And you can use increase, decrease, rise, fall, in, and then the thing. In this case, demand. I had real difficulty, the accent, when I first moved there. You may know that you have difficulty with something. Or you might say in a meeting, that gives us a clear advantage. Our competitors. A clear advantage over our competitors. And that represents people, advantage over people. Here's a great expression. She has a knack making difficult concepts easy to understand. She has a knack for it. Now, because for is a preposition, you need the noun or gerund. And you can use a knack, a talent, or a gift for something. Or maybe you say, nobody on the team has experience, construction. Experience in construction. Experience in plus the field or industry. Or maybe you ask, do you have any experience, that software? Any experience with plus a tool or system like software. Or maybe you say, I don't think she did it purpose. I don't think she did it on purpose. Now, on purpose means deliberately. She planned it. She wanted to. On purpose. What about? I replied to the whole company. Mistake. Not on mistake, even though it's on purpose, but it's by mistake or by accident, which means mistakenly or accidentally. Or you say to your friend, let me know advance if you can't make it. Let me know in advance before the time of the party or lunch. Or you might say, we reached the gate just time, just in time. Here, I wouldn't say we reached the gate just on time. In time means early enough with room to spare. It means before something negative happens, like you miss your flight. This next sentence requires two prepositions. She's charge the whole region. Now she's in charge of, and you could also say in control of, or maybe you say to a friend, my daughter knows every word of that song heart. By heart means from memory. So she isn't reading the lyrics. She has her eyes closed and she's singing the song by heart from memory. Or in a meeting you announced to everyone, this software will save us money the long run. Do you know this phrase? In the long run, which means eventually over a longer period of time. So it won't save us money now, maybe not even next month or next year, but eventually it will, maybe in three years or five years. How many prepositions did you know? The important part is that you learned new ones. So use that free lesson PDF to keep practicing and make sure you like this lesson, share it with your friends and subscribe so you're notified every time I post a new lesson. And you can get this free speaking guide where I share six tips on how to speak English fluently and confidently. You can click here to download it or look for the link in the description. And here's another lesson I know you'll love. Watch it now.