Complete Grammar Syllabus (145 Units)

Grammar Mastery

Comprehensive reference, real-world IELTS band-boosting tips, clear structural formulas, and interactive short quizzes for intermediate to advanced English learners.

Preposition Collocations: Nouns, Adjectives & Verbs

High-frequency fixed prepositional combinations for nouns (reason for), adjectives (interested in, proud of, nice to), and verbs (listen to, depend on).

Core Structure & Formula

Noun + Preposition: demand for, reason for, cause of, increase in, solution to, relationship with

Adjective + Preposition: interested in, proud of, afraid of, married to, famous for, nice to, angry with

Verb + Preposition: apologize to someone for, depend on, listen to, belong to, apply for, suffer from

AKey Adjective Preposition Collocations

Fixed combinations that cannot be translated literally.

•Nice / kind / polite OF somebody: It was very kind of you to review my draft.

•Nice / kind / polite TO somebody: The examiners have always been fair to me. (not with me)

•Proud OF, ashamed OF, jealous OF, afraid OF: She is proud of her research team.

•Good / bad AT: I'm not very good at public speaking. (not good in)

•Married TO: Louise is married to a diplomat. (not married with)

BKey Verb Preposition Collocations

Verbs requiring specific prepositions.

•Explain something TO somebody: Can you explain this policy to me? (not explain me this)

•Listen TO: I like to listen to podcasts on my commute. (not listen podcasts)

•Depend ON: The outcome depends on the funding decision.

•Look FOR (= search) vs Look AFTER (= take care of).

IELTS Band 7–9 Exam Impact

Collocational preposition accuracy is heavily weighted in Lexical Resource and Grammatical Accuracy band scores.

Common Candidate Errors

✗ She is married with a diplomat.

✓ She is married to a diplomat.

The collocation is 'married to', not 'with'.

✗ Can you explain me this policy?

✓ Can you explain this policy to me?

'Explain' requires 'explain something TO somebody'.

Unit 130 Interactive Short Quiz

Test your understanding with 3 verified practice exercises.

Question 1 of 3

Thank you for your feedback. You've been very kind ______ me.

Question 2 of 3

I'm not very good ______ remembering statistics.

Question 3 of 3

Can you explain this policy ______ me?