DEPENDENT PREPOSITIONS

They’re words like in, at, over, under, etc… that connect nouns and pronouns to verbs and adjectives.
They depend on or must follow a particular verb, noun, or adjective.

Examples:

-She dressed in red for our first date.

-To boost his confidence, Joe dressed in his favorite suit for the debate.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEPENDENT PREPOSITIONS AND PHRASAL VERBS

The key difference between a phrasal verb and a preposition-dependent verb is that a phrasal verb can
be followed by an adverb, and the phrase has its own meaning. Dependent prepositions do not create a
new phrase.

In addition, when identifying dependent prepositions, remember that a preposition is only followed by a

noun or pronoun.

EXAMPLES OF DEPENDENT PREPOSITIONS

ADJECTIVES AND DEPENDENT PREPOSITIONS

According to

Afraid of

Ashamed of

Attached to

Afraid of

Crazy about

Capable of

Different from

Envious of

Excited about
Fed up with

Incapable of

Interested in

Pleased with

Proud of

Satisfied with

Sick of

Tired of

Used to

EXAMPLES OF NOUNS AND DEPENDENT PREPOSITION

Anxiety about

Attack on

Decrease in

Demand for

Impact on

Intention of

Lack of

Need for

Reaction to

Raise in

Trouble with

VERBS AND DEPENDENT PREPOSITIONS

Result in
Search for

Smile at

Joke about

Forget about

Hide from

Punish (someone)for

Suffer from

COMMON MISTAKES WITH DEPENDENT PREPOSITIONS

Incorrect Correct Example

accuse in accuse of She is accusing him of being lazy.

What are you accusing me of?

arrive to arrive in The couple will arrive in five minutes.

arrive at The couple will arrive at 7 p.m.

ask + something ask for I didn’t ask for anything too difficult.

belong + somebody belong to They don’t belong to that group.

depend of depend on She really depends on her sister.

She really depends upon her sister.

divide on divide into I have divided my presentation into 3 parts.

This cake can’t be divided into 12 parts.

graduate + something / of graduate from I graduated from university not long ago.
something
It’s been quite a while since we graduated from
university.

laugh on laugh at Why do they always laugh at her?

listen + something or listen to I like to listen to the radio when I’m working out.
somebody

look forward for look forward to + V- I am looking forward to hearing from you.
ing
She looked forward to her trip to Italy but then it
got cancelled.

spend for Spend (something) I like to spend time on my cooking hobby.

on

wait + something or somebody wait for Will you wait for me?

I am waiting for the test results.