Introduction
A collocation is a pair or group of words that habitually appear together.
Form
Verb and preposition collocations are groups of words made up of a verb followed by a preposition:
Subject + verb + preposition + …
They are used to convey a specific meaning, but there are not fix rules about their formation, so we have to learn them by heart.
The most commonly used verb and preposition collocations are: admire for, agree with, argue with, believe in, escape from, get rid of, help (someone) with (something), matter to, object to, pay for, pray for, plan on, remind (somebody) of (something), suffer from…
NOTE: Sometimes we can find nouns or pronouns between the verb and its preposition.
Example
- I admire my colleague for his patience.
- She agrees with her friend’s ideas.
- They never argue with their parents.
- Do you believe in God?
- He would love to escape from this boring wedding.
- Could you please get rid of this piece of cake?
- Could you help me with the stag do, please?
- His answer didn’t matter to her any more.
- Nobody had the courage to object to his idea.
- Who will pay for the family dinner?
- After 3 months of severe drought they were praying for rain.
- We planned on going on our honeymoon but we didn’t have enough money.
- Something about this recipe reminds me of my mother.
- She suffered from migraines all day.
Use
We use preposition collocations when we combine a preposition after a specific verb to convey a specific meaning. If we use another preposition, the meaning could change or could not exist.
Summary
We use verb and preposition collocations to convey a specific meaning, there are no fixed rules about their formation, so we have to learn them by heart.
The most commonly used verb and preposition collocations are: admire for, agree with, argue with, believe in, escape from, get rid of, help (someone) with (something), matter to, object to, pay for, pray for, plan on, remind (somebody) of (something), suffer from…
NOTE: Sometimes we can find nouns or pronouns between the verb and its preposition.
For example:
— “He helped me with the dishes.” = Preposition with always follows help.
Let’s revise this content within the {Form} section. Take a look at the {Example} section that shows its use within a context.