- My birthday is on January 29th.
- The cookie is on the plate.
- The show starts at 10 pm.
- I work for a car company.
- The ball is in the bag.
- I live in Korea.
We will not cover every "verb + preposition" or "adjective + preposition" combination in this lesson. That would take too long. We will cover the most common ones. And remember that similar words usually have the same pattern. A good example is "look at". Synonyms of "look" also use "at". For example, "peek at" or "glance at".
Verb + at
look at | stare at | have a look at |
take a look at | aim at | point at |
shout at | throw (something) at | laugh at |
- Look at this.
- She was staring at me for a long time.
- You should have a look at this. It is so strange.
- She said she will take a look at your report if you bring it to her.
- He aimed the gun at his brother.
- The man pointed at me.
- When I saw her, she was shouting at somebody.
- My sister threw an egg at my head.
- They laughed at me when I fell down.
angry at | mad at | upset at |
furious at | surprised at | shocked at |
amazed at | good at | bad at |
excellent at | terrible at | okay at |
- She is angry at me, but I don't know why.
- My mom has never been mad at me.
- Her coworkers are upset at her because she lied to them.
- I was furious at him.
- They were surprised at how quickly I adapted.
- I was shocked at the results.
- They were amazed at how well the medicine worked.
- I am good at basketball.
- She is bad at dancing.
- He is excellent at math.
- We are terrible at cooking.
- He is okay at speaking English.
believe in | specialize in | succeed in |
- I believe in God, but she doesn't.
- Our company specializes in branding.
- If you work hard, you can succeed in anything that you do.
interested in | involved in | experienced in |
- I am interested in cars.
- He is involved in a lot of charity work.
- We are experienced in turning around failing companies.
depend on | rely on | live on |
congratulate (somebody) on | compliment (somebody) on | concentrate on |
insist on | spend (something) on | waste (something) on |
- We depend on her to maintain good relationships with our American customers.
- Children rely on their parents for everything.
- It is hard to live on such a low salary.
- She congratulated me on my promotion.
- I complimented her on her great work.
- I couldn't concentrate on my work because it was too noisy.
- We didn't want him to help, but he insisted on helping.
- I will spend some time on the project this weekend.
- She wasted all of her money on shoes.
dependent on | keen on | based on |
- I don't want to be dependent on anyone. I want to support myself.
- We are keen on taking a road trip this summer.
- This movie is based on a true story.
Here is one tip. Similar words usually use the same adjective.
- She yelled at me.
- She shouted at me.
- She screamed at me.
- He looked at her.
- He glanced at her.
- He stared at her.
- He peeked at her.