Learning Vocabulary: 10 Adjective + Preposition Combinations

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Learning Vocabulary - Prepositions

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Skills: Listening

Vocabulary: Dependent prepositions

Vocabulary: Adjective + preposition combinations

Learning Vocabulary: 10 Adjective + Preposition Combinations

In this week's Premier Skills English Podcast, Jack is away on holiday so Rich has to find someone to help him with the show! He finds Nick who volunteers to help out. Rich asks Nick a few questions to introduce himself and introduce ten common adjective + preposition combinations. Many learners find prepositions and which one to use one of the most challenging things about the English language. This lesson will help you learn some of the most common adjective + preposition combinations. On the page below, you will also find a number of explanations, the transcript, interactive activities, a quiz and a discussion to help you understand. Don't forget to listen to the end of the podcast because we also have a new football phrase for you to guess. Enjoy!

If you find the podcast difficult to understand, you can read the transcript and listen at the same time.

Read the transcript and listen at the same time.

Introduction

Rich: Hey, Nick. How you doing?

Nick: I’m alright. What about you?

Rich: All good. Is Jack about?

Nick: He’s on holiday, isn’t he? Had you forgotten?

Rich: Oh yeah. Oh no!

Nick: What’s up?

Rich: We’re supposed to do the podcast today.

Nick: What about me?

Rich: What about you?

Nick: I could do it.

Rich: You could do what?

Nick: The podcast.

Rich: The podcast? Really? That would be brilliant.

Welcome - Dependent Prepositions

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich

Nick: and I’m Nick

Rich: and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast.

Nick: Where we talk about football and help you with your English. What’s happening this week, Rich?

Rich: Very good question, Nick. Well, Jack’s not here so I’m going to be speaking to you, Nick! Thanks for standing in for Jack at the last minute.

Nick: Only too happy to help. So, what do you guys usually do?

Rich: Well, we speak about football a bit and we focus on one area of language that learners often have problems with.

Nick: Sounds good.

Rich: You’re an English teacher, Nick. Can you think of something that your students find difficult?

Nick: Mmm …, well, I always find that my students struggle with prepositions.

Rich: Oh yeah that’s something that my students have problems with too, especially dependent prepositions.

Nick: What’s a dependent preposition?

Rich: A dependent preposition is a preposition that is usually fixed to a specific word. For example, listen to. I like listening to music. In this sentence, ‘to’ is a dependent preposition. A dependent preposition is a preposition that usually and naturally follows another word; in this case ‘listen’. I like listening to music. We can’t say I like listening at or on music.

Nick: I’m afraid of spiders?

Rich: Sorry? Spiders you’re afraid of spiders?

Nick: No, not really. Well, it depends how big they are! It depends on their size! No, it’s another example of a dependent preposition! To be afraid of something.

Rich: Yes, it is. Verbs, nouns and adjectives can all have dependent prepositions and it’s that last one which we’re going to focus on in this week’s podcast.

Nick: Adjectives?

Rich: Yes, we’re going to look at 10 common adjective plus preposition combinations.

Nick: Is that everything?

Rich: No, that’s not everything! We’re also going to get to know you a little bit, Nick and don’t forget to listen to the end because we have a new football phrase for you to guess.

Topic Focus

Rich: In this section, I’m going to interview Nick. I’m going to ask him a few questions about his life and his hobbies. Your task is to think what you have in common with Nick. What things are the same? Are you ready Nick?

Nick: I’m ready.

Rich: Right, then … Nick. Let’s start with the most important thing. Which team do you support?

Nick: Well, I’m not that interested in football, to be honest.

Rich: What?

Nick: Only joking! Actually, I’m a Hull City fan.

Rich: Oh dear! I mean, cool the Tigers. Why?

Nick: I went to university in Hull … you know on the East coast of England. It’s a big rugby town but I’ve never been into rugby that much … afraid of the tackling I suppose … so I decided to support Hull.

Rich: They got relegated from the Premier League last season …

Nick: I know … I was gutted.

Rich: So, if you had to choose a Premier League team who would you support?

Nick: Well, my dad is a big Manchester United fan and when I was a boy we’d watch the big United matches together.

Rich: Are you similar to your dad?

Nick: Not really. We’re quite different from each other and not just our football teams. I’d actually say that I’m more similar to my mum but we’re quite different from each other too! I like to say that I’m my own man!

Rich: Are you good at football?

Nick: Nope, I’m hopeless at football. I’m very bad at it. I’m excellent at watching it though!

Rich: What else are you interested in?

Nick: I’m interested in the environment and what we can do to save our planet. I think everyone should be responsible for looking after where we live. Things like recycling and not just throwing stuff away. I’m worried about the future of the Earth you know … the plastic in our oceans, our dependence on oil. I don’t think enough people are aware of what we’re doing. I get tired of people who say that they can’t do anything because they are only one person.

Rich: So you think everyone can make a difference?

Nick: I do, yes. Sorry to go on but I really like to get that point across.

Language Focus & Task

Rich: In the last section, Nick and I used lots of dependent prepositions with adjectives.

Nick: Remember, a dependent preposition is a preposition that is connected to a specific word like think of or depends on.

Rich: We want you to listen to the last section again and find as many dependent prepositions with adjectives as you can.

Nick: The first one was interested in. I said that I wasn’t interested in football. Listen again and see how many more you can find and tell us in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

Rich: On the page below, we have a few more interactive activities to help you and a quiz to check your understanding.

Football Phrase

Rich: Nick, every week Jack gives our listeners a football phrase to guess. Can you think of a phrase for our listeners this week?

Nick: Sure. I’ll just get my thinking cap on.

Rich: Great. While you are thinking, I’ll tell everyone last week’s phrase. The phrase was a winning streak. It is a phrase that is used to describe a team that has won lots of games in a row or consecutively. Well done to Kwesimanifest from Ghana, Ahmed Adam from Sudan, Maajk and Giovi from Poland, Liubomyr from Ukraine, Baktislam from Indonesia, and Lakerwang from China. Well done to all of you! Have you got a phrase for us, Nick?

Nick: Yes I do. This week’s football phrase is to ** **** ** *** ****. This phrase is used to describe a season that is not decided until the very last moment because it is very close. For example, the relegation fight at the bottom of the Premier League is going to ** **** ** *** ****. We probably won’t know the three relegated teams until the final week of the season.

Rich: That’s a difficult one. I like it. Right, that’s all we have time for this week! Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions and make a guess at our football phrase in the comments below.

Nick: Bye for now and enjoy your football!

How much did you understand?

In the podcast, Rich and Jack used some words and phrases that might be new for you. Do you know the words or phrases in bold?

Thanks for standing in for Jack at the last minute.

My students struggle with prepositions.

There were a few more tricky words in the podcast. Do you know what they all mean? Try the activity below, then, listen to the podcast again to hear how we used the words.

Activity 1: In this activity, try to match the words and phrases to the descriptions.

Are you afraid OF spiders?

Dependent Prepositions

In this week's podcast, Nick and Rich spoke about dependent prepositions. Dependent prepositions are the prepositions that are naturally and frequently used with specific verbs, adjectives and nouns. Here are a couple of examples from the podcast:

I like listening to music.

It depends how big the spider is. It depends on their size.

In these examples, the preposition is fixed to a verb. No other preposition is possible. There aren't many general rules for learning dependent prepositions so it can be a bit difficult to remember them. One idea is to use Google to help you, type in the word and preposition and put it in speech marks (" "). When I type in "depends on" I get 256 million results and when I type in "depends of" I get fewer results and the top results are all about common mistakes in English! On the basis of this, you can probably safely choose "depends on". It also helps if you make a note of the preposition when you are learning a new word. If you learn the preposition at the same time as the noun or verb, and in context, it should help you remember it so you can use it later.

Here are some common dependent prepositions:

Verbs and Dependent Prepositions	Adjectives and Dependent Prepositions	Nouns and Dependent Prepositions
depend on	according to	on purpose
argue with someone/ argue about something	interested in	decrease in
apologise to someone/apologise for something	afraid of	difference between
believe in	based on	advantage of
worry about	famous for	without doubt
rely on	excited about	at risk
comment on	good at	in theory
speak to someone/speak about someone/speak for someone	keen on	in trouble
talk to someone/talk about something	similar to	under guarantee

If you want to know more about dependent prepositions, have a go at the activity below, then, take a look at our LearnEnglish website for more activities and advice.

Activity 2: Take a look at the sentences and decide which preposition to use.

Nick is worried ABOUT the future of our planet.

Adjective + preposition combinations

In the podcast, Nick and Rich looked specifically at dependent prepositions with adjectives, which can also be called adjective + preposition combinations. Here are some examples from the podcast:

I think everybody should be responsible for where we live.

I don't think enough people are aware of what we're doing.

In this activity, take a look at the sentences and choose the correct preposition to go with each adjective.

Activity 3: In this activity, look at the questions and write the correct preposition.

Hull is a rugby town but it doesn't appeal to Nick. He's afraid OF the tackling!

Quiz

What do you think?

In this week’s podcast, Nick and Rich spoke about dependent prepositions and adjective + preposition combinations.

Answer the questions below that use adjective + preposition combinations and use these combinations in your answers:

Are you good at football?
Do you think football managers are responsible for team performance?
Are you aware of environmental issues?
Are you similar to or very different from your parents?
Do you ever get tired of football?

Write your answers in the comments section below.

Remember to write your guess for this week's football phrase, too!