Published at August 22, 2024

Prepositions After a Verb in English - TOEIC® Preparation

TOP-Students™

a teacher explaining prepositions after a verb in English for TOEIC® preparation

In English, some verbs are followed by prepositions. The most common prepositions used before or after nouns are "for", "on", "with", "to", "about", "in", "at".

To know which preposition to use, one of the most effective methods is to memorize the lists presented below.

Knowing these lists will allow you to easily score points on the TOEIC®, as there are many questions on this topic (especially in the reading section).

1. List of verbs followed by no preposition (to memorize)

Verbe + Aucune Préposition
to discuss
to enter
to meet
to phone
to tell
to write

2. List of verbs followed by a preposition (to memorize)

Verbe + Préposition
to account for
to agree on
to agree with
to apply for ( + WHY we apply - purpose of the application)
to apply to ( + WHERE we apply - institution, program, etc.)
to approve of
to believe in
to belong to
to benefit from
to complain about
to complain to
to comply with
to concentrate on
to consist of
to contribute to
to cope with
to deal with
to depend on
to focus on
to hear about
to hear from
to insist on
to invest in
to lead to
to look at
to look for
to object to
to participate in
to pay for
to recover from
to refer to
to rely on
to result in
to specialize in
to succeed in
to take care of
to talk to
to think about (= consider)
to think of (= have an opinion of)
to wait for
to write to

3. List of verbs followed by an object and a preposition (to memorize)

Verbe + Préposition
to care about ......something.....
to worry about ...something...
to laugh at ...someone... for
to insure ...something... against
to apply for ...something...
to ask ...someone... for
to blame ...someone... for
to depend on ...someone... for
to pay for ...something...
to rely on ...someone... for
to thank ...someone... for
to apologize to ...someone... for
to complain to ...someone... about
to object to ...something... for
to borrow ...something... from
to protect ...someone... from
to approve of ...something...
to invest ...something... in
to specialize in ...something...
to succeed in ...something...
to congratulate ...someone... on
to spend ...something... on
to divide ...something... into
to hear about ...something...
to believe in ...something...
to provide ...someone... with
to supply ...someone... with

Conclusion

Questions about verbs and prepositions are very common in the TOEIC®.

Even though it may seem complicated to memorize these lists, it is worth it because you can earn TOEIC® points quite easily.

We know it can be hard to memorize all this, which is why we are working on games to help you memorize these lists. If you want to try these games, click the button to join the platform below!

In the meantime, if you are looking for other lists like this, feel free to check out these other articles: