Fill in the blanks with an appropriate preposition.
1. I am interested ...................... learning to fly.
2. John's criticism ......................... the plan made him unpopular.
The noun criticism needs a preposition to connect it to a noun or ing form.
3. He has always been critical ......................... me.
4. I resent .................................. on weekends.
Some verbs can be followed by nouns or ing forms with no preposition. Resent is one of them.
5. My resentment .................................. working on holidays made me unpopular with my boss.
Resentment is followed by of.
6. I feel resentful ......................... working on Sundays.
7. She ignored our worries ........................... her health.
We worry about something.
8. I can only sympathize ......................... you.
We sympathize with people. We do not sympathize for or at them.
9. I feel great sympathy ........................ her.
10. I feel sympathetic ............................. the poor.
Sympathetic is followed by towards.
11. I had given up hope ........................ seeing her again.
Hope is followed by of + noun/ing form.
12. She ....................... the station last night.
A preposition is usually necessary before an expression of place.
Answers
1. I am interested in learning to fly.
2. John’s criticism of the plan made him unpopular.
3. He has always been critical of me.
4. I resent working on weekends.
5. My resentment of working on holidays made me unpopular with my boss.
6. I feel resentful about working on Sundays.
7. She ignored our worries about her health.
8. I can only sympathize with you.
9. I feel great sympathy for her.
10. I feel sympathetic towards the poor.
11. I had given up hope of seeing her again.
12. She arrived at the station last night.
