4.4 Prepositions and Collocations

Fixed (Dependent) Prepositions

Many English verbs and adjectives are followed by a fixed preposition that you cannot change or reason out — you simply have to learn the pair. These are called dependent prepositions, and the TOEFL ITP tests them by swapping in a wrong particle (depend of instead of depend on). Because the wrong preposition breaks a hard rule, these count as grammatical errors even though the words are tiny.

Quick Answer: Memorize high-frequency pairs as whole units. When you see an underlined preposition after a verb or adjective, ask: "Is this the particle that word always takes?" If not, it is the error.

The reason these items reward memorization rather than logic is that dependent prepositions are arbitrary: there is no rule explaining why English says depend on but consist of, or afraid of but worried about. Different languages map these particles differently, which is exactly why ETS uses them — a learner translating from a first language often picks the wrong one. The cure is to study the pairs as fixed two-word or three-word chunks and to read enough academic English that the correct particle simply sounds right.

High-Frequency Collocations

Learn these as fixed chunks. The verb or adjective on the left almost always takes the preposition shown.

A few pairs change meaning with the preposition: result in means 'to cause' (the storm resulted in delays), while result from means 'to be caused by' (the delays resulted from the storm). Read the sentence's logic to pick the right one.

Prepositions of Time: at / on / in

Time prepositions follow a clean zoom-out pattern, from the smallest unit (a precise point) to the largest (a long span):

• at — a precise clock time or point: at 3:00, at noon, at midnight, at dawn
• on — a specific day or date: on Monday, on July 4th, on the weekend (US usage)
• in — a month, season, year, or longer period: in March, in summer, in 2026, in the morning, in the twentieth century

Prepositions of Place: at / on / in

Place prepositions nest the same way, from a point to an enclosed area:

• at — a specific point or address: at the bus stop, at the corner, at 12 Oak Street
• on — a surface or line: on the table, on the wall, on the second floor, on the river
• in — an enclosed space or large area: in the room, in the box, in the city, in Canada

Phrasal Verbs

A phrasal verb is a verb plus a particle (a preposition or adverb) whose combined meaning is often idiomatic — not the sum of its parts. The particle is fixed, so changing it changes or breaks the meaning:

• look after = take care of (not look for, which means 'search for')
• put off = postpone
• give up = stop trying / quit
• bring up = raise (a child, or a topic)
• carry out = perform or complete (carry out an experiment)
• figure out = solve or understand
• point out = indicate or mention

Because the meaning depends on the particle, an item can hide an error by swapping it: The team carried on the experiment (continued) versus the intended carried out the experiment (performed).

Common Preposition Errors

• depend of -> depend on
• discuss about -> discuss takes no preposition (discuss the plan, not discuss about the plan)
• married with -> married to
• different than -> standard written English prefers different from
• arrive to -> arrive at (a place) or arrive in (a city/country)

Worked Collocation Example

Item: The success of the trial (A) depends (B) of the number of volunteers who (C) agree to (D) participate.

Scan reaches the prepositions last. Part B, of, follows the verb depends, but the fixed dependent preposition for depend is on — depends on the number. So part B is the error. The verb depends in A agrees with the singular subject success, agree in C is correct, and participate in D is the right base verb after to. The fix is depends on.