DEPENDENT PREPOSITIONS (B1)
INTRODUCCIÓN
Se denomina ‘dependent preposition’ a las preposiciones que se suelen usar después de ciertos nombres, verbos o adjetivos. En inglés, al igual que en cualquier otro idioma, es muy importante conocer la preposición que se debe utilizar en cada ocasión dependiendo de la palabra que queramos utilizar. Existen casos en los que solo una preposición puede ser usada, casos en los que hay distintas opciones sin cambio de significado, y casos en los que dependiendo de lo que queramos decir, deberemos elegir unas u otras.
Por ejemplo en inglés ‘acusar a alguien de un crimen‘ se debe decir ‘accuse someone of a crime‘ y solo se puede usar la preposición ‘of‘, no podemos usar otras como ‘at a crime‘ o ‘by a crime‘ o ‘for a crime‘.
ALGUNOS BÁSICOS
Sentimientos
- afraid/scared/terrified/ + of
- Anna is terrified of spiders.
- proud/ashamed/jealous + of
- She’s really ashamed of your behaviour.
- annoyed/worried/upset + about
- I’m not really upset about my team’s results.
- delighted/bored/pleased + with/at/by
- They were bored by the film.
- surprised/amazed/shocked + at/by
- I was really surprised by Mark’s news.
Comportamiento
- nice/kind/unfriendly/mean + to
- She’s very kind to animals.
Habilidad
- good/bad/excellent + at (para referirse a una habilidad que se tiene).
- Mark is excellent at painting.
- good + for (para hablar de algo que representa una ventaja).
- Doing regular exercise is good for you.
- good + to (para hablar de comportamiento)
- Sam is very good to her mother – he does all her shopping.
- capable/incapable + of
- Julia is incapable of making a decision.
Parecido
- Similar/identical + to
- That car is very similar to your last one.
- different + from/to
- Spoken Portuguese is different from Spanish.
Gustos
- keen + on
- Lisa is keen on tracing her family tree.
- fond + of
- Lisa is very fond of books.
- interested/involved + in
- You aren’t very involved in that book, are you?
Otros
- full/short/tired + of
- John can’t go with you – he’s short of money.
- ready/fit/famous/late/sorry + for
- He has only recently become fit for the competition.
Necesidad
- Demand/request/need/wish + for
- There’s a great demand for cheap houses.
Movimiento
- rise/fall/increase/decrease + in
- The banks has announced a rise in interest rates.
Response
- reaction/response/solution/ attitude + to
- Do you get a severe reaction to insect bites?
- We need to find a solution to the problem.
Contacto
- relationship/contact + with
- She has a good relationship with the students.
- relationship + between (cuando hablamos de una relación entre dos personas, grupos o cosas)
- The relationship between Alex and his brother has always been difficult.
- I don’t understand the relationship between global warming and wetter summers.
Otros
- cause/cost/example + of
- The cause of the flooding was heavy rain.
- opinion/knowledge/hope + of
- Britain’s main hope of success lies with it itself.
- advantage/disadvantage + of
- He’s got the advantage of speaking Chinese.
- Matter/trouble/problem + with
- What’s the matter with you today?
- belief/trust/confidence + in
- People don’t have confidence in the government any more.
Existen muchos verbos que no requieren de una preposición en inglés tras ellos, como por ejemplo: answer, demand, discuss, enter, expect, leave, phone, request, etc.
- Everyone clapped when he entered the room.
Algunos verbos sí pueden ir seguidos por una o varias preposiciones, por ejemplo:
- talk to
- talk about
Veamos ahora algunos ejemplos de dependent prepositions:
+ about
complain, hear, know, read, speak (speak to sb about sth), talk, think, write
- Children are always complaining about the food they have to eat.
- I spoke to the manager about the problem with the car.
+ at
arrive, laugh, look, shout, stay
+ for
apologise, apply, ask, care, look
- The Prime Minister apologised for Britain’s involvement in the slave trade.
+ in
arrive, believe, stay, succeed
+ into
bump, crash, drive, run
+ of
approve, consist, hear, think
+ on
concentrate, decide, depend, rely, insist
- The music next door is so loud that I can’t concentrate on my work.
+ to
belong, explain, happen, listen, speak (speak to sb about sth), talk, write
- I spoke to the manager about the problem with the service.
+ with
agree, deal, stay
- Ahmed’s job is to deal with difficult customers.
En algunos casos podemos tener verbos que funcionen con dos objetos y solo uno de ellos lleve preposición, quedando una estructura de:
verbo + objeto + preposición + objeto
- congratulate + sb + on + sth
- Peter’s father congratulated him on his success.
- accuse/remind + sb + of + sth
- She reminded the player of his appointment with the coach.
- ask/blame/criticise/punish + sb + for + sth
- Don’t blame me for your mistakes!
- compare/provide/share + sb/sth + with + sb
- The assistants will provide you with paper.
- borrow/translate/prevent + sb/sth + from + sth
- Do you translate texts from English?
- throw/kick/shout/point + sth + to/at + sb/sth (Con estos verbos la preposición ‘at’ es más violenta que si usamos ‘to).
- He threw the ball to the girl (se la lanzó para que la cogiera)
- He threw the ball at the girl (se la lanzó para golpearla)
¿Practicamos lo aprendido?
Dependent prepositions (B1/B2)
Dependent prepositions (B1/B2)
Dependent prepositions (B1/B2)