Dependent Prepositions

Some things in English simply have to be memorised. One of the biggest problems for learners of English at any level is the use of prepositions. Very often, learners ‘literally’ translate them, which ends up in good in dancing and not good at dancing. Certain verbs or adjectives require particular prepositions which are called dependent prepositions. The choice of them is not usually a matter of logic, as in the sentence:

•    The house was on fire, so the firefighters put it out.

This sentence contains two prepositions, on and out, but neither is used literally or logically: the house wasn’t really ‘on’ a fire, and the firemen didn’t put the fire ‘out’. However, if you tried to make the sentence literal and logical, it would sound unnatural and ridiculous, e.g.:

•    The house was aflame, so the firefighters extinguished the blaze.

So, dependent prepositions are an important part of clear and effective language. We often use them in casual speech. When writing, however, we need to make sure we avoid using ‘unnecessary’ prepositions and try to eliminate them. In the examples below, the prepositions are unnecessary and thus ‘nonstandard’ or ‘superfluous’:

• The people did not extend out far enough.
• The illness can make one dizzy and prone to falling down.
• If you don’t hurry, you’ll miss out on all the fun!