Adjectives and prepositions

Adjectives and prepositions

Do you know how to use adjectives with prepositions like interested in or similar to? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.

Look at these examples to see how adjectives are used with prepositions.

I'm interested in the idea.
My jacket is similar to yours.
She's brilliant at maths.
My neighbour is angry about the party.

Try this exercise to test your grammar.

Grammar test 1

Grammar test 1: Adjectives and prepositions

Read the explanation to learn more.

Grammar explanation

Some adjectives go with certain prepositions. There are no grammatical rules for which preposition is used with which adjective, so it's a good idea to try to learn them together. To help you do this, write new vocabulary in your notebook in a sentence or phrase.

However, there are some patterns that can help you. Let's look at them first. Remember that a preposition is followed by a noun or a gerund (-ing form).

With at

We use at with adjectives like good/bad/amazing/brilliant/terrible, etc. to talk about skills and abilities.

He's really good at English.
She's amazing at the piano.
They're terrible at organising anything.
I'm not very good at drawing.

With about

We often use about with adjectives of feelings like angry/excited/happy/nervous/sad/stressed/worried, etc. to explain what is causing that feeling.

I'm angry about the decision.
He's nervous about the presentation.
She's excited about the new job.
They were worried about the exam.

With of

However, sometimes we use of with feelings.

She was afraid of telling her mum.
I'm frightened of having an accident.
He's scared of flying.
You should be proud of your progress.

With to

We can use to to show the connection between people or things.

He's married to the director.
I'm addicted to my phone.
I'm allergic to nuts.
It's similar to the old one.

We can also use to to talk about someone's behaviour towards someone else.

They were really friendly to me.
Was he nice to you?
He is always polite to everyone.
She was very rude to the waitress.

Here are some other useful adjectives with prepositions.

With for

Exercise is good for you.
Stress is bad for you.
The town is famous for its cheese.
I'm responsible for the financial side of the business.

With in

She's interested in the project.
They want someone who's experienced in design.
I didn't want to get involved in the argument.

Do this exercise to test your grammar again.

Grammar test 2

Grammar test 2: Adjectives and prepositions

Average: 4.5 (317 votes)

Submitted by Kalinga on Tue, 19/01/2021 - 00:49

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There're very inresting lessons here.

Submitted by Leila77 on Mon, 18/01/2021 - 17:39

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Thanks a lot for this useful lesson.

Submitted by ahmedsoliman on Mon, 18/01/2021 - 07:22

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Thank you so much, is there any way to save my answers?

Hello ahmedsoliman,

I'm afraid there's no way to save answers on the site. Each time you visit a page the tasks are reset. We have looked into the possibility of incorporating this feature in the future, but at present it does not exist.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hi Misael,

I'm sorry, we don't have pdfs for the Grammar section at the moment. We do have pdfs for some other sections, including Skills and some Business English and General English sections. We will try to add pdfs for more sections in the future.

Best wishes,

Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Honey June on Wed, 13/01/2021 - 11:34

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This grammar section is very useful for me.Thanks a million.Btw I have known that angry is used with "with" before.For example- I am angry with u.Is my usage correct?I see angry is used with "about" at this grammar section.It is a little confused for me.If u have time, can u explain the difference between them please?

Hello Honey June,

We use angry with for people and angry about for things/actions/situations:

I'm angry with him. He's so rude sometimes!

I'm angry about what happened at the party.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Mason2afm on Tue, 12/01/2021 - 21:29

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Hello, thank you for these very useful contents. I have a question: Is this sentence grammatically correct: You can take a leisurely cruise on the lake. Actually I think it should be wrong because the adjective form of leisurely should be used (instead of adverb form) as we have an adjectival phrase here.

Hi Mason2afm,

It's a good question! Actually, it is correct, because leisurely is an adjective, not an adverb. It looks like an adverb, as it has the -ly ending. But some adjectives end in -ly (others include elderly, lively and timely).

Best wishes,

Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team