Learner produces the fixed preposition after high-frequency adjectives, which have no rule and must be learned as units.
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Eight gaps. Fill each one in your head before you look at the answers.
Why guessing never improves, and what to do instead.
Learners often assume they are missing something — that if they understood prepositions properly, they could work these out.
They cannot, and neither can anyone else. There is no logic to it:
interested in but keen on
good at but skilled in
worried about but concerned with
Native speakers do not know a rule either. They simply learned each one as a single unit, the way you learned good morning rather than assembling it from good and morning.
That is good news. A rule you cannot find is frustrating. A list of eight pairs is a job you can finish this afternoon.
Eight pairs of pieces that only fit their own partner.
Each pair only fits its own partner. There is nothing to work out — only to remember.
Eight adjectives, eight prepositions. Straight drill.
Terms
Definitions
Three gaps — and in two of them, what follows the preposition also matters.
Chain 1
The sentence: She has always been interested ___ ancient history.
The preposition:
How did you know?
Chain 2
The sentence: He is not capable ___ ___ that much in one day. (the verb is "do")
The preposition:
The form of "do":
Chain 3
The sentence: Many parents are worried ___ ___ their children too much screen time. (the verb is "give")
The preposition:
The form of "give":
Eight sentences, eight prepositions. No candidates given.
I have always been interested how cities grow.
She is extremely good explaining difficult ideas simply.
A lot of parents are worried how much time their children spend online.
Most drivers are not aware how much fuel they waste in traffic.
The new system is capable handling twice as many users.
The report is based data collected over ten years.
The second problem is closely related the first one.
This course is not really suitable complete beginners.