Other important Prepositions

English	Usage	Example
from	who gave it	a present from Jane
of	who/what does it belong to what does it show	a page of the book the picture of a palace
by	who made it	a book by Mark Twain
on	walking or riding on horseback entering a public transport vehicle	on foot, on horseback get on the bus
in	entering a car  / Taxi	get in the car
off	leaving a public transport vehicle	get off the train
out of	leaving a car  / Taxi	get out of the taxi
by	rise or fall of something travelling (other than walking or horseriding)	prices have risen by 10 percent by car, by bus
at	for age	she learned Russian at 45
about	for topics, meaning what about	we were talking about you

Infinitive

We use the to-infinitive:

• to express purpose (to answer "Why...?"):

He bought some flowers to give to his wife. He locked the door to keep everyone out.

We sometimes say in order to or in order not to:

We set off early in order to avoid the traffic. They spoke quietly in order not to wake the children

… or we can say so as to or so as not to:

We set off early so as to avoid the traffic. They spoke quietly so as not to wake the children.

• after certain verbs particularly verbs of thinking and feeling:

choose, decide, expect, forget, hate, hope, intend, learn, like,  love, mean, plan, prefer, remember, want, would like, would love

… and verbs of saying:

agree, promise, refuse

They decided to start a business together. Remember to turn the lights out.

Some verbs are followed by a direct object and the infinitive

advise, ask, encourage, invite, order, persuade, remind, tell, warn,  expect, intend, would prefer, want, would like

She reminded me to turn the lights out. He encouraged his friends to vote for him.

• after certain adjectives.

Sometimes the to-infinitive gives a reason for the adjective:

Disappointed glad sad happy anxious pleased surprised proud unhappy

We were happy to come to the end of our journey = We were happy because we had come to the end of our journey John was surprised to see me  = He was surprised because he saw me

Other adjectives with the to-infinitive are:

Able unable due eager keen likely unlikely ready prepared unwilling willing

Unfortunately I was unable to work for over a week. I am really tired. I’m ready to go to bed.

We often use the to-infinitive with these adjectives after it to give opinions:

Difficult easy possible impossible hard right wrong kind nice clever silly foolish

It’s easy to play the piano, but it’s very difficult to play well. He spoke so quickly it was impossible to understand him.

We use the preposition for to show who these adjectives refer to:

Difficult easy possible impossible hard

It was difficult for us to hear what she was saying. It is easy for you to criticise other people.

We use the preposition of with other adjectives:

It’s kind of you to help. It would be silly of him to spend all his money.

• As a postmodifier after abstract nouns like:

Ability desire need wish attempt failure opportunity chance intention

I have no desire to be rich. They gave him an opportunity to escape. She was annoyed by her failure to answer the question correctly.

• We often use a to-infinitive as a postmodifier after an indefinite pronoun

When I am travelling I always take something to read. I was all alone. I had no one to talk to. There is hardly anything to do in most of these small towns.