Preposition

Exercise 1. Choose the correct prepositions.

Trouble in Norton Mining

The entire workforce of Norton Mining has gone (on / in) strike following a serious accident at the mine in Coolooma. The cause (for / of) the accident is unclear, but the union is blaming management attitudes (on / to) safety regulations. A spokesperson said, “Damage (of / to) equipment was frequently ignored and union demands (for / of) safer working practices were rejected. The managers’ relationship (with / to) the union was very poor, so although we pointed out that there’d been a rise (of / in)the number of minor accidents over the past year, they said there was no need (for / of) a change in working practice”.

John Norton, the chairman of Norton Mining, is away (on / in) a business trip. His secretary said she has spoken to him (by / on) the phone. The news of accident had come (like / as) a great shock to him, she added. She was unable to say when he would be back.

It is understood that the police would like to speak to Mr. Norton in connection (with / to) a number of his financial dealings.

Exercise 2. Complete the gaps with prepositions.

1. I saw it … TV. 2. They came … car. 3. It was written … Goethe. 4. We went … walk. 5. I read it … a magazine. 6. He is … holiday this week. 7. I went … the afternoon. 8. He came … foot. 9. The clothes are made … hand. 10. She broke her hand … accident. 11. I’ll see you … a moment. 12. I’m very busy … the moment. 13. It’s very quite … night.

Exercise 3. Read the text. Complete the gaps with prepositions.

It was 8 o’clock on cold morning … January. She was still asleep. She usually stayed … bed … about 9 o’clock … the winter. Suddenly she was woken up by a knocking at the door. She got … bed and went … the door. There was a man … the doorstep. She thought she recognized him. “Hello, Edna”, he said. “It’s Tom. Can I come …?” And then she knew who it was but she didn’t quite believe it. She hadn’t seen him … thirty years, not … the summer of 1940 when she’d said goodbye to him the night … his final departure. That was when he went off … war. It was two years … that when she received the letter … the War Office which said that Tom had been missing … some time and was now presumed dead. She kept on hoping that they were wrong right up … the of the war. But then she gave up. … then , she’d continued to think of Tom every day. … his birthday, she always stayed at home all day because she couldn’t bear to meet anybody. She’d met Tom … age of sixteen and they’d had a wonderful time together … the start of the war. She was nineteen when war broke out and they’d been together … three years. They were going to get married … war.

She looked at his face. It was still the same face but with quite a few lines … it and there was a bit less hair … his head. He put his hand … his pocket and took out a small photograph. It was one she’d sent him just … his disappearance. It was a picture of her … teenager …the war. She held it … her hand and remembered back to those times. She felt rather hot and dizzy and thought that she might fall … the floor at any moment. She asked him to come … the living-room and they sat down together to tell their stories.