Prepositions

A preposition is not chosen by meaning; it is chosen by the word standing before it. Learn the pairs, not the translations.

Four types cover the paper:

1. Time. at a clock time (at 5 p.m.), on a day or date (on Monday, on 3 May), in a month, year or long stretch (in June, in 2019, in the morning). Narrow to wide: at → on → in.
2. Place. at a point (at the gate), on a surface (on the wall), in an enclosed space (in the hall).
3. Verb + preposition, fixed. depend on, insist on, listen to, look after, consist of, deal with, apply for a post but apply to an officer.
4. Adjective or noun + preposition, fixed. afraid of, good at, capable of, angry with a person, angry at a thing, the reason for, an answer to.

The single most common mistake for a Marathi or Hindi speaker is adding a preposition where English wants none. Marathi carries the relation in a postposition — चर्चा करणे is चर्चा बद्दल — so the hand writes "discuss about". These verbs take the object directly, with nothing in between: discuss, describe, enter, marry, resemble, reach, order, comprise, accompany, attack, mention, request, investigate. How to spot it: if you can delete the preposition and the sentence still says exactly the same thing, delete it.

The mirror mistake is the borrowed one: angry on him (from त्याच्यावर रागावणे) must be angry with him, and different than must be different from.

at point → on surface/day → in enclosure/month · fixed pairs: depend on, listen to, good at, afraid of, angry with (person) · NO preposition after discuss, describe, enter, marry, resemble, reach, order, request

Fill in the blank: "The committee will discuss ____ the new policy tomorrow." Options: about / on / over / no preposition. → No preposition: "The committee will discuss the new policy tomorrow." Sanity check: swap in a verb that does need one — "talk about the new policy" is right, and that is exactly why "discuss" feels as if it needs "about". It does not; "discuss" already contains the "about".