Our intermediate English posts are going to be written only in English and our first topic is going to be verbs and prepositions. Many students think that speaking English is like speaking Portuguese in other words but that is not the case.

Let’s see some examples:

We talked about the problem.
He apologized for what he had done.

When the object of the preposition is a verb, it comes in the –ing form (gerund).

We talked about traveling to the south next year.
He apologized for arriving late.

Here are some more examples:

I’m thinking of going to work on foot today. It’s such a beautiful morning.
I wanted to pay but he insisted on paying for my sandwich.
They talked about it a lot and decided against moving to a smaller town.
I would never dream of letting my daughter date that kind of man.
I don’t approve of kids staying out in the streets late at night.
Do you feel like going to the movies tonight?
I congratulated him on passing that difficult exam.
We wanted the car but he warned us against buying it.
Forgive me for arriving so late, I got stuck in traffic.
The rain prevented us from going out.
I want to thank you for helping me with this project.
The snow stopped me from driving home.
He accused me of stealing from the company.

HOT TIP!

There’s no magical way to learn which preposition goes with each verb so whenever you come across a combination verb + preposition, write the sentence down and try writing your own example.