Adjectives and prepositions

Do you know how to use adjectives with prepositions like interested in or similar to? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.

Look at these examples to see how adjectives are used with prepositions.

I'm interested in the idea.
My jacket is similar to yours.
She's brilliant at maths.
My neighbour is angry about the party.

Try this exercise to test your grammar.

Grammar test 1: Grammar test 1: Adjectives and prepositions

Read the explanation to learn more.

Grammar explanation

Some adjectives go with certain prepositions. There are no grammatical rules for which preposition is used with which adjective, so it's a good idea to try to learn them together. To help you do this, write new vocabulary in your notebook in a sentence or phrase.

However, there are some patterns that can help you. Let's look at them first. Remember that a preposition is followed by a noun or a gerund (-ing form).

With at

We use at with adjectives like good/bad/amazing/brilliant/terrible, etc. to talk about skills and abilities.

He's really good at English.
She's amazing at the piano.
They're terrible at organising anything.
I'm not very good at drawing.

With about

We often use about with adjectives of feelings like angry/excited/happy/nervous/sad/stressed/worried, etc. to explain what is causing that feeling.

I'm angry about the decision.
He's nervous about the presentation.
She's excited about the new job.
They were worried about the exam.

With of

However, sometimes we use of with feelings.

She was afraid of telling her mum.
I'm frightened of having an accident.
He's scared of flying.
You should be proud of your progress.

With to

We can use to to show the connection between people or things.

He's married to the director.
I'm addicted to my phone.
I'm allergic to nuts.
It's similar to the old one.

We can also use to to talk about someone's behaviour towards someone else.

They were really friendly to me.
Was he nice to you?
He is always polite to everyone.
She was very rude to the waitress.

Here are some other useful adjectives with prepositions.

With for

Exercise is good for you.
Stress is bad for you.
The town is famous for its cheese.
I'm responsible for the financial side of the business.

With in

She's interested in the project.
They want someone who's experienced in design.
I didn't want to get involved in the argument.

Do this exercise to test your grammar again.

Grammar test 2: Grammar test 2: Adjectives and prepositions

Try another grammar lesson

Language level

A1 Elementary

A2 Pre-intermediate

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Hi Luisalcaza,

Good question!

After difficult, use for with a person: It's really difficult for me.

The phrase to me also shows your opinion about something, e.g. To me, $10 is a lot of money or To me, this is very important. But because your sentence has difficult, the usual preposition to use is for.

Does that make sense?

Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team

I'm terrible at directions.... ;|

Firstly , I learn the grammar pattern and then I write down my own sentences. This way is really useful for me ! Thanks a lot !

in this lesson miss the explain for the preposition in and for

This is very helpful. Thank you.

Thanks

This is very useful for me and really proud of me to learn in BC

Adjectives and prepositions are important to know how could we use them in right way, I thing reading and lustering make it easily.

Good afternoon, I had a question about "at" and "in". For example: (1)I am good at math (2) I am good in math I read here "at" is used with good/ bad etc to talk about skills and abilities. In the second sentence I mean the subject math. Which one is correct? Thank you

Hello Tvisha Shukla,

We use 'at' when we are talking about skills and abilities, including academic subjects, so we would say 'at math' rather than 'in math'.

You can use 'in' if you are talking about 'math lessons', but then we would not say 'good' but rather something more specific like 'I work hard' or 'I get good grades' etc.

Peter