A list of Common Mistakes in Written English (1) Prepositions

Common mistakes with Prepositions:

wrong use of ‘at’ after ‘come’:

‘They come home’
‘We can follow the evolution of her state of mind through the description of the house’

wrong use of ‘‘with’ instead of ‘to’:

‘Daisy is married to Tom’

wrong use of ‘to’ instead of ‘with’

‘The problem I am confronted with’

wrong use of ‘during’ instead of ‘for’:

‘She has not seen her son for eight years’

wrong use of ‘since’ instead of ‘for’:

‘They have known each other for eight years’

wrong use of ‘in the whole of’ instead of ‘throughout’:

‘throughout the story…’

wrong use of ‘in’ instead of ‘inside’ :

‘She is unaware of the conflict happening inside her’

wrong use of ‘in’ instead of ‘into’:

‘She only wants to get into her son’s room’

wrong use of ‘as’ instead of ‘like’:

‘She felt like a stranger’

wrong use of ‘of’ instead of ‘with’:

‘They cause Mrs Carnavon to be disgusted with herself’

wrong use of ‘of’ instead of ‘by’:

‘In this story by Doris Lessing…’

wrong use of ‘of’ instead of ‘for’:

‘I think there are two reasons for the fact that she decides to clear the room’
‘She feels confused, and the reason for this is to be found in…’

wrong use of ‘that’ instead of ‘as’:

‘The second waiter feels the same as the old man’

wrong use of ‘to’ instead of ‘with’ after ‘confront’:

‘They are confronted with an inextricable situation’

wrong use of ‘to’ instead of ‘at’ after ‘arrive’:

‘She must arrive at a decision’

wrong use of ‘explain’ without ‘to’:

‘This story explains to us how we must look beyond the appearance of things’

wrong use of ‘say’ without ‘to’:

‘He said to him/told him that he liked the house’

wrong use of ‘present’ without ‘with’:

‘John O’Hara presents us with the evolution of a mother’s state of mind’