Practise Prepositions and Subject-verb Agreement

Mastering any skill requires a lot of practice. The same is true in the case of English grammar. Frequent and regular practice, analysis and usage of grammatical structures and components are what will make your English language at least near perfect. 

You would have surely learnt about the different parts of speech and their functions. Once you have understood how each part of speech is used, your next step should be to apply whatever you have learnt. To help you with it, here is an exercise to check your comprehension of how and where a preposition is made use of. Go through the sentences and fill in the blanks with the most suitable preposition from the list given below. 

Exercise 1 – Use of Prepositions

(in front of, of, with, at, in, from, on, into, for, at)

1. I am going _______ Anu today. 
2. There is an auction _______ the Government Auditorium next week. 
3. We visited the ancient church that is located _______ the beach. 
4. Manu ran _______ the fire to rescue his pet dog. 
5. Farsana said that she had kept the book _______ the table. 
6. On our way back _______ Sri Lanka, we met our childhood friends. 
7. There is an unused set of clothes that you can use  _______ the cupboard.
8. My brother and I bought a new mobile phone _______ our mom. 
9. We got down _______ the wrong stop. 
10. The lid _______ the box was broken.  

Answers for Exercise 1

1. I am going with Anu today. 
2. There is an auction at the Government Auditorium next week. 
3. We visited the ancient church that is located in front of the beach. 
4. Manu ran into the fire to rescue his pet dog. 
5. Farsana said that she had kept the book on the table. 
6. On our way back from Sri Lanka, we met our childhood friends. 
7. There is an unused set of clothes that you can use in the cupboard.
8. My brother and I bought a new mobile phone for our mom. 
9. We got down at the wrong stop. 
10. The lid of the box was broken.  

Other commonly used parts of speech include nouns, pronouns and verbs. As you know, nouns and pronouns can be used to play the role of the subject or the object in a sentence. When they are used as subjects, they are required to agree with the verb in order to make complete sense. The process in which we use verbs according to the number and tense of the subject is called subject verb agreement. Here is an exercise on subject-verb agreement to check how far you have understood the application of this concept.

Exercise 2 – Subject-verb Agreement

Go through the following sentences and fill in the blanks with the right form of the verbs given in brackets so that it agrees with the subject(s). 

1. Preetha and Suresh _________ (to be) here to see you. 
2. The computer _________ (work) well. 
3. She _________ (have) a cockatiel and a black palm cockatoo. 
4. I _________ (wait) for the 6 p.m. airport bus everyday. 
5. The lights _________ (to be – negative) turning on yesterday, and nobody knew why. 
6. My father _________ (like) the cashew cookies I bake. 
7. Soumia and I _________ (wear) each other’s clothes every once in a while. 
8. My bag _________ (to be) brown in colour. 
9. These books _________ (belong) to Sreya. 
10. Meena’s mom  _________ (keep) the house clean and tidy all the time. 

Answers for Exercise 2

1. Preetha and Suresh are here to see you. 
2. The computer works well. 
3. She has a cockatiel and a black palm cockatoo. 
4. I wait for the 6 p.m. airport bus everyday. 
5. The lights were not turning on yesterday, and nobody knew why. 
6. My father likes the cashew cookies I bake. 
7. Soumia and I wear each other’s clothes every once in a while. 
8. My bag is brown in colour. 
9. These books belong to Sreya. 
10. Meena’s mom keeps the house clean and tidy all the time.