Using English Prepositions - Lesson 4: At and To - Part 2 (collocations)

There are certain combinations or collocations

with the prepositions AT and TO.

They're very useful to know.

There are collocations with nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

Remember to use TO

when you want to express direction

with intention or expectation.

You expect that something will be received.

Other verbs have the same basic meaning as GIVE.

And a verb with a similar meaning is PRESENT.

For example, we present an idea to someone.

Similar in meaning is SUGGEST.

When you suggest something to someone,

you're basically telling them what you think they should do.

relate a story (more formal for "tell a story")

Note that with the verbs GIVE, SHOW, and TELL

we can change the word order.

If we don't need to emphasize who or what the receive is,

we can take out the preposition "to"

and move the object of the preposition

to an earlier position.

So, instead of "give the phone to me"

- "give me the phone."

"show a picture to you" - "show you a picture"

"tell a story to you" - "tell you a story"

If you think carefully,

you'll see all those verbs express showing, or giving, or telling.

So you're giving kindness to someone, for example.

Or showing them sweetness.

Let's look at more collocations.

- Collocations with the preposition AT.

We use this preposition

to express the direction of our feelings.

We could see this as the cause of our feelings.

For example, what caused you to be mad?

I'm mad at you.

But I also think it's helpful

to view this preposition

as one that helps us express the direction of our feelings.

Where are you directing your anger?

I'm mad at her.

Beyond feelings, we can use AT to talk about skills.

I'm good at something. I'm bad at something.

You can think of it as directing your efforts

and your energies toward a goal,

hoping that something good will result.

When we feel things, we also take action.

We're directing our feelings toward an object

when we do these actions.

Compare those collocations to these.

When we talk to someone,

there's this expectation that our words will be received.

That's our intention.

Let's also make note of the pronunciation changes.

In slow, careful speech

we can pronounce prepositions with their full vowel sounds.

But in everyday conversation,

we usually speak faster and with relaxed pronunciation.

"Give this to me."

"Look at me."

So in everyday conversation,

the prepositions are unstressed.

They're reduced to have a very relaxed vowel sound.

Let's try an exercise

to practice some of those collocations

with nouns, verbs, and adjectives.