Page 321 - Oxford_English_Grammar_Course_Basic_2015

polite to typical of
It's best to be polite to policemen. She went out without saying 'Thank you'. That's just
typical of her.
reason for
What was the reason for his change of plans? wait for
I waited for her for half an hour, and then went home.
smile at
In this job you have to smile at people all day. write to
We write to each other every week. (BUT We phone
talk about
each other... - no p re p o s itio n )
Were you talking about me?
wrong with
thank somebody for What's wrong with the car?
Thank you for waiting.

think about/of For more about prepositions, see Section 21.
I think about you all the time. -» For more about prepositions with verbs, see page 141.
We're thinking of going to America.

translate into/from
I've got to translate this letter from French into
German.

common expressions beginning with prepositions

at a party at the cinema at the theatre
at the top at the bottom at the side
at the beginning at the end of something in th e e n d ( = 'fin a lly ','a fte r a lo n g t im e ')

by car/bus/train etc (BU T on foot)
a book by Dickens an opera by Mozart

for example

in a raincoat/dress/hat
in the rain/snow
in the sky in the world
in a picture
in the middle
in a loud/quiet voice
write in pen/pencil
in my opinion
in time (= 'n o t la te ') on time ( = 'a t ju s t th e r ig h t tim e ; n o t la te o r e a rly ')

on the phone on the radio on TV
on page 22

-» For expressions without articles like in hospital, at university, see page 162.

306 APPENDICES