Connect to or connect with? On television or in television? Admit someone to hospital or in hospital? What is the difference between ‘old for his years’ and ‘old in years’? Which is correct: try something free or try something for free? Learners of English raise similar queries during their journey towards mastering prepositions.
Not only learners of English but also those who have learnt English as a second or foreign language and used it for many decades struggle to be accurate with their prepositions.
When a phrase cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements, it is called ‘idiomatic’. It is not possible to translate an idiomatic expression word for word into another language. To do away with and to think something over are examples of the idiomatic use of prepositions. Different prepositions are used with the same word. For example, the verb agree can be followed by about, on, to or with. The verb differ may be followed by in, from, between, with or on. The choice depends on the context.
Here are more examples of the idiomatic use of prepositions:
■ to hear from (to receive a letter / an email / a phone call from someone): I haven’t heard from him since February.
■ to be friends with someone (to have friendly relations with someone): He is friends with everyone in the class.
■ at odds (at loggerheads; quarrelling): It is quite strange; the twins have always been at odds with each other.
■ to be occupied in doing something: After retirement she is occupied in taking care of her grandson.
■ to occupy oneself with a book / a smartphone (to spend one’s time by reading or using a smartphone): When I travel I occupy myself with books and news magazines.
■ to fortify oneself against.: We need to fortify ourselves against the cold.
A good exposure to the language helps non-native speakers use prepositions idiomatically but native speakers of English acquire mastery of the idiomatic use of prepositions unconsciously.
Is get something for free ungrammatical? According to strict grammarians for free is grammatically unacceptable. In their view, the sentence I got the pen for free is incorrect and should read I got the pen free or I got the pen for nothing. The term for free is now widely used and has therefore become acceptable. Here are some examples:
■ Private medical practitioners can now run dengue tests for free (News item)
■ This presentation requires Flash 8. Click here to download it for free. (http://music.theguardian.com/video/page/0,,2045537,00.html)
■ The Samsung Galaxy S3 phone has been out for a while, have you got yours yet? Get it for free! (http://www.freesamsunggalaxys3.com/)