I'm proud of my cooking.

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Prepositions Following Adjectives I (About, With, Of, At)

Intermediate

So far, we have learned to use adjectives to say how we feel: for instance, "I feel happy" or "I am sad." After this lesson, you will be able to say how you feel about other things.

Exercise 1

Sentence Practice

Andrea is happy about the news.
John is still afraid of the dark.
My mother is angry at me for losing her necklace.
I am very fond of my two dogs.

Grammar Focus

To say how we feel about someone or something, we use adjectives with the prepositions, 'about', 'with', 'of' and 'at'.

The most general adjectives tend to be used with many different prepositions; e.g. 'happy about/with' and 'angry at/about/with'.

Adj + 'about'

'About' tends to be used after an adjective to say how you feel about an event that happened or will happen.

We are sorry about your dog's death. ('about' + past event: dog's death)
The presidential candidate was happy about the results of the election. ('about' + past event: results/victory)
He is nervous about the test. ('about' + future event (upcoming test))
He is sad about his test results. ('about' + past event)
The workers are worried about being fired. ('about' + future event)
The workers are angry about being fired. ('about' + past event )

Adj + 'with'

'With' tends to be used after an adjective to say how you feel about someone or some thing or experience you have or received.

My mother is angry with me for losing her necklace. (person: me. How my mother feels about me: angry.)
I am happy with my new job. (experience: my job. How I feel about it: happy.)
Susan is satisfied with her grade. (something received: grade. How she feels about it: satisfied)

Adj + 'at'

'At' indicates an action that is one-directional: "I threw the ball at the wall." As a result, 'at' can also be used to show emotions towards someone or something: angry, amazed, etc.

He was angry at me for breaking the bowl.
I was amazed at the beautiful view.
The presidential candidate was surprised at the election results.

Adj + 'of'

Use 'of' with an adjective to indicate the source of some feeling.

Patricia is proud of her ability to speak English. (= her ability to speak English is the source of her pride)
I am suspicious of what he is doing. (= his actions are the source of my suspicion)
We're envious of our rival's success. (= their success is the source of our envy)
Charlie is fond of his younger sister. (= his sister is the source of his fondness)

Exercise 2

Dialogue Practice

Read the dialogues aloud with your tutor.

At Work

	Manager I'm disappointed with the performance of our new staff.
	Mark Smith Yeah, I'm not proud of them either.
	Manager We'll need to train them better if we want results we're happy with.

Football Team

	Matt I'm worried about our match on Friday.
	Nathan I'm quite nervous about it too. We're playing against the strongest team in the region!
	Matt But if we lose, our coach will be angry at us. We've already lost so many matches this season.

Exercise 3

Fill in the Blanks

Fill in the blanks with about, with, of or at. There can be more than one correct answer.

Are you happy your life?

Is she comfortable your dangerous lifestyle?

She is annoyed your bad habits.

My sister is annoyed me for breaking her computer.

I am nervous asking her to marry me.

I am amazed your ability to work so effectively.

Is she proud your success?

Exercise 4

Sentence Building

Create sentences using the following words and phrases.

Example

sad about, death → "We are very sad about the death of our cat."

proud of, cooking skills
suspicious of, actions
fond of, him
envious of, friend's happiness
amazed at, wealth