by R. S. Karunaratne

Prepositions used before verbs ending in '-ing'

The use of prepositions is fairly difficult in English. Although there are no hard and fast rules governing the use of prepositions, the learner can study how they are used in sentences. Today let's have a look at prepositions used with verbs ending in '-ing.'

In

The preposition 'in' is usually used with verbs ending in '-ing.'

She is interested in learning English.

Are you interested in selling computers?

Other prepositions followed by verbs ending in '-ing':

AT

Susima is not good at learning languages.

Mother is good at remembering names.

Diana is hopeless at playing chess.

Victor is clever at restoring old furniture.

Sam is a genius at doing crossword puzzles.

With

Nayana is fed up with studying.

With marking papers a teacher works for more than eight hours.

Of

What are the advantages of having a car?

There is no use of shouting at him.

Chandu is proud of being the captain.

Tharindu has no chance of passing the exam.

Sri Lankan team lost the game in spite of playing well.

For

Remember, use this knife only for cutting bread!

I've never got into trouble for being late.

We're going to buy a machine for slicing bread.

The Government is taking measures for resettling refugees.

He was fined for driving carelessly.

Are you going to punish him for stealing an apple?

This river is ideal for swimming.

About

How about playing football tomorrow?

How about going for a walk?

Commerce is all about making money.

Instead of

I bought a new car instead of buying a motorcycle.

Instead of eating at home, we went to a restaurant.

He accepted the realities instead of resisting them.

Let's study instead of watching television.

In spite of

Nethmi went to work in spite of feeling ill.

In spite of driving slowly he met with an accident.

How to use phrasal verbs

Phrasal verbs are very much used in everyday speech and idiomatic expressions. Here is a collection of useful phrasal verbs with their meanings and model sentences.

1. act as: do the work or duties of something or somebody.

The vice principal acts as the principal when the latter goes on leave.

2. act for: do something for someone else.

Maya acts for the head nurse in her absence.

3. act on: do something following instructions.

The lawyer wanted us to act on his advice.

4. act up: behave badly

Some children act up when their parents are away.

5. add to: increase

His mounting debts have added to his economic problems.

6. add up: add and find the total

When you add up these figures, you will know how much I have given you.

7. adhere to: remain loyal

Come what may, I'll adhere to my principles.

8. adjust to: change

When you go to France, you'll have to adjust to a new way of life.

9. agree on: decide

Let's meet and agree on a date to sign the documents.

10. agree with: good for health

Meat and fish do not agree with me.

Match the antonyms

Antonyms are opposites. Match the words in column 'A' with those in column 'B'. Check your answers with the key.

Column A Column B

1. absent 11. hollow

2. admit 12. hurry

3. advance 13. ignorance

4. arrival 14. innocent

5. bold 15. joy

6. cheap 16. miser

7. conceal 17. permit

8. danger 18. plentiful

9. failure 19. poverty

10. false 20. proud

Column B

humble true

wealth success

scarce safety

forbid reveal

spendthrift expensive

sorrow timid

guilty departure

knowledge retreat

loiter deny

solid present

Key

1. Present, 2. deny, 3. retreat, 4. departure, 5. timid, 6. expensive, 7. reveal, 8. safety, 9. success, 10. true, 11. solid, 12. loiter, 13.knowledge, 14. guilty, 15. sorrow, 16.spendthrift, 17. forbid, 18. scarce, 19. wealth, 20. humble

Starters:

How to write a book report

A book report tells us something about a book you have read. It also tells us the title, name of the author, what kind of a book it is and whether you liked reading it.

Guidelines:

* Underline the title of the book.

* Capitalise all the important words in the title.

There is no need to capitalise words such as `a, an, and, the, of," and "in" unless they appear at the beginning of the title.

Here is a model book report:

The Swiss Family Robinson was written by Johann Rudolf Wyss. It is an interesting story about a family of Swiss castaways. The name "Robinson" has been added to the title by its author to show its likeness to the famous children's classic Robinson Crusoe

I enjoyed reading the exciting events experienced by a happy family of six members. The story gives us courage, energy and intelligence in big doses.

This is an excellent story I have ever read.

Let's be familiar with vowels

There are five vowels in English. When we start a word with a vowel sound,

we use 'an' instead of 'a' before it. The vowels are:

A, E, I, O, U

an anchor

an author

an apple

an apron

an arch

an arm

an arrow

an axe

an eel

an egg

an island

an oar

an eye

an orange

an orchid

an oval

an inn

an organ

an ox

an elf

an imp

an uncle

an umbrella

an anniversary

an eagle

an octopus

an honest man (`h' is silent)

an ant

an elephant

an iguana

an industrialist

an ass

an owl

an aunt

an umpire

If the vowel is pronounced like a consonant, we use `a' before the word.

a university

a union

a unicorn

a European

Note: All the letters in the alphabet except the five vowels are consonants.