Common Collocations in English: Verb + Preposition

Summary

The video teaches common verb + preposition collocations: combinations in which a verb is regularly followed by a particular preposition. It groups examples by with and to, showing each phrase in a sentence. The key lesson is to learn these combinations as set patterns, since the preposition is part of how the verb is used.

Verb + with

• compare with — “These mountains do not compare with the Himalayas.”
• acquaint with — “I acquainted Mary with French cuisine.”
• agree with — “He always agrees with my opinion.”
• associate with — “Susan associates chocolate with childhood.”
• talk with — “We looked around the school and talked with the principal.”
• confuse with — “I’m afraid I confused you with someone else.”
• discuss with — “I’d like to discuss our next conference with the boss.”
• clutter with — “The room was cluttered with paper.”

Verb + to

• respond to — “When are you going to respond to my letter?”
• travel to — “I travel to work by train.”
• contribute to — “Please contribute to the fund for the needy.”
• devote to — “I’m going to devote myself to playing the piano after I retire.”
• happen to — “Something awful happened to your car.”
• introduce to — “Allow me to introduce myself to you.”
• invite to — “Have you been invited to their party?”
• pray to — “She prayed to God for an end to her sufferings.”
• commit to — “She committed herself to finding a new job.”
• confess to — “The boy confessed to stealing the apple.”
• answer to — “I answer to Ms. Smith.”
• apologize to — “She had to apologize to the whole family.”
• apply oneself to — “I think you should apply yourself to getting a degree.”
• attend to — The example is “Chris attended to doing the grocery shopping.”
• attribute to — “Professor Samson attributes this painting to Leonardo.”
• belong to — “The uniform looks like it belonged to a museum collection.”

Speakers or sources

• 7ESL Learning English — the educational source/channel.
• The subtitles appear to contain a single instructional voiceover; no individual speaker is identified. The example sentences are presented as teaching material, not as separately identified speakers.