When Bad Grammar Happens to Good People

CHAPTER 5

Problem Prepositions

As a class, prepositions tend to be pretty agreeable. They go where they’re told and do what’s asked of them. But they are persnickety on a few points, such as how and when they are to be paired up with a given verb, whether or not they feel like hanging out alone at the end of a sentence, and how to get other parts of speech to stop barging in on their territory. The following entries represent the most common errors made with prepositions.

Prepositions Expressing Fine Shades of Meaning

54. Agree to vs. Agree with

Don’t Say: Are you saying you agree to their arguments? Say Instead: Are you saying you agree with their arguments?

Here’s Why: How do you know whether to use “to” or “with”? “Agree to” introduces ...