There’s no easy way to know which preposition follows a verb.  The best way to learn this grammar is to learn the verb and preposition together.  If there’s a verb after the preposition, it must of course be in the gerund form.  Here is a list of the most common verb + preposition combinations:

account for:  How do you account for the missing $500
accuse (someone) of:  The police accused him of murder.
adjust to:  It will take him a while to adjust to the the new culture.
agree with / to / on:  I don’t agree with you.
She won’t agree to separate bank accounts.
We don’t agree on many things, but we agree on this.
apologize for:  He apologized for forgetting to pick her up.
apply to:  She’s going to apply to at least three universities.
approve of:  I don’t approve of your new boyfriend.
argue with:  He argues with his brother all the time.
arrive at:  They arrived at school at 8:30.
ask for:  Go to the teacher and ask for help.
attach (something) to: They want you to attach a photo to your application form.
begin with:  Why don’t we begin with your personal information
believe in:  The children still believe in Santa Claus.
belong to: Those glasses don’t belong to me.
blame (someone) for:  She blames me for everything that goes wrong.
care about / for:  I don’t care about winning.
She cares for her sick mother.
compare (something/someone) with:  Compare Coke with Pepsi and you’ll find that Pepsi is sweeter.
compete with:  The shelves come in a box complete with instructions on how to assemble.
complain about:  It’s upsetting to be around people who complain about things all the time.
concentrate on:  I’ll make dinner, and you concentrate on finishing your homework.
consist of:  This recipe consists of flour, milk, eggs, honey and vanilla.
contribute to:  Cars that use gasoline contribute to global warming.
cooperate with:  We only want team members who can cooperate with each other.
count on:  You can count on me to support you for class president.  (=depend on)
cover (something/someone) with:  He covered her with a blanket after she fell asleep on the sofa.
deal with:  How do you deal with a child who won’t obey you?
decide on:  It’s time to decide on a wall color for this room.
depend on:  We know we can depend on our babysitter.
devote to:  Everyone knows she’s devoted to her family.
dream of / about:  Last night I dreamed of (about) hiking across a desert.
engage in:  The children are not allowed to engage in online chat rooms.
escape from:  Three men escaped from prison over the weekend.
excel in:  His son excels in math and science.
fight for:  The rebels are fighting for independence.
forgive (someone) for:  She’ll never forgive him for missing her birthday party.
hide (something) from (someone):  The parents hid the presents from their children.
hope for:  This is the best outcome I could ever hope for.
insist on:  I insist on seeing the manager.
interfere with:  It’s a bad idea to interfere with a police investigation.
look forward to:  We look forward to your arrival in our beautiful city.
object to:  She objects to anyone calling her by her first name.
participate in:  If you don’t want to participate in the game, you can leave now.
pay for:  He paid for his purchase with a credit card.
plan on:  I didn’t plan on anyone getting hurt.
pray for:  Let’s pray for sunshine on the day of the picnic.
prevent (someone) from:  We need to prevent him from hurting himself.
protect (someone) from:  There are many vaccines to protect you from disease.
provide (someone) with:  The school provided each student with a laptop computer.
recover from:  It took her ten days to recover from her surgery.
refer to:  He referred to a dictionary to check the spelling
rely on:  She relies on her father for financial support.
rescue (someone) from:  We rescued our cat from the SPCA.
respond to:  She wouldn’t respond to our questions.
result in:  The information we gave the police resulted in his arrest.
search for:  They searched for the perfect pizza.
shout at:  Don’t shout at the children.
stare at:  Would you please stop staring at me?
stop (someone) from:  My friend stopped me from making a big mistake.
subscribe to:  How many years have you subscribed to this magazine?
substitute for:  Sometimes there’s no substitute for hard work.
succeed in:  He succeeded in opening the locked door.
take advantage of:  We should take advantage of the 2-for-1 sale.
take care of:  She has to take care of her younger sister this weekend.
thank (someone) for:  Thank you for inviting me to your wonderful party.
vote for:  Who are you going to vote for?
wait for:  Wait for me in front of the library.

© 2013 Ambien Malecot