Dependent prepositions for IELTS Writing and Speaking: patterns
Quick answer
A dependent preposition is the small word that a particular verb, adjective or noun requires, as in "depend on", "interested in" or "a reason for". There is no rule to derive it, so learn each one inside a short phrase. In IELTS a wrong preposition is a grammar error that repeats, and a candidate can make it in every answer. In Task 1, the preposition also decides what a number means: "rose by 5 percent" and "rose to 5 percent" are different facts.
IELTS Mentor AI marks Speaking and Writing answers on the four criteria, Grammatical Range and Accuracy among them, and explains each mistake it finds.
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Few grammar points cause as many small errors as the little word after a verb. English simply attached “on” to “depend”, and you either know the pair or you do not, so dependent prepositions are a matter of memory rather than logic. This guide lists the patterns the four skills need, explains why translation causes the errors, and suggests a way to learn them that sticks. For how IELTS treats grammar as a whole, start with the pillar guide to IELTS grammar.
Key takeaways
- A dependent preposition is fixed by the verb, adjective or noun before it. Learn the two together as one phrase.
- In Task 1 the preposition carries meaning: “by” gives the size of a change, “to” gives where it ended, “from” gives where it began.
- Many errors come from translating the preposition your first language uses. Check your own pairs, not a general list.
- IELTS publishes no list of prepositions or structures, so a wrong one is simply an error counted in the pattern of your answers.
- Learn phrases in sentences about your own topics, and keep a short list of the pairs you actually get wrong.
Why a small word matters for the criterion
IELTS.org weights the four Writing criteria equally, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy is one of them. The public descriptors, in this site’s Writing band descriptors explorer and Speaking explorer, describe accuracy in terms of how often errors appear and whether they get in the way of understanding. They do not name any single error type, and IELTS publishes no count of mistakes allowed per band.
A wrong preposition is a good illustration of why that matters. It almost never stops a reader understanding you, so each one looks harmless. But the same pair is usually wrong every time you use it, and a pair like “interested on” or “depend of” can appear in four paragraphs. The cost is in the repetition, not in any one slip. That is the same pattern the post on common grammar mistakes in Speaking describes as a fossilised error.
Verb plus preposition
Some verbs need a preposition before their object, some take the object directly, and some change meaning with the preposition. Invented examples:
| Pattern | Example |
|---|---|
| depend on | Crop yields depend on rainfall. |
| result in | Heavy investment in rail can result in lower road traffic. |
| result from | The delay resulted from a shortage of drivers. |
| contribute to | Cheap flights contribute to rising emissions. |
| lead to | Longer working hours may lead to more mistakes. |
| suffer from | Coastal towns suffer from flooding. |
| apply for / apply to | She applied for a place and applied to three colleges. |
| agree with / agree to | I agree with the writer, but I could not agree to the plan. |
Two pairs are worth studying because they are easy to reverse. “Result in” names the effect: the cause results in the outcome. “Result from” names the cause: the outcome results from the cause. Mixing them turns the argument upside down, which is a meaning error as well as a grammar one.
Some verbs take no preposition at all, and adding one is a common fault: English says “explain the problem” and “emphasise the need”.
Adjective plus preposition
| Pattern | Example |
|---|---|
| interested in | Many students are interested in short courses. |
| responsible for | Local councils are responsible for refuse collection. |
| aware of | Most drivers are aware of the risks. |
| similar to | The new scheme is similar to the old one. |
| different from | Urban habits are different from rural ones. |
| concerned about / concerned with | Parents are concerned about screen time, while the survey is concerned with homework. |
| married to | She is married to a pilot. |
“Concerned about” and “concerned with” differ in meaning, so check a learner’s dictionary when two prepositions seem possible.
Noun plus preposition
Noun patterns matter most in Task 2, where a claim is built from nouns such as reason, cause, effect and solution.
| Pattern | Example |
|---|---|
| a reason for | There is a clear reason for the delay. |
| the cause of | Poor planning was the cause of the shortage. |
| an effect on | Noise has an effect on sleep. |
| a solution to | Cycle lanes are one solution to congestion. |
| access to | Many villages have limited access to clinics. |
| an increase in | The report notes an increase in car ownership. |
| a lack of | A lack of sleep reduces concentration. |
The error to watch is “the effect of X on Y”. The preposition “of” attaches to the cause, and “on” attaches to what is affected: “the effect of advertising on children”. Putting “of” in both places is common.
Task 1: the prepositions of change
Task 1 asks for a description of a visual, and the language of change is built almost entirely from prepositions. Each one answers a different question about the number. Invented examples:
| Preposition | What it tells the reader | Example |
|---|---|---|
| by | the size of the change | Sales rose by 12 percent. |
| to | where the figure ended | Sales rose to 40 percent. |
| from | where the figure began | Sales rose from 28 to 40 percent. |
| of | the size, after a noun | There was a rise of 12 percent. |
| in | the thing that changed, after a noun | There was a rise in sales. |
| at | a fixed level | Sales stood at 40 percent. |
| between | the two ends of a range | Sales fluctuated between 25 and 40 percent. |
The distinction between “by” and “to” is the one that costs marks, because the sentences are both grammatical and say different things. “Rose by 12 percent” means 12 is the difference. “Rose to 12 percent” means 12 is the new total. If you write the wrong one, your sentence reports a figure the visual does not show. The guide to Task 1 charts, graphs and tables shows how to pick what to report, and the guide to verb tenses in Task 1 and Task 2 covers the tense that goes with these phrases.
For nouns, keep two patterns apart: “an increase in sales” names the thing, and “an increase of 12 percent” names the amount. A full sentence can use both: “an increase in sales of 12 percent”.
Other useful pairs: “reach a peak of”, “account for 30 percent of the total”, “compared with”, and for time “in 2015”, “between 2010 and 2020” and “by 2030”.
Why translation causes the errors
A preposition is rarely a word-for-word match across languages. Your first language may use one word for “in”, “on” and “at”, or a case ending instead, so the preposition arrives with the translation and is often wrong.
Typical results, with the right form in each case:
- “Interested on” for “interested in”.
- “Explain me the problem” for “explain the problem to me” or “explain the problem”.
- “Consist from” for “consist of”.
- “Married with” for “married to”.
- “Emphasise on” for “emphasise”.
- “The effect of X to Y” for “the effect of X on Y”.
- “Good in English” for “good at English”.
Each is a first-language preposition carried across. Knowing which ones your language gives you makes the short list to learn.
Dependent prepositions in Speaking
In Speaking the cost is different. You have no time to check a pair, so what matters is the pairs you use most when talking about yourself: “interested in”, “good at”, “depend on”, “look forward to”, “get on with”, “think about”. Check that the verbs you reach for in Parts 1 and 2 are the ones you have drilled. In Part 3, abstract nouns bring their prepositions with them: “a need for”, “the effect on”, “access to”.
One more trap. After a preposition, a verb takes the -ing form: “look forward to meeting”, “interested in learning”, “good at explaining”. The word “to” in “look forward to” is a preposition, not part of an infinitive, which is why “look forward to meet” is wrong.
How to learn them
Lists give you the pair with nothing to attach it to. These habits work better.
- Learn the phrase, not the preposition. “The reason for” is one unit; do not think “reason” then “for”.
- Collect your own errors. Keep a short note of every pair you got wrong in a marked answer, with the corrected phrase. Ten pairs you actually misuse are worth more than a hundred you already know.
- Write a sentence you could use. A model sentence about your own work, city or study sticks better than a textbook one.
- Read for patterns. The vocabulary pages under collocations give more fixed phrases.
- Check after you write. Look at every preposition after a verb or noun and ask whether you know it or guessed it. Start with the Task 1 phrases of change, where a wrong word changes a fact. The guide to common Writing mistakes covers the other errors worth checking in the same pass.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a rule for which preposition follows a verb?
No dependable one. The preposition belongs to the word, so it has to be learned with it. Some patterns are guessable, because "contribute to", "lead to" and "respond to" all point towards a result, but the exceptions are too many to rely on a rule. Learn each verb, adjective or noun together with its preposition in a short example.
Does IELTS publish a list of dependent prepositions to learn?
No. IELTS publishes no list of grammar structures and no count of errors allowed at each band. The band descriptors for Grammatical Range and Accuracy describe how often errors appear and whether they get in the way of meaning. A wrong preposition is one ordinary kind of error that counts towards that picture.
Does a wrong preposition stop the examiner understanding me?
Rarely, and that is the point. Most wrong prepositions can be understood, so they do not break communication. They still count as errors, and because the same one tends to repeat across an answer, they can make the frequency of errors look high.
Should I learn prepositions from a list?
A list is a fine place to check a pattern, but it is a poor way to remember one. Learn the phrase in a sentence you could say about your own life or topic, such as "the reason for the delay", and say it aloud a few times. A word you have only seen on a list is hard to retrieve under pressure.
Does "in" or "on" matter for dates and periods in Task 1?
Yes. Use "in" for a year or month ("in 2015"), "from 2010 to 2020" or "between 2010 and 2020" for a span, and "by 2030" for a deadline or forecast. A Task 1 report is full of time phrases, so a small error here repeats many times.
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