Prepositional verbs and verbs without prepositions

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Verbs are often followed by complements – for example, I’m learning English, I have a cat, and I play baroque music. But depending on their meaning, they require different types of complements – some starting with a preposition, and some without it. As a result, we hear music but we listen to music; we see things but we look at them.
Prepositional verbs are followed by a preposition that depends on the verb: you agree with someone, you wait for a bus, and you laugh at a joke. However, these prepositions don’t occur when there is no object: ‘Please wait,’ ‘Don’t laugh,’ ‘Do you agree?’
She’s waiting for the bus.
Not all verbs take prepositions: in English, you enter a building, you phone friends, and you discuss problems. On the other hand, some verbs can be used in more than one way: we may ask a question, but we ask for help; we pay tax, we pay the rent, and we pay ten euros, but we pay for a coffee.
What all this means is that, when learning a verb, we must learn how to use it – by looking at examples.



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