Back to Front Prepositions 1

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This exercise practises using words and phrases which are composed of a preposition and a noun or verb. The preposition can be placed before or after the noun resulting in two compounds which are often confused. Look at the words in the list and decide which of the words/phrases should go in the gaps. The pairs may be noun-noun, verb-verb or noun-verb. Make sure you put them into the correct form in each sentence if necessary.

hands-on - on hand, hands-off - offhand, day off - off-day, beat up - upbeat, set-up - upset, take over - overtake

1. What's wrong with Michael today? I asked him about his weekend and he barely said a word to me. He's not usually so ____________________.

2. Trevor takes a very ____________________ approach to management. He believes workers should be given the freedom and responsibility to perform their duties without management constantly checking on them.

3. I've got a ____________________ tomorrow, so it would be nice if we could spend some time together. Why don't we go to the seaside?

4. The team had a real ____________________ today. They lost five-nil and nobody performed well. I hope they do better in the big game next week.

5. The election result was a real ____________________. Nobody had expected Carl Branch to win because he was so inexperienced as a politician, but he obviously caught the voters' imagination.

6. I really like my new job. It's really good management ____________________ with nobody dominating and the people are really nice.

7. We've got quite a long journey ahead. I'll drive for the first 200km and then you can ____________________ for the rest of the journey.

8. I'm really fed up with this driver in front. I wish he'd drive faster. As soon as we get some clear road I'm going to ____________________ him.

9. Two men broke a window at the back of the house and climbed in. Luckily, the police were ____________________ and they saw what was happening and arrested the men.

10. The computer course lasts a year. For the first six months you'll study on the college computers, and then you'll be placed in a company to get some ____________________ experience.

11. Despite getting a poor result in his practice tests John remained quite ____________________ about his prospects because he knew he had the ability to pass.

12. The villagers ____________________ the stranger because they thought that he was going to steal from them. Luckily for him, the police arrived quickly and rescued him before he was badly hurt.