How to understand the meaning of and the difference between the preposition like to ,with ,for,of ? I am reading a book that explain what difference between Engish and Chinese in thinking . It said that Engish use more preposition to describe the relationship between objects while chinese use more verbs to . As a chinese , it is difficult for me to understand some engish sentence that use preposition to replace some verbs . Such as : She told me one day over coffee. I'm behind you . I wouldn't put it past colin to his wife . It's hard being on your own for the fist time . On second thoughts , i will accept the offer (why not use 'after' instead of 'on' ) He's shouting on the intercom .( why 'on' ) In a blaze of fury he shout at his wife. (why 'at' ) she's cheating me she's cheating on me ==endless== There are many sentences like above which is hard for me to understand. And here is question . How do native english speaker combine words into a sentence ? Why and when they choose that preposition instead of verbs or other prepositions?