Tiffany lam
Does the "of" can be used after all the adjective of emotion? Does the "of" can be used after all the adjective of emotion? Is the question right? just like proud of, envious of, and what else? 2. what time does the "of" can be used after some verb? just like think of, hear of, and what else? I they are getting me all confused. 3. what the meaning of the "not only of...but of" ? for example: We live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless ones like moths. what the meaning of "of" in here? what different with not only...but also?
Dec 3, 2016 2:03 PM
Answers · 1
You are right that "of" comes after some adjectives relating to emotion. Two others are "jealous" and "afraid". Many other adjectives are followed by "about" e.g. excited, happy, sad. There are other adjectives which use other prepositions. The important thing is to learn the preposition(s) along with the adjective or verb and learn them in context. Over time, you will see patterns but don't look for rules. If you decide that you must know every usage of "of", then you will go mad! It's not a useful approach because the English language is only partly logical. In 3, the expression to focus on is "in dread of". Here, we live "in dread of" a list of things. You can contrast two things using "not only .... but (also)" The list of the two things started after "in dread".
December 3, 2016
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