18d. Standard idioms

18dUse standard idioms.

Idioms are speech forms that follow no easily specified rules. The English say “Bernice went to hospital,” an idiom strange to American ears, which are accustomed to hearing the in front of hospital. Native speakers of a language seldom have problems with idioms, but prepositions (such as with, to, at, and of) sometimes cause trouble, especially when they follow certain verbs and adjectives. When in doubt, consult a dictionary.

unidiomatic idiomatic
abide with (a decision) abide by (a decision)
according with according to
agree to (an idea) agree with (an idea)
angry at (a person) angry with (a person)
capable to capable of
comply to comply with
desirous to desirous of
different than (a person or thing) different from (a person or thing)
intend on doing intend to do
off of off
plan on doing plan to do
preferable than preferable to
prior than prior to
superior than superior to
sure and sure to
think on think of, about
try and try to
type of a type of

Multilingual

Because idioms follow no particular rules, you must learn them individually. You may find it helpful to keep a list of idioms that you frequently encounter in conversation and in reading.