Last week the website was down. I hope not too many people were bothered by that. There was some problem at my hosing company. Of course I complained to the hosting company about the situation and they apologized to me for the trouble, but still I don’t know what happened. I hope we don’t have any more technical problems!
Today, let’s continue looking at the verb + preposition combination. Some verbs are always followed by a certain preposition, and this can get confusing. Today we will look at these two verbs: apologize & complain. Do you know which prepositions follow these verbs? Have a look at the paragraph above and then check the lesson below:
Use apologize to followed by the person that the apology is directed to:
- They apologized to me right away.
- You should apologize to your boss when you are late for work.
Use apologize for followed by reason an apology is given. The structures are apologize + for + something and apologize + for + Verb+ing:
- They apologized for the downtime of my website.
- You should apologize for being late to work
Of course, you can use both prepositions in one sentence with apologize:
- They apologized to me for the downtime of my website.
- You should apologize to your boss for being late to work.
Use complain to followed by the person or place that the complaint is directed to:
- I complained to the hosting company.
- The customer complained to the store manager.
Use complain about followed by reason a complaint is made. The structures are complain + about + something and complain + about + subject + Verb+ing:
- I complained about the downtime of my website.
- The boss complained about Mary coming late to work.
Of course, you can use both prepositions in one sentence with complain:
- I complained to the hosting company about the downtime of my website.
- The boss complained to Mary about her coming late to work.
Well, thanks for studying today. More in this series of verb + preposition lessons coming soon. What is your request for a one point lesson here?
