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Good to know...

Look at these two sentences:

    a) The car is ready.

    b) The car is ready to drive.

What’s the difference between them?

Today we will look at when you should use a preposition after an adjective. This is where this flashcard will come in handy!

Today you will learn:

• Know what the object of a sentence and an adjective are.
• Understand when to use the object after an adjective in a sentence with “to.”
• Understand the connection between the meaning of the sentence and the use of an adjective followed by “to.”

Explanations & Examples

Adjective + to

Ex. The manager was generous to his employees.

=> When we use the verb (be) followed by an adjective + and object of a preposition (a noun), we need to use the preposition “to” before the noun. In this example, “his employees” is the object of the sentence, so we use “to” after the adjective and before this phrase “his employees.”

Adjective without to

Ex. He is a brilliant scientist.

=> In this example, “brilliant scientist“, the word “brilliant” is an adjective because it describes the object “scientist,” so it is not necessary to place a “to” before the adjective.

Ex. The manager was generous.

=> When we use the verb (be) only followed by an adjective, we do not use “to” before the adjective. In this example, we do not need “to” because the word (generous) after “was” (the be verb) is only an adjective.

Look out!

Be careful not to use “to” when there is no object after an adjective.

Ex.  The company is big. (no object-no adjective)

In this example, you cannot use “to” here.

The correct answer is : "The company is big." 

This is because this sentence has an adjective but not an object.

Did you know?

"Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great." - John D. Rockefeller

“If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you.  If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you.” - Zig Ziglar - motivational speaker