65With verbs and pronouns out of the way, we can move on to the rest of the parts of speech.
Rule #7: Idioms .....................................................................................
How to Find: Underlined Prepositions.
How to Fix: Use the correct preposition.
An idiom is a word or phrase that means something different from its literal interpretation. Take for instance
the idiomatic phrase it’s raining cats and dogs; it isn’t REALLY raining cats and dogs, but we are familiar
with the gist of the phrase, which indicates it is raining a great amount.
On the SAT however, idioms refer to specific prepositions and and how they connect other words or phrases
in the sentence. For example, you are tolerant of something and have a responsibility to someone.
Basically, you just have to make sure the correct preposition is used.
This is easier said than done, as sometimes there is no grammatical reason for prepositional idioms to be
as they are; it is simply what the grammar gods have ordained. You just have to memorize the correct
combination of words.
Think of prepositions as anywhere a rabbit can go in relation to a hill: he can be IN it, ON it, UNDER it,
etc.
Let’s start with the list of prepositions on the following page.
I’ve bolded the prepositions that ETS tends to test the most.