Academic Writing for International Students of Business

6 Practice B

 Complete the following text with suitable prepositions.

200 Part 3: Vocabulary for Writing

This study sets (a) _______________ to answer the controversial question

(b) _______________ whether increased food supply (c) _______________ a country

makes a significant contribution (d) _______________ reducing malnutrition

(e) _______________ children. It uses data collected (f) _______________75 countries

(g) _______________ 1995 and 2005. The findings are that there was a considerable

improvement (h) _______________ the majority (i) _______________ countries, despite

increases in population (j) _______________ the period. However, a clear distinction

was found (k) _______________ the poorest countries (e.g. (l) _______________ South

Asia), where the improvement was greatest, and the wealthier states such as

those (m) _______________ North Africa. Other factors, notably the educational level

(n) _______________ women, were also found to be critical (o) _______________

improving childhood nutrition.

7 Verbs and prepositions

The following verbs are generally used with these prepositions:

Verb + prep. Example

add to The bad weather added tothe team’s difficulties.

agree with Yu (1997) agrees withMartin and Jenks (1989).

associate with Monetarism is an economic policy Mrs Thatcher. associated with

believe in The survey showed that 65% theory. believed inKeynesian

blame for He blamedunfair questions forhis poor exam results.

concentrate on (also:

focus on)

She dropped all her hobbies to concentrate onher

work.

consist of The course lectures. consists oftwo parts: work experience and