Learn English Vocabulary

Make and let In English, the verbs "make" and "let" are followed by an object and the infinitive without "to": They can't make you work late.. English relative clauses There are two type

English Grammar

Created: 03/01/2010 Last Updated: 05/25/2011 Last Updated by: Davis Lam

Table of Contents

M AKE AND LET 5

Other English verbs not followed by the infinitive + to 5

E NGLISH RELATIVE CLAUSES 6

Defining clauses 6

Non-defining relative clauses 8

T IME EXPRESSIONS IN E NGLISH 8

The present – permanent 9

The present – temporary 9

Talking about a period of time in the past 9

Talking about a single event in the past 9

Sequencing events in the past 9

Other expressions to refer to the next event in a story 10

People who are no longer "around" 11

A DJECTIVES 11

Problems 11

F REQUENCY 13

Putting these expressions into a sentence 14

E NGLISH A RTICLES 14

Grammar rule 1 15

Grammar rule 2 15

Grammar rule 3 15

More uses of articles in English 16

H OW TO MAKE COMPARISONS IN E NGLISH 17

Using qualifying expressions 18

S OME AND A NY 19

U SING F EW / L ITTLE IN E NGLISH 20

U SING L OTS OF 21

L INKING WORDS 21

Giving examples 21

Adding information 22

Summarising 23

Sequencing ideas 23

Giving a reason 24

Giving a result 25

Contrasting ideas 26

L IKE AND A S 27

"I F " SENTENCES 28

If + present form + present form 28

If + present form, + will, can or may 28

If + past form + would, could or might 28

If + past perfect + would/might/could have done 29

H OW TO USE P ASSIVES IN E NGLISH 29

When to use the passive 30

Forming a passive sentence in English 30

P REPOSITIONS AND ADJECTIVES 31

English Grammar Tip 33

P REPOSITIONS OF TIME 33

Time 33

Place 34

Transport 35

L EARN E NGLISH P REPOSITIONS AND V ERBS 35

D IRECT AND I NDIRECT Q UESTIONS IN E NGLISH 38

Direct questions – "wh" questions 39

Indirect questions in English 40

Q UESTION T AGS 41

How to make question tags 41

Negative and positive tags 42

No auxiliary? 42

Pronunciation 42

R EPORTED S PEECH 42

Tense changes 43

Reporting modal verbs 43

Reporting questions 44

Other changes 44

U SING W ISH 45

Wish and present situations 45

Wish and past situations 45

Wish with modal verbs 45

H OW TO CHOOSE YOUR E NGLISH TENSES 46

Routine or permanent situations 46

Temporary or continuing situations 46

Connecting different times 47

P RESENT TENSES IN E NGLISH 47

P AST TENSES IN E NGLISH 48

Past Continuous Tense ("I was doing") 49

H OW TO USE THE PRESENT PERFECT TENSES IN E NGLISH 50

Uses of the Present Perfect 51

Using both tenses in a conversation 52

How to use the Present Perfect Continuous 53

U SING " HAD DONE " IN E NGLISH 53

U SING FUTURE FORMS 55

Making predictions in English 55

Future plans and arrangements 55

Unplanned future 56

Future schedules 56

Events in progress at a time in the future 56

Events that will be completed by a time in the future 56

Final tip 57

U SING THE IMPERATIVE FORM 57

H OW TO USE " USED TO " IN E NGLISH 59

H OW TO USE GERUNDS 60

After verbs 60

With 'from' and 'to' with some verbs 60

After prepositions 61

In some fixed expressions 61

Some verbs can use either the 'to do' or the 'ing' form 61

C HANGING THE MOOD OF A SENTENCE ( MODALS ) 62

How possible something is 63

How certain something is 63

Offers and requests 63

Permission 64

Ability 64

Using should, must and need 64

Should 64

Must 64

Should have done 65

R EFERENCES 65

Make and let

In English, the verbs "make" and "let" are followed by an object and the infinitive without "to":

They can't make you work late

She made him do the exercise again

She lets the students sing in class

His parents let him paint his room black

Be careful: in the passive, "make" is followed by the infinitive with

"to":

They were made to do the exercise again

"Have" can also be used in this pattern:

Please have your secretary call me as soon as possible

(Please ask your secretary to call me…)

Other English verbs not followed by the infinitive + to

Modal verbs (can, will, would, etc) are followed by the infinitive

without "to":

I can see him clearly

They will leave early tomorrow

If I were you, I would talk to her

(Click here for more information on modals.)

See / hear / watch someone followed by the infinitive without "to":

She saw the girl steal the money (She saw all the action of stealing.)

I heard him tell her about the party." (I heard all about the party.)

I watched them do the exercise (I watched them complete the

exercise.)

English relative clauses

There are two types of relative clauses in English: those that add extra information (non-defining relative clauses) and those that

modify (or define) the subject of the sentence (defining relative

clauses)

Defining clauses

These clauses define the noun and they identify which thing or person

we are referring to

Whom is used to refer to the object of the verb

The people with whom I was sitting were very noisy

However, it is hardly ever used in spoken English Instead,

“who― is used with the preposition:

The people who I was sitting with were very noisy

To whom are you speaking? = Who are you speaking to?

For whom are you buying the present? + Who are you buying the

present for?

Using that

In spoken English, "that" is often used instead of "which", "whom"or

"who"

"The present that he bought me is beautiful."

"The man that has started an English course is from Spain."

When, where and whose

When: Is there another time when (that) I can call you?

Where: Can you tell me where I can buy wrapping paper?

Whose: (possessive) Have you seen the TV show whose catchphrase

is “Deal no deal?―

Omitting that, who and which

If the pronoun ("that", "who", "which") is the object of the verb, it can

The company employs her (the company is the subject) In this case, it

is not possible to omit "that" You need the pronoun because it is the subject of the verb

Non-defining relative clauses

These clauses add further information

"My students, who are all adults, are learning English to get a better job."

"The textbooks, which the students like, have lots of helpful

You can use “some”, “none”, “all― and

“many” with “of which” and “of whom” to add

Comparing defining and non-defining relative clauses

The meaning of the sentences changes if you use a non-defining

clause rather than a defining clause Compare the following:

There are many words and expressions to refer to time You can use these to sequence events and to make stories and anecdotes more interesting

The present – permanent

Use the present simple tense to refer to permanent situations in the present

I now live in a small town

Nowadays I live in a small town

These days, I don't have much of a social life

The present – temporary

Use the present continuous tense to refer to temporary situations in the present

At present / At the moment I'm living in a small town

For the time being I'm living in a small town, but I hope to move

soon

Talking about a period of time in the past

My mother started work as a nurse in the 1960s

In those days she lived in London

Back then nurses were badly paid

At that time, nurses lived in special accommodation

Talking about a single event in the past

At one time she lost her door key and had to stay in a hotel

On one occasion she nursed the son of a famous politician

Sequencing events in the past

There are many ways to sequence events in the past Here are some of the more common ones

After (in the middle of a sentence)

Afterwards / After that / After a while (at the beginning of a sentence) Then / Before (in the middle or at the beginning of a sentence)

Before that / Previously / Until then (At the beginning of a sentence)

By the time (in the middle of a sentence followed by a past perfect tense)

By then / by that time (at the beginning of a sentence)

I went shopping after I finished work

I worked all day in the office Afterwards / After that, I went

shopping

I went shopping After a while, I got bored

I worked before I went shopping

I went shopping at 6pm Before that / Previously / Until then I had

worked all day in the office

I worked all day, then I went shopping

I was desperate to go shopping by the time I had finished work

I worked until 6pm By then / By that time, I was glad for the

At the same time

Simultaneously (a more formal way of saying meanwhile / at the same time)

I worked and then went shopping Later on I met some friends for

pizza

I waited for a while in the restaurant Before long, the waiter came up

and asked me…

At that moment / Suddenly, I heard the door slam

Meanwhile / At the same time / Simultaneously my phone started to

ring

People who are no longer "around"

An ex-president = no longer the president: "The ex-president of

France is still influential."

A previous / former boss: "A previous boss taught me how to make presentations."

"My former boss now works for a different company."

My late wife = my wife who has died: "My late wife painted

watercolours."

Adjectives

Knowing what is an adjective and what is an adverb is very

important in English grammar For example, the following sentences are typical mistakes, caused by confusion over the difference between adjectives and adverbs

"He works hardly." ("He works hard.")

"She writes good." ("He writes well.")

"It's a really problem." ("It's a real problem.")

Adjectives describe nouns

"A good student."

"A nice day."

"He is interesting."

Adverbs describe verbs or adjectives

"He eats well."

"She learns quickly."

"I'm really tired."

Problems

1 Some adjectives and adverbs have the same form

"She's a fast driver." (adj)

"She drives fast." (adv)

"TOEFL is a hard exam." (adj)

"The students work hard." (adv)

"She has straight hair." (adj)

"He went straight home." (adv)

2 Not all adverbs end in -ly

"She works well with others."

"Eagles fly high in the sky."

3 Some adverbs have two meanings

Hard

"He works hard."

"I hardly know him." (barely)

Close

"She sat close to the conductor on the bus." (next to)

"I listened closely to what he said." (paying attention)

Dead

"You're dead right!" (completely right)

"This snake is deadly – watch out for it." (fatal)

Fair

"He was fairly treated by the Immigration authorities." (justly)

"It's fairly cold today." (quite)

Fine

"How do you feel? Fine." (well)

"Finely chop the tomatoes." (in small pieces)

"I think highly of him." (a high opinion)

"He's highly paid." (very well paid)

Late

"He arrived late for the meeting." (not on time)

"There have been a few complaints lately." (recently)

Right

"She walked right up to him and demanded to see the manager."

(didn't stop until she got close to him)

"He rightly thought that he was going to lose his job." (correctly

thought)

Wrong

"He wrongly told her that he had been promoted." (incorrectly)

"This is spelt wrong." (incorrect)

(You can only use 'wrong' when it's after the verb.)

4 Some words that end in -ly are not adverbs, but are adjectives

For example, lovely, friendly, silly, lonely

"She is silly."

"She behaves in a silly way."

"Her children are lovely."

"He treated her in a lovely way."

5 Some verbs are followed by adjectives

"You look good today!"

"This soup tastes nice."

"He seems pleasant."

"I don't feel very happy at the moment."

In these examples, you are describing the subject (such as 'the soup') rather than the verb ('tastes')

Frequency

Here are some ways to say how often you do something

For example, "I always drink coffee in the morning" means I drink

coffee every morning

Be careful of the pronunciation of "rarely" The "are" part of the word

is spoken like the word air The word has two syllables – 'rare' and

'ly'

Putting these expressions into a sentence

These words go before the main verb

"She often goes to the beach in summer."

They go after the verb 'to be'

"He is occasionally late for meetings."

They go after 'modal' or 'auxiliary' verbs

"It can sometimes get cold in the UK."

"I have never been to the USA."

'From time to time' is an expression that means the same as

'sometimes' It normally goes at the end of a sentence

For example, "I go to restaurants from time to time."

English Articles

In English, knowing when to use 'a' or 'the' can be difficult

Fortunately, there are rules to help you, but you need to know what type of noun you are using

Grammar rule 1

When you have a single, countable English noun, you must always have an article before it We cannot say "please pass me pen", we

must say "please pass me the pen" or "please pass me a pen" or

"please pass me your pen"

Nouns in English can also be uncountable Uncountable nouns can be concepts, such as 'life', 'happiness' and so on, or materials and

substances, such as 'coffee', or 'wood'

Grammar rule 2

Uncountable nouns don't use 'a' or 'an' This is because you can't

count them For example, advice is an uncountable noun You can't

say "he gave me an advice", but you can say "he gave me some

advice", or "he gave me a piece of advice"

Some nouns can be both countable and uncountable For example, we

say "coffee" meaning the product, but we say "a coffee" when asking

for one cup of coffee

Grammar rule 3

You can use 'the' to make general things specific You can use 'the'

with any type of noun – plural or singular, countable or uncountable

"Please pass me a pen" – any pen

"Please pass me the pen" – the one that we can both see

"Children grow up quickly" – children in general

"The children I know grow up quickly" – not all children, just the

ones I know

"Poetry can be beautiful"- poetry in general

"The poetry of Hopkins is beautiful" – I'm only talking about the

poetry Hopkins wrote

More uses of articles in English

Rivers, mountain ranges, seas, oceans and geographic areas all use

'the'

For example, "The Thames", "The Alps", "The Atlantic Ocean",

"The Middle East"

Unique things have 'the'

For example, "the sun", "the moon"

Some institutional buildings don't have an article if you visit them

for the reason these buildings exist But if you go to the building for

another reason, you must use 'the'

"Her husband is in prison." (He's a prisoner.)

"She goes to the prison to see him once a month."

"My son is in school." (He's a student.)

"I'm going to the school to see the head master."

"She's in hospital at the moment." (She's ill.)

"Her husband goes to the hospital to see her every afternoon."

Musical instruments use 'the'

"She plays the piano."

Sports don't have an article

"He plays football."

Illnesses don't have an article

"He's got appendicitis."

But we say "a cold" and "a headache"

Jobs use 'a'

"I'm a teacher."

Countries

We don't use 'a' if the country is singular "He lives in England." But

if the country's name has a "plural" meaning, we use 'the' "The

People's Republic of China", "The Netherlands", "The United States

of America"

Continents, towns and streets don't have an article

"Africa", "New York", "Church Street"

Theatres, cinemas and hotels have 'the'

"The Odeon", "The Almeira", "The Hilton"

Abbreviations use 'the'

"the UN", "the USA", "the IMF"

We use 'the' before classes of people

"the rich", "the poor", "the British"

How to make comparisons in English

There are some rules to help you make comparisons in English

1 If the adjective (describing word) is one syllable, you can add -er

For example, small – smaller; big – bigger; nice – nicer

2 If the adjective has two syllables, but ends in -y, you can change the

end to -ier

For example, lucky – luckier; happy – happier

3 With other English adjectives of two syllables and more, you can't

change their endings Instead, you should use more + adjective

For example, handsome – more handsome; beautiful – more beautiful and so on

4 When you compare two things, use 'than'

"She's younger than me."

"This exercise is more difficult than the last one."

5 When you want to say something is similar, use 'as – as'

For example, "She's as tall as her brother" or "It's as nice today as it

was yesterday."

6 When you want to say one thing is less than another, you can either

use 'less than' or 'not as – as'

For example, "This programme is less interesting than I thought" or

"This programme is not as interesting as I thought."

7 Remember that some adjectives are irregular and change form when

you make comparisons

For example, good – better; bad – worse; far – further

Using qualifying expressions

You can vary the strength of the comparison by using "qualifying" expressions

1 Comparing two things

You can use "a lot", "much", "a little", "slightly" and "far" before

"more / less than":

"She's a lot more intelligent than him."

"This car is much faster than the other one."

"They are much less wealthy than they used to be."

"He's a little taller than his sister."

"She's slightly less interested in football than him

"We are far more involved in charity than they are."

When you use these qualifying expressions in English, remember the rules about using -er If the adjective is one syllable, or ends in -y, add -er:

"He's far taller than her." (NOT "He's far more taller…")

"I'm much lazier than you!"

When the adjective is two syllables and more, you need either "more"

or "less":

"He's a little more prepared for the exam than she is." (NOT "He's a

little prepareder…")

2 Saying how two things are similar

You can use "almost as … as", "not quite as … as", "(not) nearly as … as", "nowhere near as … as", "twice as … as" and "half as … as" to change the extent of the similarity

"She's almost as good as you!"

"He's not quite as confident as Susie."

"I'm not nearly as intelligent as her!"

"This painting is nowhere near as famous as the first."

"She's twice as old as him!

"He's half as interesting as you!"

Some and Any

We use some and any with uncountable nouns and plural nouns

The general rule is that you use "some" in positive sentences and

"any" in negative sentences and questions

"I have some ideas."

"I don't have any ideas."

"Do you have any ideas?"

However, we can also use "some" in questions

"Would you like some tea?" (I expect the answer to be "Yes".)

When we use some in a question, we limit what we are offering the

other person

For example, "Can I get you something to drink? – Coffee, or tea?" means I am offering you a limited choice of things to drink

When we use "any" in a question, we are not limiting the choice

For example, "Would you like anything to drink?" includes a whole range of things to drink

"Do you have any questions?" (You can ask me anything you like!)

We can also use any in positive sentences which have a negative

meaning We often use "any" with "hardly", "without" or "never"

"There's hardly any petrol left in the car – we need to go to a garage."

"He went out without any money on him."

"She never has any problem understanding."

Using Few / Little in English

We use a few and a little to mean "not very much" or "not very many" Whether you use a few or a little depends on what type of

noun you are describing

For example, "A few people came to the party." We use a few with

plural, countable nouns

"There's a little coffee left, if you would like some." We use a little

with uncountable nouns

We can also use few and little (without "a") for a more negative

meaning For example, "there's little point in calling" (= there's not much point calling)

"Few people understand" (not many people understand), compared to

"a few people understand" (some people understand)

In spoken English, we can also say not many, or only a few to mean

"few" and "only a little" or "not much" to mean "little"

When we make comparisons, we use fewer for plural nouns and less

for uncountable nouns

For example, "There are fewer people here than last year" or "he

drinks less coffee than I do"

Using Lots of

In spoken English we often use lots of or a lot of In written

English, it is more common to write many (for countable plural

nouns) or a great deal of (for uncountable nouns) in positive

statements

A common mistake is to use lot of For example, "There are lot of

accidents on this road" To avoid making this mistake, remember

either to use a before lot, or to make lot plural – lots

We can say either a lot of or lots of before a noun For example,

"There are a lot of people here" or "There are lots of people here"

There isn't any difference between the two expressions

We can also use a lot as an adverb to say how much you do

something For example, "She talks a lot"

A lot is also used in short answers For example, "Do you like

swimming?", "Yes, a lot."

The most common way of giving examples is by using for example or

for instance

Namely refers to something by name

"There are two problems: namely, the expense and the time."

"We discussed training, education and the budget."

Also is used to add an extra idea or emphasis "We also spoke about

marketing."

You can use also with not only to give emphasis

"We are concerned not only by the costs, but also by the competition."

We don't usually start a sentence with also If you want to start a

sentence with a phrase that means also, you can use In addition, or In

addition to this…

As well as can be used at the beginning or the middle of a sentence

"As well as the costs, we are concerned by the competition."

"We are interested in costs as well as the competition."

Too goes either at the end of the sentence, or after the subject and

means as well

"They were concerned too."

"I, too, was concerned."

Apart from and besides are often used to mean as well as, or in

addition to

"Apart from Rover, we are the largest sports car manufacturer."

"Besides Rover, we are the largest sports car manufacturer."

Moreover and furthermore add extra information to the point you

We normally use these words at the beginning of the sentence to give

a summary of what we have said or written

Sequencing ideas

The former, … the latter

Firstly, secondly, finally

The first point is

It's rare to use "fourthly", or "fifthly" Instead, try the first point, the

second point, the third point and so on

The following is a good way of starting a list

"The following people have been chosen to go on the training course:

N Peters, C Jones and A Owen."

Giving a reason

Due to / due to the fact that

Owing to / owing to the fact that

Because

Because of

Since

As

Due to and owing to must be followed by a noun

"Due to the rise in oil prices, the inflation rate rose by 1.25%."

"Owing to the demand, we are unable to supply all items within 2

weeks."

If you want to follow these words with a clause (a subject, verb and

object), you must follow the words with the fact that

"Due to the fact that oil prices have risen, the inflation rate has gone

up by 1%25."

"Owing to the fact that the workers have gone on strike, the company has been unable to fulfil all its orders."

Because / because of

Because of is followed by a noun

"Because of bad weather, the football match was postponed."

Because can be used at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence

For example, "Because it was raining, the match was postponed."

"We believe in incentive schemes, because we want our employees to

be more productive."

Since / as

Since and as mean because

"Since the company is expanding, we need to hire more staff."

"As the company is expanding, we need to hire more staff."

"The company are expanding Therefore / So / Consequently / As a result, they are taking on extra staff."

So is more informal

Contrasting ideas

But

However

Although / even though

Despite / despite the fact that

In spite of / in spite of the fact that

"He works hard, but he doesn't earn much."

"He works hard However, he doesn't earn much."

Although, despite and in spite of introduce an idea of contrast With

these words, you must have two halves of a sentence

"Although it was cold, she went out in shorts."

"In spite of the cold, she went out in shorts."

Despite and in spite of are used in the same way as due to and owing

to They must be followed by a noun If you want to follow them with

a noun and a verb, you must use the fact that

"Despite the fact that the company was doing badly, they took on

extra employees."

Nevertheless and nonetheless mean in spite of that or anyway

"The sea was cold, but he went swimming nevertheless." (In spite of the fact that it was cold.)

"The company is doing well Nonetheless, they aren't going to expand this year."

While, whereas and unlike are used to show how two things are

different from each other

"While my sister has blue eyes, mine are brown."

"Taxes have gone up, whereas social security contributions have gone down."

"Unlike in the UK, the USA has cheap petrol."

In theory… in practice… show an unexpected result

"In theory, teachers should prepare for lessons, but in practice, they often don't have enough time."

Like and As

Like and as are often confused in English They can both be

used to talk about how things are similar

Like is followed by a noun or pronoun For example, "I'm like my

sister", or "Like my sister, I have brown eyes."

As is followed by a subject and verb For example, "She's a good

student, as her brother was before her."

However, in spoken English, like is often used instead of as "She's a good student, like her brother was before her."

As is used with a preposition, such as, "As in the 1960's, the

population explosion will cause some problems."

We can use as in certain expressions, such as "as you know", "as you requested", "as we agreed"

We also use as… as to give comparisons For example, "He's as

clever as his sister."

could and would

If + present form + present form

"If you heat ice, it melts."

In this type of sentence, you could use when instead of if It's always

true that when you heat ice it melts This is why this type of sentence

is sometimes called a zero conditional

If + present form, + will, can or may

"If I am late, I will call you."

"If you need me, you can call me at home."

"If it gets any hotter, we may have a thunder storm."

In these sentences (or first conditional sentences), there is a strong

possibility that the first part (coming after if) is going to happen The

second part says what will happen as a result

If + past form + would, could or might

"If I got a pay rise, I would buy a new car."

"If you left your job, you could travel around the world."

"If you were nicer to him, he might lend you the money."

In these sentences, the first part with if shows that the event is unlikely

to happen In English, we often use this type of sentence (called a

second conditional) to talk about hypotheses, or imaginary future

events

For example, "If I was President of the United States, I would change some laws." But I know that I'll never be the President of the USA – I'm just saying what I would do if I was in his/her position Note: in

American English, it is correct to use "if I were…" In British English, it's more common to say "if I was…"

If + past perfect + would/might/could have done

"If I had revised, I would have passed my exams."

"If we had gone out earlier, we might have got to the cinema on

time."

"If you had told me there was a problem, I could have helped."

In these sentences (or third conditional sentences), the first part of the

sentence with if didn't happen So there is no possibility of the second

part of the sentence happening I didn't revise, so I didn't pass my

exams and there is nothing I can do about it now English speakers use this type of sentence to show how things could have been different

How to use Passives in English

Compare these two English sentences:

Active = "The doctor gave me a prescription"

Passive = "I was given a prescription"

In the first sentence, the focus is on 'the doctor' In the second

sentence, the focus is on 'I'

When to use the passive

To change the focus of a sentence

In the passive sentence above, we can make the object and action ('me' and 'gave a prescription') more important than the subject ('the

doctor')

If we don't know who does an action

"My bicycle has been stolen" – I don't know who has stolen it

If we don't want to say who did something

"The lights were left on all night." (I don't want to say that you left the lights on.)

If it is obvious who does something

"I was given a prescription" – I know that only doctors give

prescriptions, so I don't need to add "by the doctor"

"He was arrested" I know that the police arrest people, so I don't need

to add "by the police"

Forming a passive sentence in English

Firstly, you need to make the object into the new subject

Then you make the verb passive

Put the verb "to be" into the same tense as the verb in the active

subject For example "gave" is the past simple tense The past simple form of "to be" is "was" or "were"

Present simple – is /are

Present continuous – is / are being

Present perfect – has / have been

Simple past – was / were

Past continuous – was / were being

Modals will, can etc – will be, can be etc

Then add the past participle of the verb For example "gave" –

"given"

Prepositions and adjectives

In English grammar, it's sometimes hard to remember which

preposition is used with which adjective The list below is a handy reference for the more common adjectives

afraid of

"I'm afraid of heights."

also scared of, frightened of

angry about something

"She was angry about the new rules at work."

angry with someone

"He was angry with his son for coming home late."

bad at something

"The student was bad at Geography."

also good at

crazy about something

"She was crazy about the Spice Girls and had all their CD's."

different from or to something / someone

"The English are different from the Americans."

happy to do something

"She was happy to help."

also glad to and pleased to

happy for someone

"I was happy for him when he passed his exam."

also pleased for

happy with someone / something

"The boss was happy with his work."

also pleased with and satisfied with

ill with something

"She's ill with the flu."

"I'm ready to start work now."

ready for something / someone

"It takes me an hour to get the children ready for school."

responsible for something / someone

"She felt responsible for her children."

tired from doing something (physically tired)

"I'm tired from all this hard work."

also exhausted from

tired with or of something (fed up, bored with)

"She was tired of taking the train to work every day and decided to drive instead."

typical of someone

"It's typical of her to do that for you – she always offers to help."