Question

Fill in the blank with the appropriate preposition:
Be kind _____ animals.
a) at
b) to
c) with
d) on

Answer 1

Hint: Prepositions are only used to denote the relation of a noun to another, not any other time. They can really help to clear up the meaning of the sentence or even emphasize it at times.

Complete answer:
Prepositions are words that are used to show positions, locations, direction, and time. They are usually placed in front of nouns and gerunds.

Example - In the sentence ‘There is a book on the table’, the word ‘on’ describes the location of the book. So, it is definitely a preposition. There are many verb + preposition combinations in the English language, which are easy to learn, like ‘get up’. Prepositions indicate the different relationships between other words in a sentence. They can be very important parts of a sentence, as they can give you important insight into the meaning of
the sentence.

For example, in the sentence ‘We had a picnic at the park’, we understand where the picnic took place. It clearly conveys that the picnic did not take place at any other location. This is an example of a preposition of location. There are many more types of prepositions.

Now, we know what we are looking for. Let’s look at the given options-
a) at - The word ‘at’ refers to ‘expressing location or arrival in a particular place or position, so it does not fit into the context of the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
b) to - The word ‘to’ refers to ‘expressing motion in the direction of (a particular location)’, so it fits into the context of the given sentence. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
c) with - The word ‘with’ refers to ‘accompanied by (another person or thing)’, so it does not fit into the context of the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
d) on - The word ‘on’ refers to ‘physically in contact with and supported by (a surface)’, so it does not fit into the context of the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.

Note:
Make sure to go through the parts of speech of the sentence and choose the preposition that makes the most sense. Also, make sure that the sentence remains grammatically correct.