Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate preposition.
My elder brother always stands ________ for me.
a) up
b) on
c) down
d) of

Answer 1

Hint: A transitive is a verb (or verb construction) that requires an object in order to be grammatical.“I admire your courage.” Admire is transitive in this sentence.

Complete answer:
Let us analyze the options given to us in this question-
Option (a.), 'up', refers to ‘stand up’ in the sentence, which means to defend against attack or criticism. For example- She stuck up for the teacher who was accused of harassing the student.
Therefore, option (a.) is correct as the sentence is trying to convey that the writer’s elder brother always has his/her back.
Option (b.), ‘on', means ‘indicates continuity or persistence or concentration’.
Therefore, option (b.) is incorrect as ‘stands on for me’ does not make any sense.
Option (c.), ‘down', refers to ‘stands down’ which means ‘(idiomatic) To wait; to stop pursuing or fighting.’
Therefore, option (c.) is incorrect as this phrasal verb does not make sense in this sentence.
Option (d.), ‘of', refers to a preposition which expresses direction.
Therefore, option (d.) is incorrect as ‘stands of for me’ is grammatically incorrect as two prepositions cannot be placed side by side unless one is a part of a phrasal verb.

Note:
 In this question, it will be helpful for the student to recall the concept of phrasal verbs. A phrasal verb is an English verb followed by one or more particles where the combination behaves as a syntactic and semantic unit.