Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
If you don’t know what this means, refer _____ the dictionary.
A) At
B) For
C) To
D) With

Answer 1

Hint:
- The options that are provided to us in the question are all prepositions.
- Prepositions are words that indicate the position or the relation of a subject to an object. For e.g. I went home with my brother. ‘With’ is the preposition here.

Complete answer:
In the statement given in the question, the blank is located in the second clause. The second contains a verb and a noun. A noun is a prepositional object, therefore the blank should be filled with an appropriate preposition.

Let us compare the options and choose the correct one.
Option A) At – This preposition is used to indicate the location or the time. For e.g. He came to visit me at the hospital at 8 o’clock. Thus this option is incorrect.
Option B) For – This preposition is used to indicate the purpose of something. For e.g. I brought this for my mother. This option is also not correct for the blank in the question.
Option C) To – This preposition is used to express movement or action or suggestion towards something (a place, person or object). For e.g. I will go to my uncle’s house. Please refer to the instructions manual. This is the correct option.
Option D) With – This preposition means together, or accompanying. It may also mean ‘using, having or because of’. For e.g., I eat bread with my tea. Cut the apple with a knife. I couldn’t sleep with all the body ache. This option is not the correct word for filling the blank.

Thus, the correct answer is Option (C) i.e, If you don’t know what this means, refer to the dictionary.

Note:
- The preposition ‘to’ is also used after adjectives at times. For e.g. They have been very nice to me. I am really sad to hear that.
- ‘To’ is also used as ‘till or until’ and denotes the end of something. For e.g. I will be having my exams from Monday to Friday.
- Another way of using ‘to’ is to tell the time. For e.g. It is a quarter to twelve.