Question

Fill in the blanks with suitable prepositions:
The rider fell ________ his horse as it was jumping _____ a stream.
a. From / through
b. Off / over
c. Out of / on
d. Of / from

Answer 1

Hint: Use a preposition that signifies the relation between two nouns, and a preposition that signifies position respectively.

Complete answer:
A preposition is a word in a sentence that shows the relation between a word and another noun, pronoun, or noun phrase.
Let us look at an example- The Statue of Liberty is in the U.S.
Here, the preposition shows us where the statue is located i.e., it qualifies the relation between the statue and the place in which it is located.
Now, let us consider the question- The rider fell ________ his horse as it was jumping _____ a stream.
In the first part, we must show the relationship between the noun and the pronoun. Here, we have to qualify how the given verb relates to the noun and the pronoun. This means that we must use a relational preposition that shows how this noun and pronoun can relate to one another. Off is one such preposition that signifies a relation that characterizes going away.
In the second part, we must show the relationship between the verb and the noun. We must show how the action of jumping relates to the stream. This means that we must use a preposition that indicates position. The most common prepositions that indicate the position is above, over, beneath, and under. In this case, the most obvious context is that the horse jumped over the stream.

Therefore, option ‘b’ off / over is the correct answer.

Note: Understanding the context of the sentence helps us to understand which preposition functions most suitably in a sentence.