Question

Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate words.
He is thinking ______ retiring _____ his post several years before the normal age.
a) of / from
b) about / of
c) of / of
d) of / for

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.

Understand the meaning of each preposition in the options-
The word ‘of’ is used for ‘expressing the relationship between a direction and a point of reference’.
The word ‘from’ is used for ‘indicating separation or removal’.
The word ‘about’ is used ‘on the subject of; concerning’.
The word ‘for’ is used ‘intended to be given to’.

So, when one thinks, one thinks of something, and when one retires, one retires from a particular job/profession.

Now, we know what we are looking for. Let’s look at the given options-
a) of / from - This option places two different prepositions in the blanks, and they fit perfectly into the given sentence. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
b) about / of - This option also places two different prepositions in the blanks, however, both of them do not fit into the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
c) of / of - This option places two same prepositions in the blanks, however, the second one does not fit into the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
d) of / for - This option also places two different prepositions in the blanks, however, one of them does not fit into the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.

Note:
The meaning of the sentence is important because it will be easier to understand what is required. Understand the meaning and choose the preposition that makes the most sense. Also, make sure that the sentence remains grammatically correct.