Small words, big traps. A preposition can be a phrase of several words, and a conjunction can come in a matched PAIR that must never be broken apart.
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A preposition is not always one word. Complex prepositions are made of two or three words that act together as a single unit.
📌 Complex prepositions in everyday use
in spite of / in view of: "In spite of the rain, the match continued."
on account of / because of: "The trip was cancelled on account of the storm."
with reference to / with regard to: "With reference to your letter, we confirm the booking."
✨ Fixed preposition partners
good AT
skill
She is good at chess.
married TO
never "with"
He is married to a doctor.
Correlative conjunctions always travel in pairs. Break the pair and the sentence breaks with it.
📊 Correlative pairs that must stay together
| Pair | Example | Never mix with |
|---|---|---|
| either … or | Either you apologise or you leave. | "either … nor" |
| neither … nor | Neither Ravi nor Aman came. | "neither … or" |
| not only … but also | Not only did she sing, but she also danced. | "not only … but" |
| whether … or | I do not know whether he will come or not. | "whether … or else" |
Olympiad trap: "Neither Rohit nor his friends is coming" looks tidy but is wrong. With neither…nor and either…or, the verb agrees with the nearer subject — here, "friends" (plural), so it must be "are coming".
Achievers questions like to combine a subordinating conjunction with a subject-verb agreement trap in the same sentence.
🏆 Reading a long connector sentence
Find the two clauses the conjunction is joining.
Check if the conjunction is a matched pair — if so, both halves must be present and in order.
For "neither/either", agree the verb with the subject closest to it, not the first one.
Pro tip: "As well as", "along with" and "together with" do NOT change the verb's number — "The captain, along with the players, was honoured," stays singular because "captain" is still the true subject.
12 IEO-pattern questions on prepositions and conjunctions, including two Achievers-level questions.
