It is natural and harmless in English to use a preposition to end a sentence with. Apart from articles, there are other areas of English where learners find themselves on 1.__ ground. One of them is the use of prepositions, or those little words such as on, of, with, about, in, etc. that are often difficult to get 2._. There are cases where English and Croatian use the same preposition, so you can 3._ on your colleagues, as long as they do not 4. with you. But then again, it 5. how you define competitiveness. If it inspires you to achieve more, to put more 6. into learning, and 7.___ better at speaking the language, then it is definitely a positive thing.
To that end, we will 8.__ at some common situations where learners frequently get the prepositions wrong. The first category includes prepositions that are different from their English counterparts, and there is no rule to point you in the right direction. The only solution is to learn verbs / adjectives together with the prepositions as a fixed phrase. The Croatian na is a real trouble-maker when 9._ into English (just one case in point). For example, you can see yourself in a picture or clouds in the sky (not on). Or, you can be 10. with/at your boss for 11. you in/at long meetings, with the excuse that you must become the most successful company 12.___ the world.
You could be even angrier if that prevents you from enjoying life’s simple pleasures, such as 13.__ in the sun, playing with your kids in the snow, or 14.____ in the street with your new boyfriend. Singing in the rain might be carrying it a bit too far, but listening to music and relaxing is probably another thing you would rather be doing than sitting in a business meeting. Another category includes verbs that are used without a preposition in English, but have one in Croatian. However strange this may sound and look, you must get used to seeing discuss on its own, without about, and enjoy without in, as in enjoy life.
In the same way, you can simply 15.__ a new market, or 16._ a corporate ladder without any prepositions following the verbs. You can also 17. the phone or a question addressed to you. Addressed to is an example of the opposite situation, where in Croatian we do not use a preposition, while in English we do. Hence, you should listen to the speaker and look at the slides during a presentation, to show that you are 18.___ attention to what is being said.
When presenting, you should 19.__ to questions even if you are 20._ of making a mistake in the process. 21. the end of this explanation of the little words so fiercely competing for your attention, we hope things are a little bit clearer than at the beginning. 22.___ the end, we hope we have succeeded.
