OOPT - Oxford Online Placement Prepositions and Conjunctions Flashcards

Choose the word that correctly completes the sentence: "Scarcely had the keynote speaker begun her presentation ___ the fire alarm went off."

Answer: when

With inversion, 'Scarcely/Hardly/Barely had... ' is followed by 'when' (or 'before'). 'Than' only follows 'No sooner had...'. Students often mix the two patterns because they mean nearly the same thing. 'That' and 'then' are not correlative conjunctions in this structure.

Which option best completes the formal sentence? "___ the board's strong objections, the merger was approved at the shareholders' meeting."

Answer: Notwithstanding

'Notwithstanding' is a formal preposition meaning 'despite', so it can be followed directly by a noun phrase ('the board's strong objections'). 'Albeit' is a conjunction that comes before an adjective, adverb or clause, not a noun phrase at the start of a sentence. 'Whereas' and 'Insofar as' introduce clauses, not noun phrases, and their meanings (contrast between facts, or 'to the extent that') don't fit here.

Select the pair of prepositions that correctly completes the sentence: "The proposed policy is not compatible ___ current regulations, and it is also at odds ___ the union's long-standing demands."

Answer: with / with

Both are fixed collocations that take 'with': 'compatible with' and 'at odds with'. 'Compatible to' is a common learner error, probably by analogy with 'similar to' or 'equivalent to'. 'At odds to' isn't standard English.

Choose the correct form to complete the sentence: "Store the original contracts in the safe lest they ___ misplaced during the office move."

Answer: be

'Lest' means 'so that... not' or 'for fear that'. In formal English it takes the subjunctive ('lest they be') or 'should' ('lest they should be'). 'Won't be' is a trap: 'lest' already carries the negative meaning, so adding 'not' reverses it. 'Will be' and 'are being' are indicative forms that aren't normally used after 'lest' in formal writing.

Which pair of prepositions correctly completes the sentence? "The accountant was accused ___ fraud by a colleague and was formally charged ___ it three months later."

Answer: of / with

The correct collocations are 'accuse someone OF something' and 'charge someone WITH something'. Learners often swap them because both verbs refer to wrongdoing. 'Accused for' isn't standard. 'Charged for' refers to paying money (for example, 'charged for the service'), not to criminal charges.

Choose the expression that best completes the sentence: "___ the volunteers' tireless efforts, the charity would have had to cancel the entire event."

Answer: But for

'But for' + noun phrase means 'if it had not been for', which matches the third conditional result clause 'would have had to cancel'. 'Unless' introduces a clause, not a noun phrase. 'Except' and 'Apart from' mean exclusion or addition, so they can't express a hypothetical condition.