Hi there,

 

I �ve always taught my students that the correct preposition to use after the adjective "bored" was "with". However, in the book "optimise B2" the preposition "of" is also given as a correct answer. All of my printed dictionaries such as "collocations dictionary" by oxford give "with" as the correct preposition. However, as English and all languages are constantly evolving, I wonder if you would give "of" as correct in an exam.  Another question I have and which I would really appreciate if anyone could give me a hand with is about how can I explain my students when to use the structure "what .... like". One of my students wrote the following sentence: " I wonder how life would be in ten years � time." Since I don �t know to what extent is that sentence literal to Spanish I told my student to say "I wonder what life would be like in ten years � time" instead. Is my student �s sentence correct? If so, is there any difference between his sentence and mine? Thanks a bunch for your time and help. Have a nice day all! 

Hi Pedro,

Many people do say �bored of � these days - mostly the young! I personally don �t like it, but I can �t say it �s not correct. I would ask my students to use �bored with � in a piece of formal writing, but if textbooks are starting to accept it, maybe we should too. 

As for your student �s question, it �s fine if followed up by an if clause, �I wonder how life would be in ten years � time, if we were hit by a giant asteroid. �  Otherwise it should be simple future, �I wonder how life will be in ten years � time. � It �s not the most usual way to express it, and like you, I prefer, �I wonder what life will be like in ten years � time. � Or �I wonder what life would be like in ten years � time if this or that happened. � 

Hi,

A few months ago I uploaded a WS with a very simple rule, surely with many exceptions:

WITH comes after the "happy" family of adjectives: delighted with, satisfied with, etc.

OF comes after adjectives that deal with a physical, obvious appearance of the people referred, ie proud of, suspicious of, etc.

Perhaps BORED would fall in both categories?

Hope that helps, 

Pedro 14,

 

I give you the following information.

 

 

For example:

 

 

No other preposition is mentioned in this section of �Comprehensive Grammar�.

Oxford Collocations Dictionary, 2016, page 79, describes the Adjective, �bored�, and gives appropriate word combinations ... Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, Phrases.

PREPOSITIONS: �At�- Her husband was bored at the prospect of going shopping. �By� - He seemed slightly bored by the whole process. �With� - He was bored with their conversation.

With regard to your second question, Pedro14, in my opinion, Lynne Cunliffe has given you an excellent answer.

 

Les Douglas