Question

Fill in the blank with the suitable preposition:
I’m very obliged ____ her helping me get that job.
a) of
b) to
c) for
d) off

Answer 1

Hint: Prepositions help in showing the relation between the object and the subject of a sentence. For example, the bottle is filled with juice. The relation between bottle and juice is that the juice is inside the bottle and not outside or on it.

Complete answer:
Option b is the correct answer because the correct usage is to be obliged to someone. We are obliged to people for doing things for us. That means we are grateful to them. It is also a phrasal verb so they are used together. No other preposition is used with “obliged” to convey this meaning.
Option a is wrong because “of” denotes the contents of something. The dress was made of silk- thus, the contents of the dress is silk. The glass is full of water. So the content of the glass is water.
Option c is wrong because the correct usage is being obliged for something but we are obliged to someone. In the given sentence, we have to put in a preposition between “obliged” and “her” (someone), so we have to use “to”.
Option d is wrong because “off” means away or. It has a negative connotation. He walked off- he walked away. He turned the switch off.

Note:
Understand the meaning of the sentence to use prepositions effectively. It is highly possible that students will get confused between options b and c. Always remember the difference between obliged to and obliged for. Both are not the same. We are obliged for something and obliged to someone.