Examples:

• 'D'

• dabble in : When I was little I used to dabble in  water.
• dance to : As soon as the music was played, couples got up and danced to  it.
• dash off : He dashed off  a quick note and left it on the table for the family.
• date from : Some of these coins date from  the 12th century.
• dawn on : The truth finally dawned on  him that she really meant what she said.
• deal in : My uncle's shop deals in  genuine antiques.
• deal with : They seem unable to deal with  the long-standing problem.
• debate on : People are unhappy that there has been no public debate on  these issues.
• debate with : I see no point in debating with  someone who holds extremist views.
• decide on : Have you decided on  the dress you will be wearing for the occasion?
• declare to : He declared to  us that he will be unable to chair the meeting.
• declare on : The African nation has declared war on  locusts which destroyed crops.
• decrease from : The prison population has  decreased from  ten thousands to nine thousands.
• decrease in : Human beings decrease in  size as they grow older.
• dedicate to : He has dedicated  his entire life to  helping the homeless.
• deduce from : The police deduced from  the evidence that more than one person were involved.
• defeat by : Our team was defeated by  two goals to one.
• defer to : Young people are expected to defer to  the wishes of their elders.
• defraud of : The accountant defrauded  his company of  tens of thousands of dollars.
• delegate to : An able administrator should be able to delegate  authority to  the right person.
• deliberate about/on : They spent hours deliberating on  the matter.
• delight in : Jack  delights in  telling stories about his days in the army.
• deliver to : The postman delivered  the letter to  her house.
• demand from : They demanded  an apology  from  me for something I said.
• demote from : The soldier was demoted from  sergeant to corporal.
• denounce for : He was widely denounced for  his deviant religious teachings.
• depart from : The first train departs from  Birmingham at 6.00 a.m. tomorrow.
• depend on/upon : Their future depends on  their hard work, and not on their teachers.
• deprive of : The prisoners of war were deprived of  proper medical attention.
• derive from : The country derived  enormous benefit  from  direct foreign
• descend from : The plane started to descend from  high altitude as it approached its destination.
• describe to : The main witness described  briefly  to  the police what happened.
• desist from : He was warned to desist from  such undesirable behavior.
• despair of : She despaired of  reviving the relationship that existed between her and Jack.
• destined to : The emperor's son is destined to  succeed him.
• detect in : He detected  a change  in  her attitude towards her.
• deter from : Heavier penalties may deter  motorists from  committing more traffic offenses.
• detract from : A blemish detracts from  the beauty of her skin.
• deviate from : We had to deviate from  our usual route due to a fallen tree across it.
• devolve on : When the leader is away, his responsibility  devolves on  his assistant.
• devote to : Jane wants to devote  herself entirely to  caring for the elderly people.
• dictate to : It is often difficult to refuse to be dictated to  by rule or principle.
• die away : I could only sleep after the noise caused by thunderstorm  died away .
• die down : The storm has died down  and the sea become calmer.
• die from : My dog died from  its wounds sustained in a fight with another dog.
• die of : More and more people are  dying of  cancer of various parts of their bodies.
• die out : The old French custom of serving the vegetables separate from the meat has died out .
• differ from : Humans differ from  monkeys in their not having a tail.
• digress from : The story-teller digressed from  his story for a while.
• direct to : He directed  the traveler to  the railway station.
• disabuse of : I didn't say anything to disabuse him  of that belief.
• disagree with : Jack disagrees with  Jill on almost everything.
• disapprove of : Mother strongly disapproves of  her daughter dying her hair red and blue.
• discharge from : He was certified clinically insane and discharged from  the army.
• disconcert by : We were disconcerted by  her statement.
• discourage by : She is easily discouraged by  adverse criticisms.
• discourage from : Incentives have been cited to  discourage  students from  playing truant..
• discriminate against : You should not discriminate against  people from ethnic minorities.
• discriminate between : We were unable to discriminate between  fake and genuine goods.
• disguise as : He disguised as  a clown to entertain children.
• disgusted by : They were disgusted by  her antisocial behavior.
• dismiss from : She was unfairly dismissed from  her job.
• dispense with : We will have to dispense with  the question-and-answer session to save time.
• dispose of : To  dispose of  nuclear waste is a major challenge to the countries concerned.
• dispossess of : The captors dispossessed  the captives of  their valuables.
• disqualify from : He was disqualified from  participating for flouting a rule.
• dissent form : John  dissented from  the majority opinion.
• dissociate from : Jack dissociated  himself from  the views expressed by Jill.
• dissuade from : His mother dissuaded  Mike  from  taking up car racing.
• distance from : He distanced  himself from  all the remarks made by her.
• distinguish between : It is important to distinguish between  fact and fiction in the film.
• distinguish from : It's difficult to distinguish  one of the twins from  the other.
• distinguish by : He distinguished  himself  by  scoring the highest number of goals in the season.
• distract from : He is easily  distracted from  whatever he's doing by the slightest noise.
• diverge from : The path  diverges from  here and we don't know which one to follow.
• divert from : Traffic had to be diverted from  the main road due to a major accident.
• divest of : Sons of aristocrats were divested of  their power.
• divide between/among : The money was to be divided  equally among  the children.
• do away with : My wife wants me to do away with  my vast collection of old magazines.
• do for : Employing a temporary worker will do for  the time being.
• do in : Painting the house really did  me in ./It is believed a hired killer did  his boss  in .
• do out of : She was done out of  $100 by a door-to-door salesman this morning.
• do over : The report contains errors and the boss wants him to do  it over .
• do up : He bought an old car and did  it up ./She looks more beautiful when she did  her hair up .
• do with : With this warm weather, I could do with  a cold drink.
• do without : I wish she would keep quiet; I can do without  all this grumbling.
• double as : The secretary  doubled as  the receptionist just for that day.
• doze off : I dozed off  when I was watching television.
• drag into : I had nothing to do with it but was  dragged into  the embarrassing situation.
• draw on : Luckily I have a savings to draw on  to buy her a present.
• draw up : Thinking he's going to die soon, he drew up  a will./The taxi drew up  in front of me.
• dream away : At times, I couldn't help but dream away  the hours.
• dream of : He told me he had always dreamed of  striking the first prize of the lottery.
• dream on : When I asked if she's going to help me with the cooking, she told me to dream on .
• drive at : He didn't say exactly what he meant. But I knew what he was driving at .
• drive for : You look tired; why not let him drive  the car for  you?
• drive to : I always like to drive to  the sea-side.
• drive away : His bossiness has driven  his friends away .
• drive off : He was probably angry when without a word, he just got into his car and drove off .
• drive up : The rise in oil price drives up  other prices.
• drop in : He always drops in  for a chat without prior notice.
• drop out : He shouldn't have dropped out  of school, but he did.
• dry out : Our washing dried out  very quickly in this hot weather.
• dry up : The prolonged drought had caused all the rivers to dry up .
• dwell on/upon : Nobody likes to be with Bobbie because she always dwells on  the past.

• 'E'

• eat in : I am cooking tonight so we are eating in .
• eat into : The high bills are eating into  my savings.
• eat out : It's your birthday; let's eat out  and celebrate tonight.
• eat up : Who ate up  all my potato chips?
• egg on : The boys didn't want to fight but their friends kept egging them  on.
• elaborate on : He refused to elaborate on  his next course of action.
• eliminate from : Jack was eliminated from  the competition by a stronger opponent.
• embark on/upon : John has finally decided to embark on  a career in banking.
• embody in : The ideals of equality and freedom are embodied in  the country's constitution.
• embroil in : Bob found himself unexpectedly embroiled in  a heated argument.
• emerge from : When the deer emerged from  behind the bush, the hunter shot it dead.
• emigrate from : When his family  emigrated from  their homeland, he was only five years old.
• employ as : Ryan was employed as  a security officer at the airport.
• encompass by : The entire area was encompassed by  a dense forest.
• encourage by : We were greatly encouraged by  the massive support for our proposal.
• encroach on/upon : The expansion of farmland is encroaching on  animals' habitat.
• end in : Their argument ended in  a fist fight.
• end up : The driver took a wrong road and we ended up  somewhere else.
• end with : We ended  our tour of the area with  a visit to the souvenir shops.
• endear to : Her friendly attitude endeared her  to everybody she met at the social gathering.
• endow with : Ronnie is certainly endowed with  a good sense of humour.
• endue with : She seems to be endued with  a good sense of direction.
• engage in : I tried to engage  her  in  conversation.
• engage to : Jill is engaged to  my brother./I  engaged  a private tutor to  improve my written work.
• engross in : Granny often engrossed  herself in  her writing.
• enjoin from : He was  enjoined  by law from  stalking her.
• enlarge on/upon : Could you please enlarge on  your last statement?
• enrage by : She was enraged by  his derogatory comments.
• enrich by : My life has certainly been  enriched by  extensive reading.
• entitle to : Everybody is entitled to  his or her own opinion.
• entrust to : The parents entrusted  their baby to  a nanny when they had to go overseas.
• entrust with : I entrusted  her with  the responsibility to manage the business while I was away.
• envelope in : The mountain peaks were enveloped in  clouds.
• equip for : I think we are well equipped for  the climb.
• escape from : To date many prisoners have escaped from  that prison.
• escape into : The enemy soldiers escaped into  the forest.
• escape with : She was very lucky to escape with  her life.
• estimate at : The crowd of protesters was estimated at  three thousands.
• excel in : Johnny excels in  a number of things including swimming.
• exclude from : They exclude  us from  the trip.
• excuse from : We requested to be excused from  participating.
• expatiate on : Once again he is expatiating on  his favorite topic of communism.
• expect from : Wives expect  faithfulness from  their husbands.
• expect of : Faithfulness is expected of  a husband.
• expend on : The government has to date  expended  twenty million dollars on  the housing project.
• explain to : The mystery was not fully explained to  the viewers.
• export to : The country exports  huge quantities of military wares to  third world countries.
• expose to : His behavior exposes  himself to  ridicule and criticism.
• extract from : After five hours of interrogation, the police extracted  a confession from  him.
• extricate from : Finally he managed to extricate  himself from  a very difficult situation.

• 'F'

• face up to : He has to face up to  the fact that he has to study hard to pass the exam.
• face with : The scientist was faced with  many unknown factors.
• fall back on : She has her big savings to fall back on  if need be.
• fall behind : I'd better hide the car as I have fallen behind  in my payments.
• fall in : Poor construction let the roof and ceiling fall in  after a few years.
• fall into : He fell into  the habit of talking to himself.
• fall in with : He falls in  love with  every girl he meets.
• fall off : Business along the main road fell off  after a series of public demonstrations.
• fall out : Sarah fell out  with her boyfriend after knowing her for only two months.
• fall through : The plan fell through  and they agreed to renegotiate.
• fall to : It fell to  the eldest son to manage the business after the death of his father.
• familiarize with : The new guard familiarized  himself with  the internal layout of the building.
• find with : He finds  fault with  everything the new worker does.
• feel for : We certainly feel for  the victims of the plane crash.
• feel like : Sometimes I feel like  taking a walk in the rain.
• feel toward : I can't describe how I feel toward  that girl but I think I like her.
• fend for : Everyone has to fend for  himself in this world.
• ferret out : The police managed to ferret out  his motive for the killing.
• fight against : The defending champion is going to fight against  the challenger tonight.
• fight for : Freedom is something that is always worth fighting for .
• fight off : The leader of the party has to fight off  his image as a dictator.
• figure on : I was figuring on  meeting him tomorrow.
• figure out : We spent the whole night figuring out  how to make him change his mind.
• fill in : We found someone to fill in  for Sarah when she was away on medical leave.
• fill out : I have to fill out  the form and hand it in as soon as possible.
• fill with : We have filled  all the glasses with  wine and are now ready to propose a toast.
• find out : We were shocked when we found out  that he was a man and not a woman.
• fit in : The new member has learned quickly to fit  in with the others.
• fit out : The entire building was  fitted out  with air conditioners but they were not working.
• fix on : They haven't fixed on  a venue for the next match.
• fix up : We have to fix  the spare room up  for our guests.
• focus on : The astronomer focused  his telescope on  the comet.
• follow around : Quit following  me around , will you?
• follow through : Ensure the report is followed through  so that all amendments are included.
• follow up : The investigation was followed up  with the arrest of the gang leader.
• fool around : You want to fool around ; it's up to you, but surely not in the office.
• fool with : He fooled with  his neighbor's dog once too often and got badly bitten on the hand.
• force on/upon : He forced  another big pizza on  us when we already had more than enough.
• forget about : James drank a bit too much and forgot about  catching the train home.
• forgive for : I will not forgive  him for  not forgiving me for what I said about him.
• foul up : Heavy rain fouled up  our trip to the mountain.
• freeze over : Whatever the lake freezes over , there's bound to be people skating on it.
• fret about : She always has something to fret about .
• frighten by : Mrs. Muffet was  frightened by  a hairy spider while sitting on a park bench.
• frighten away : Rumours of a big white shark frightened  no one away  from the beach.
• fritter away : The boy frittered away  whatever money he had on the gaming machine.
• frown at : The lady frowned at  him for talking very loudly on his cell phone.
• frown on/upon : She can't help frowning on  those who sport multicolored hair.
• furnish with : Each of the six bedrooms is furnished with  a big desk, swivel chair and soft rug.
• fuss over/about : Their only child fussed about  not having a window seat on the plane.
• fritter away : The boy frittered away  whatever money he had on the gaming machine.
• frown at : The lady frowned at  him for talking very loudly on his cell phone.
• frown on/upon : She can't help frowning on  those who sport multicolored hair.
• furnish with : Each of the six bedrooms is furnished with  a big desk, swivel chair and soft rug.
• fuss over/about : Their only child fussed about  not having a window seat on the plane.