on, of, for, to,

Question

What are your expectations on/to/for/of us?Which preposition should be used?thanks

Ruslana · Accepted Answer

I'd say of.

Cool Breeze · Answer

MyShirleyWhat are your expectations on/to/for/of us?

Which preposition should be used?

thanks

In Helsinki English it would be What are your expectations regarding us?
Or: What do you expect of us?

Cheers
CB

Mr Patrick · Answer

Hi MyShirley,

The noun expectations does generally seem to call for the preposition of, as Ruslana rightly points out. But I sense that in some circumstances, speakers would prefer to employ for or about. See these examples:

"Conservative spokesmen have said that people should reduce their expectations of what government can do..."

"..in the past public spending had been based on falsely optimistic expectations about economic resources."

" and perceptions of the past were more predictable than expectations for the future."

Other prepositions may follow the word expectations in a sentence, but they will not normally describe the expectation itself. Example: "Kent will be looking forward with high expectations to the spin of Davis and his slow left-arm bowling."

All of the above examples are taken from http://view.byu.edu/ , with a search for expectations [pr*]

Goodman · Answer

MyShirleyWhat are your expectations on/to/for/of us?

Which preposition should be used?

thanks

Hi Shirley

When we talk about [expectation], the prep. typically follows is [on]. i.e. what is your expectation on/ out of this trip to ? Or what do you expect out of the this trip to ?

With you specific question “what is your expectation on/to/for us?” [Of ] seems to be the most natural in term of tone. However, I would say “what do you expect of us to….”.

on, of, for, to,

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