right preposition

runCDfirst   Mon Dec 05, 2005 9:39 pm GMT
hi,

what's the right preposition i should use with these adjs and verbs:

mad (about/at) you.

upset(of/for/because of) you.

i apologize (for/about) that.

i was writing a letter for an old friend and i didn't know how to use the right preposition.

ps(is there a website or a book that has some rules or lists for those words with combinations of adjs/verbs and prepositions?)

thanx all.
Ben   Mon Dec 05, 2005 10:02 pm GMT
Mad about you = I love you
Mad at you = exactly that

Upset because of you

I apologize for that
Guest   Tue Dec 06, 2005 1:21 am GMT
Mad at you = very angry at you
asyou   Wed Dec 07, 2005 9:41 pm GMT
do we say angry at you, Guest?! angry with you is the right one, isn't it?
Guest   Wed Dec 07, 2005 10:43 pm GMT
Both "angry at" and "angry with" are used.
Bill the Yank   Sat Dec 10, 2005 1:05 pm GMT
"Mad" in British English means "crazy." You've lost your mind. You're nuts. You've got bats in your belfry. You're batty. You've got a screw loose. You're not playing (cards) with a full deck (of cards). You're wacko, or you're a wacko, or you're a wack job, or a nut job. "Job" here does not refer to your employment. It's closer in meaning to its use in "brake job" which refers to having the brakes on your car repaired, but, no......just accept that a "nut job" in very, very informal speech is a crazy person.

In the US, we use "mad" to mean "angry", and almost never to mean "crazy." Some of us will understand you if you use it to mean "crazy," but most average Americans will think you mean "angry."

But, having said that, all Americans understand that "I'm mad about you" means "I'm crazy about you," which means "I'm in love with you."

But, in everyday speech in the US mad = angry.