English prepositions make some very familiar phrases

with certain partner words

TYPES OF PREPOSITION PHRASE
Prepositions accompany a noun or equivalent, the combination
often being called a preposition phrase (see 84. Seven Things to
Know about Prepositions, #1). Even prepositions comprising more
than one word (see 221. Multi-Word Prepositions) still need a
partner noun to make a preposition phrase.
In many preposition phrases, the preposition can vary to express
different preposition meanings. It might, for example, show the
following noun to be the cause of an action (by), the name of an
“instrument” (with),  a location (in), or an origin (from).
Other preposition choices, however, vary less. In some cases, the
noun does not logically allow many preposition possibilities, or
naturally requires one or a few much more than others. Take, for
example, the noun a map. If we talk about maps, we are more
likely to be discussing their content than other preposition-
inducing ideas like their position in space or time. As a result, the
preposition for linking map content with the noun map, which
happens to be on, is very much a “typical” preposition with that
noun (see 111. Words with a Typical Preposition).
In the most extreme cases, a particular noun will always have the
same preposition. In the phrase on the whole, for
example, on cannot be replaced by any other preposition. This is
what I mean by a “fixed” preposition phrase. Its fixedness places
it within the class of “idioms”, which themselves illustrate the
wider idea of “collocations”, or word partnerships. Collocation is
illustrated in numerous other Guinlist posts, notably 16. Ways of
Distinguishing Similar Words (#5), 173. “Do Research” or “Make
Research”, 194. Adverbs that Say How Much and 209. Fixed
Phrases with “and”. Even combinations like on a map are a weak
kind of collocation.
In this post I wish to show how numerous fixed preposition
phrases are in English, and to present a wide variety of examples
that could be used in formal writing.
.
LIST OF FIXED PREPOSITION
PHRASES
The following list is not exhaustive. It does not cover every
possible preposition, and even those included probably make
fixed phrases that are not mentioned. There is also an element of
subjectivity about the fixedness of the phrases: some might
disagree. However, it is knowing the phrases rather than their
fixedness that is ultimately what matters. For some less-fixed
similar phrases, see 85. Preposition Phrases and Corresponding
Adverbs.
ABOVE
above all (else/others), above ground, above oneself, above the
law, above suspicion
AFTER
after all, after a certain length of time, after a while, after further
analysis, after many years, after a/some time, after that, after
the event
AS
as a consequence, as a preliminary (to…), as a reminder, as a
result, as a reward, as a rule, as a whole, as compensation, as
usual
AT
at a guess, at all, at all costs, at a loss, at any rate, at arm’s
length, at a time, at bay, at best, at ease, at every opportunity,
at every turn, at fault, at first, at first hand, at first sight, at full
stretch, at hand, at …’s insistence, at intervals, at large, at last,
at least, at length,  at odds, at once, at peace, at present, at
random, at risk, at speed, at the beginning/start/end, at the first
attempt,  at the/this moment, at the most, at the outset, at the
same time, at the time, at times, at will, at worst
BEYOND
beyond assistance, beyond belief, beyond compare, beyond
comparison, beyond dispute, beyond doubt, beyond
expectation(s), beyond hope, beyond recall, beyond recognition,
beyond reproach, beyond the call of duty, beyond one’s wildest
dreams
BY
by accident, by all account/reports,  by all/no means, by analogy,
by arrangement, by a wide/narrow margin, by birth, by
candlelight, by chance, by coincidence, by common consent, by
comparison, by contrast, by custom, by day, by default, by
definition, by degrees, by design, by every means, by extension,
by far, by force, by implication, by law, by mistake, by name, by
(their) nature, by night, by now, by profession, by reference to …,
by reputation, by repute, by return, by rights,  by -self, by way of
…, by word of mouth
FOR
for a change, for ages, for all …’s worth, for a moment, for a (…)
reason, for a start, for a time, for a while, for certain, for
convenience, for emphasis, for good, for good measure, for good
reason, for life, for now, for once in a while,  for sure, for the
moment, for the most part, for the record, for the time being, for
this purpose, for what it is worth
FROM
from a … perspective, from all the evidence, from day one, from
day to day, from every angle, from memory, from side to side,
from the horse’s mouth, from the start, from time to time, from
top to bottom
IN
in a … capacity, in addition, in advance, in all,  in all likelihood, in
all probability, in all sincerity, in a mess, in anger, in answer, in a
rage, in a sense, in a similar vein,  in a … way, in brief, in charge,
in circulation, in command, in common parlance, in conclusion, in
consequence, in contrast, in control, in danger, in days gone by,
in depth, in difficulty, in disgrace, in dispute, in doubt, in droves,
in due course, in effect, in error, in essence, in fairness, in favour,
in fits and starts, in full, in full flow, in general, in large numbers,
in line, in no time, in order, in other words, in parallel, in
particular, in practice, in principle, in profusion, in progress, in
public, in question, in reality, in reply, in response, in sequence,
in sum(mary), in tandem, in … terms, in that case, in the black, in
the clear, in the dark, in the extreme, in the final analysis, in the
main, in the meantime, in the process, in the red, in the way,  in
the end, in the eyes of …, in (the) first place, in the fullness of
time, in the main, in the nick of time, in theory, in this case, in
this instance, in this respect, in time, in total, in transit, in truth,
in turn, in unison
OF
of a kind, of … kinds, of all things, of benefit, of concern,  of
consequence, of course, of good reputation, of importance, of
interest, of late, of necessity, of note, of … own accord, of
significance, of sorts, of substance, of the same kind/name, of
use, of value
OFF
off colour, off duty, off limits, off the beaten track, off the
record, off the scale, off the top
ON
on a … basis, on a large/small scale, on all sides, on average, on
balance, on his/her/its  (etc.)  best behaviour, on board, on close
inspection, on closer analysis/examination, on condition that …,
on end, on fire, on (his/her/its etc.)  guard, on high alert, on
impulse, on occasion, on purpose, on reflection, on … terms, on
the assumption that…, on the brink, on the cards, on the
contrary, on the evidence of … , on the face of it, on the go, on
the lookout for…, on the make, on the mend, on the other hand,
on the surface, on the understanding that …, on the whole, on
(the) top
OUT OF
out of action, out of all proportion, out of bounds, out of
circulation, out of contract, out of control, out of date, out of
fashion, out of favour, out of kilter, out of kindness, out of love,
out of order, out of phase, out of sorts, out of step, out of the
norm, out of the ordinary, out of the question, out of spite, out of
time, out of touch
TO
to a degree, to all appearances,  to all intents and purposes, to a
great/small extent, to great  (or the same) effect, to my mind, to
no avail, to perfection, to (someone’s) surprise, to the contrary,
to the naked eye, to the uninitiated, to this day, to this end
UNDER
under attack, under consideration, under construction, under
contract, under control, under inspection, under licence, under no
illusions, under oath, under observation, under pressure, under
review, under supervision, under surveillance, under the auspices
of…, under the circumstances, under the impression that…, under
the influence of…, under the ownership of
UP
up country, up in arms, up to date, up to the hilt
WITH
with concern, with delight, with difficulty, with dignity, with
dismay, with hindsight, with love, with pleasure, with relish, with
regard to, with regret, with (due) respect, with respect to, with
satisfaction, with surprise
WITHIN
within one’s capacity, within limits, within living memory, within
minutes, within range, within (easy) reach, within reason, within
sight, within the rules, within touching distance, within view
WITHOUT
without assistance, without delay, without doubt, without end,
without exception, without fail, without hesitation, without
hindrance, without question, without success
.
OBSERVATIONS
1. Grammatical Function
Ordinary preposition phrases (i.e. not “fixed” in the sense
described above) tend to have various alternative uses in a
sentence. The same phrase may act like an adjective (adding
information about a previous noun) or like an adverb (adding
information about a verb, adjective, adverb or whole sentence).
The following examples are an expansion of ones in the Guinlist
post 56. Comparing with “Like” and “Unlike”, the preposition
being like:
(a) An illness like influenza was produced by the virus.
(ADJECTIVE USE 1)
(b) The illness produced by the virus was like influenza.
(ADJECTIVE USE 2)
(c) The illness acted like influenza. (ADVERB USE 1)
(d) Like influenza, the virus caused a fever. (ADVERB USE 2)
The like phrase here resembles an adjective in (a) and (b) in that
it adds information about a noun (illness). In (a) it occupies one of
the two typical positions of adjective-like preposition phrases –
directly after the noun – while in (b) it occupies the other – later
with a link verb (was) in between (see 84. Seven Things to Know
about Prepositions, #2).
In (c) and (d), on the other hand, the like phrase resembles an
adverb because it adds information to the same parts of a
sentence that adverbs do. In (c), it adds to the verb acted, while
in (d) it adds to the sentence as a whole. For more on these
adverb uses, see 120. Six Things to Know about Adverbs.
All of these uses can involve a fixed preposition phrase, but quite
often a particular fixed phrase will have a more limited use. For
example, as a whole, which means “considered altogether”,
seems to have only adjective use 1 – directly following a noun,
which must express a collective idea, as in Asia as a whole. This is
very different from on the whole (= “typically”), which is slightly
less restricted in having not only adjective use 1 but also adverb
use 2 (as a “sentence” adverb – see 121. Sentence-Spanning
Adverbs).
On the whole, however, fixed preposition phrases with an
exclusively adjective use seem quite rare. Phrases beginning
with of tend to be of this kind (see 160. Uses of “of”), though of
late and of necessity are adverbial. Most out of phrases –
excepting those with an emotion noun like spite – are adjectival.
About 50% of on phrases are so (on end, on the brink, on the
cards). At a time (= on each occasion) and at a loss are too – the
former usually after a number + noun (e.g. 3 people…). In order is
typically adjectival when it means “tidy”, but usually adverbial
when it means “in sequence”.
Phrases with a slightly less exclusively adjective use also tend to
be in particular groups. One is phrases with beyond, which are
common after a link verb (adjective use 2), but can also be
adverb-like if used with particular other verbs, especially PLACE
and ACT. Beyond doubt could also start a sentence as a sentence
adverb, like this:
(e) Beyond doubt, some professional athletes use illegal drugs.
Similar possibilities exist with above  phrases (though above all is
only a sentence adverb), many in  phrases (notable exceptions
being the sentence adverbs in contrast, in general  and  in
time), out of, under  and within  .
Among phrases with a predominantly adverbial use, in
time deserves a special mention since it changes its meaning
according to whether or not it is a sentence adverb. In the first
case (In time, …), it means “when some time has passed”; in the
second, “not late” (… arrived in time). Also notable is in the
extreme, meaning “very”, which is only found after adjectives.
Fixed phrases with with tend to be adverbial, perhaps
because with is the most typical preposition for converting an
adverb into a corresponding preposition phrase (see 85.
Preposition Phrases & Corresponding Adverbs). From,
on  and without also tend to create adverbial phrases, though
some, like on end, on fire and without end are usually or
sometimes adjectives instead. Finally, as phrases excepting as a
whole seem always to be adverbial.
.
2. Constituent “Noun” Forms
In the vast majority of cases, the noun after the preposition
lacks the. However, the exceptions have mostly normal
explanations, such as other descriptive words following the noun
(beyond the call  of duty, on the understanding that …), the noun
representing something solitary (at the  first attempt, out of
the  norm), the noun replaced by a lone adjective (to
the  uninitiated, out of the ordinary – see 6./102. Adjectives with
no Noun 1/2), or the noun referring to a part of the body ( to
the  naked eye – see 89. Using “the” with General Meaning).
The only examples where the does not seem to have a standard
explanation involve “nouns” that are normally verbs ( on the go,
on the make – but not without fail), which are reminiscent of
expressions like have a go (see 116. Rarer Uses of HAVE).
Also notable is the fairly frequent breaking of the rule that
singular countable nouns need an article (see 110. Nouns without
“the” or “a”). This happens, for example, in above ground, at
hand, at will,  by law  (and many other by phrases), for good
reason, from side to side, in line, in principle, in question, in
total, in turn,  on average, on end, on purpose, out of date  (and
many other out of phrases), within range,  within
reason and without end. Most seem predominantly adjectival
(exceptions are underlined).
Finally, there are some phrases with just an adjective and no
noun – a surprise given that prepositions normally need a
following noun. Some of these adjectives are in the superlative
form without the (at best, at last, at least, at worst). Others (the
clear, the dark, the black, the red) are base forms with the – a
possibility that is much rarer in English than in some other
languages (see 102. Adjectives with no Noun 2). Others again are
simple base forms (at large, by far, for good, for sure, in full, in
general,  of late). Also notable is at once, once being an adverb.
.
3. “Action” Noun Involvement
Action nouns are made from verbs and express verb-like
meanings (see 131. Uses of “Action” Nouns). Some of the
prepositions listed above seem more likely than others to be
followed by an action noun. Particularly noticeable
are beyond (followed by nouns
like belief  and recognition), under (consideration, review)
and without (doubt, hesitation).
Beyond compare is a more poetic alternative to beyond
comparison. Compare is probably a noun rather than the
verb. Under gives passive meaning to an action noun, but seems
usable only with a very few such nouns.