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Preposition after adjective

Answerable to or answerable for?

Both answerable to and answerable for are correct, but they express different ideas.

Quick answer

Answerable to vs. answerable for

Use answerable to for the person or authority you report to. Use answerable for for duties, actions, or results.

The director is answerable to the board.
Managers are answerable for staff safety.
The agency is answerable to parliament.

Choose the pattern by meaning

These forms are not interchangeable. Choose the construction by meaning, not by which preposition appears most often.

1
answerable to + authority

Reporting to someone

This pattern refers to accountability to a person or organisation.

The committee is answerable to shareholders.
2
answerable for + action/result

Being responsible for something

Use for with duties, mistakes, or outcomes.

You are answerable for your decisions.
3
legally answerable for + noun

Legal responsibility

This pattern is common in legal or formal English.

The company is legally answerable for the damages.
4
directly answerable to + body

Formal reporting structures

Adverbs often modify answerable to in official contexts.

The office is directly answerable to the minister.

See the difference in context

The same subject can take different constructions because each sentence answers a different question.

Construction
Example
Meaning
answerable to
She is answerable to the regional manager.
Responsible to an authority or supervisor.
answerable for
He is answerable for the budget.
Responsible for actions, duties, or results.
answerable to someone for something
The director is answerable to the board for company performance.
Both patterns can appear together.
answerable about
Answerable about is uncommon after this adjective.
Not a standard pattern.

Common mistakes

Some combinations appear in real text but do not mean what learners often assume.

Using to for duties

Use for before responsibilities or actions.

✕ She is answerable to the accounts. ✓ She is answerable for the accounts.

Using for before a supervisor

Use to for a person or authority.

✕ He is answerable for the board. ✓ He is answerable to the board.

Forgetting both complements are possible

Some sentences naturally use both patterns.

✕ The minister is answerable the public the decision. ✓ The minister is answerable to the public for the decision.

Quick practice

Choose the expression that matches the intended meaning.

1. The officer is answerable ___ the director.
2. You are answerable ___ any financial losses.
3. The agency is answerable ___ parliament for its spending.

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Frequently asked questions

Can answerable to and answerable for appear in the same sentence?

Yes. One can show the authority, and the other can show the responsibility.

Is answerable formal?

Yes. It is especially common in official, legal, and business English.

What is the difference between responsible and answerable?

Answerable often stresses accountability and the need to explain actions.

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