Sign In Get Started
Prepositions after adjectives

Submissive with different prepositions

Submissive is most commonly followed by to. Other prepositions usually belong to different sentence structures rather than fixed adjective patterns.

Quick answer

Which prepositions are used with submissive?

Use submissive to to describe obedience or willingness to accept control. Submissive in may describe behaviour in a situation, while submissive as, for, and by are not standard fixed combinations after the adjective.

The group became submissive to authority.
He is unusually submissive to his older brother.
She was submissive in meetings.

Choose the pattern by meaning

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

1
submissive to + authority/person

Showing obedience or dependence

Use submissive to for accepting another person's control, authority, or wishes.

The dog became submissive to its trainer.
He remained submissive to management.
2
submissive in + situation

Describing behaviour in context

Submissive in refers to behaviour shown in a particular setting or relationship.

She is often submissive in negotiations.
He seemed submissive in public discussions.

See the difference in context

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

Construction
Example
Meaning
submissive to
They were submissive to the ruler.
accepting authority or control
submissive in
She became submissive in stressful situations.
showing submissive behaviour in a context
submissive as
He worked as a submissive character in the play.
as here shows role or identity, not a fixed adjective pattern
submissive for
She was praised for being submissive.
for introduces a reason, not a selected preposition after submissive
submissive by
The policy was influenced by submissive attitudes.
by introduces an agent or cause, not a standard adjective pattern

Common mistakes

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

Using submissive for as a fixed pattern

For normally introduces a reason or purpose, not the complement of submissive.

✕ He is submissive for his boss. ✓ He is submissive to his boss.

Confusing submissive to and submissive in

Submissive to identifies the authority figure, while submissive in describes the situation.

✕ She is submissive in her manager. ✓ She is submissive to her manager.

Using submissive by for control

English normally uses to after submissive when naming the controlling person.

✕ They were submissive by the leader. ✓ They were submissive to the leader.

Quick practice

Choose the expression that matches the intended meaning.

1. The employees became submissive ___ the new director.
2. He tends to be submissive ___ formal discussions.
3. She was praised ___ being calm and submissive.

Check your sentence in context

Paste the complete sentence below. Linguix checks the preposition together with grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style.

Free to try · No signup required

Frequently asked questions

Is submissive to the most common pattern?

Yes. It is the standard way to describe obedience or acceptance of control.

Can submissive in be correct?

Yes. It can describe behaviour in a situation, such as submissive in meetings.

Is submissive by grammatical?

By can appear elsewhere in a sentence, but it is not the usual preposition directly linked to submissive.

sacred-to-in-by-of, for "sad for" or "sad about"? "safe for", "safe from" or "safe in"? sanguine about, in, of, on or for? "satisfactory to" or "satisfactory for"? satisfied with, of, by, in or on? "satisfying for" or "satisfying to"? scarce in, for, at, on or of? scared of, to, about, for or by? "scary for" or "scary to"? "scathing about", "scathing in" or "scathing of"? "sceptical about" or "sceptical of"?

Write with confidence in Linguix

Create a free account to check complete texts, apply suggestions, and save your documents.

Create a free account