Direction: Choose the correct Preposition from the options given below to…

Concept: Many English verbs take one fixed preposition to form a set collocation, and these pairings are conventional rather than logically derivable from the individual words. For verbs describing an illness or medical condition, the standard fixed collocation is the verb followed by "from" (e.g. "suffer from", "recover from", "die from"), where "from" marks the source or condition being undergone.

Application: In "The old man suffered ____ severe arthritis for many years," the verb is "suffered" and "severe arthritis" is the illness being described, so the fixed collocation "suffered from severe arthritis" applies here — "from" is the correct preposition.

Cross-check: The remaining options do not fit the standard exam-taught collocation for this context as well as "from" does:

• "by" typically introduces the agent of a passive action or a means/method (e.g. "diagnosed by a doctor", "travel by train"), not the verb "suffer".

• "with" typically signals accompaniment, instrument, or manner (e.g. "a man with a stick", "cope with a problem") and pairs with verbs like "cope" or "deal"; while "suffer with" appears in casual usage for some conditions, "suffer from" is the standard, exam-taught collocation for an illness such as this one.

• "of" typically follows verbs like "die of" or "consist of" to mark a cause or composition, not "suffer".