Choose the most appropriate preposition.
He died ______ Cancer.

Question

Choose the most appropriate preposition.
 He died ______ Cancer.

Accepted Answer

In the given sentence, "He died ______ Cancer," the task is to choose the most appropriate preposition to complete the sentence. The correct answer is Option 3: "of."

1. Explanation for Option 3 ("of"):
   - The preposition "of" is commonly used in English to indicate the cause of death when referring to diseases or medical conditions. It is a standard expression to say someone "died of" a particular illness. Therefore, "He died of Cancer" is the correct and idiomatic way to express that cancer was the cause of his death.

2. Explanation for why the other options are incorrect:
   - Option 1 ("by"): The preposition "by" is typically used to indicate the means or agent performing an action, such as "He was killed by a bullet." It is not used to indicate the cause of death when referring to diseases, so "He died by Cancer" is incorrect.
   - Option 2 ("from"): While "from" can sometimes be used to indicate the cause of death, it is less common and not the standard preposition used in this context. "He died from Cancer" is not the preferred or idiomatic expression.
   - Option 4 ("at"): The preposition "at" is used to indicate a location or a specific point in time, such as "He died at the hospital" or "He died at midnight." It is not used to indicate the cause of death, so "He died at Cancer" is incorrect.

In conclusion, Option 3 ("of") is the correct preposition to use in the sentence because it appropriately and idiomatically indicates the cause of death when referring to a disease like cancer.