Preposition: that

• people: It is tragic that 5m people a year in developing countries die of communicable diseases.

Modifies a noun

• death: The 1998 canal tour was cut short due to the tragic death of John Fleming.

• accident: A tragic accident had closed the tunnel in November 2001.

• consequence: They fail to predict the effects of drugs with tragic consequences.

• fate: She emphasized Trotsky's tragic fate, seeing the death of all his children.

• irony: Pick out some phrases that demonstrate " tragic irony " .

• tale: They tell simple, sometimes tragic tales of everyday life.

Modifying Another Word

• ultimately: The ad shows a collision between a motorcyclist and a car, from both perspectives, with ultimately tragic results.

• potentially: And Doris's obsession with tidying up has potentially tragic repercussions.

• utterly: As for Jerusalem, it is so utterly tragic that they cannot find a solution to the conflict.

• truly: We no longer have any feeling for what is truly tragic.

• deeply: The regular Mogul stars are joined tonight by Ronald Fraser in a brilliant performance which is both immensely funny and deeply tragic.

• essentially: Tar and Gemma's teenage years are essentially tragic: Burgess warns how this could be avoided.

Used with adjective complement

• seem: It seemed tragic that such a little gem was hidden from general view by an overgrown hedge.

• prove: Parliament's rejection of his bill proved tragic for both Great Britain and Ireland.

• make: His death was made more tragic by the fact that he was killed during the unofficial Christmas truce of 1914.

• become: The alienated situation of the African in his own society becomes tragic.

Preposition: in

• sense: Tragic in the sense that behind each painting is both a portentousness and a sense of mortality.

Preposition: of

• circumstance: Even the most tragic of circumstance is marshaled in the attempt to educate and fascinate.