particles: 'with' or 'to' after the word improvement?

[englishlisteningworld]

Hi, I am a teacher, and a high level student asked me this question about the use of a particle after the word improvement. I cannot find a satisfactorily strong answer so I thought I would come here. Here is the question.

This is from the Toeic book:


Many of the improvements--- the hotel lobby were made by the new designer from
Nayar living.

A)Along B) from C) to D) with

My student chose D- with, but the correct answer was actually C- to. Why is that necessarily the better choice? I found that 'with' also collocates with improvement in the Corpus of Contemporary American English, although it is number ten in the list (and 'to' is number seven).

[2006]

Many of the improvements--- the hotel lobby were made by the new designer from
Nayar living.

A)Along B) from C) to D) with

My student chose D- with, but the correct answer was actually C- to. Why is that necessarily the better choice? To me, it just is; 'improvement to" seems to be the usual collocation in a sentence like that.
I have seen 'improvement(s) with', but that sounds odd to me. 'improvement(s) of' sounds much better to me than 'improvements with' in the sentence in question.

found that 'with' also collocates with improvement in the Corpus of Contemporary American English, although it is number ten in the list (and 'to' is number seven).

2006

[5jj]

I agree with 2006 - it just is.

In, on, and to work better for me than with.

[bhaisahab]

If we make improvements to something, we improve it. If we make improvements with something, we use it to improve something else.