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It was very unfortunate of him to have lost the battle.

In this sentence, is the usage of the preposition "of" correct?

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A more natural preposition to use in this context would be "for".

"It was very unfortunate for him to have lost the battle."

Using "of" would seem more natural in a sentence such as, "it was very rude of him to have said that". The difference seems to be that being rude is something one does more actively, whereas being unfortunate is something that happens to one. Compare, "that was very kind of him," and "that was lucky for him."

One way to sidestep the problem entirely would be to use a relative clause, with an optional phrase indicating whose misfortune we are concerned with:

"It was very unfortunate (for whomever) that he lost the battle."

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    Yes. With a word like "responsible", the choice of for and of would indicate different meanings. "It was responsible of John to think of the child's needs" but "John was responsible for the child's welfare".
    – WS2
    Commented Jun 8, 2017 at 13:23
  • I agree that of would not work here. But there are two different parses with for, with different meanings. One is "What was unfortunate for him? To have lost the battle"; the other is "What was unfortunate? For him to have last the battle". The first says it was unfortunate for him, but not necessarily for the rest of us - we could say this even if we were on the other side. The second says it's unfortunate in general.
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Jun 8, 2017 at 13:37
  • @ColinFine , I agree, which is why I suggested the second sentence, with the relative clause.
    – G Tony Jacobs
    Commented Jun 8, 2017 at 13:38
  • I think the reason that "of" sounds awkward in this context is that fortune is relative. What's unfortunate for party A may be fortunate for party B. By saying "unfortunate of him," it is unclear who is actually experiencing the misfortune. An omniscient narrator?
    – AffableAmbler
    Commented Jun 8, 2017 at 13:55
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Of and for are used in two different constructions.

  • The (very) Adjective of Noun Phrase construction, like very rude/kind of you,
    attributes Adjective to Noun Phrase, which implies in this case that you are rude/kind.
    (at least in the view of the speaker).

  • The for Noun Phrase to Verb Phrase, or Complete Infinitive, construction.
    Since infinitives are verbs, they have to have subjects, even if the subjects don't appear
    in the infinitive clause. But sometimes their subjects do appear, and occasionally the
    subject noun phrase is marked with for, just as the infinitive verb phrase is marked with to.

Very unfortunate of/for him to have lost the battle can be broken up two ways:

  1. (It was) [Very unfortunate of him] [to have lost the battle]
    This can be transformed into
    [To have lost the battle] was [very unfortunate of him]
    This attributes the predicate adjective unfortunate to the pronoun him.

  2. (It was) [Very unfortunate] [for him to have lost the battle]
    This can be transformed into
    [For him to have lost the battle] was [very unfortunate]
    This attributes unfortunate to the infinitive clause for him to have lost the battle.

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