Questions tagged [prepositions]
A class of words denoting temporal or spatial relations or other semantic roles. They are placed before the noun phrase they modify.
79 questions
0
votes
0
answers
47
views
what kinds of two prepositions can or cannot be compounded?
Are these examples of compounding two prepositions:
from within
off of
outside of
?
Are there descriptive rules for what kinds of two prepositions can be compounded, or for what kinds of two ...
- 913
2
votes
1
answer
222
views
Did Proto-Indo-European use prepositions, postpositions, or both?
I’m trying to mix this protolanguage with another one by overlapping them, and none of the search results are being helpful. I doubt the many articles would either. I’d also like to know if the ...
4
votes
1
answer
221
views
The analysis of 'for NP to VP' in HPSG
This is from a paper titled "What for?" by Bas Aarts:
(35) [NP It [S′ [COMP for] [S Mary see his relatives]]] [M may] [VP distress John]
Bresnan’s account was very influential in proposing ...
- 812
2
votes
0
answers
140
views
'London in' or 'in London'? 'ed-learn' or 'learned'?
In English, ‘in London’ and 'learned’ are grammatically correct. Grammatical elements or forms are divided into two categories: grammatical or functional words like prepositions or auxiliary verbs in ...
- 141
2
votes
2
answers
276
views
About phrasal verbs, separable verb and verbs with adverbs
I was wondering about the concepts listed in the title. In one side we have the separable verbs in German, like mitkommen:
Ich komme mit.
On the other hand we have phrasal verbs such as think over ...
- 1,456
4
votes
1
answer
207
views
Why is P the head of PP?
I was wondering what arguments there were to know that P is the head of a phrase [P + N].
As far as adjunct phrases are concerned, we can clearly see that as Ps select Ns (*during the rock; *in the ...
- 451
2
votes
0
answers
183
views
Question about prepositions in English idioms
I have noticed that many idioms in English include a fixed preposition at the same time that the complement of the preposition is free, e.g.
a. light a fire under X
b. carry a torch for X
c. cast a ...
- 643
-2
votes
2
answers
68
views
All the ways you can describe a relationship outside of nouns/verbs/adjectives across languages (i.e. like with prepositions)? [closed]
Having dug more into prepositions, I learned they are often "function words" (as opposed to "lexical words", i.e. "content words"). However, in at least one paper I read (...
- 4,438
1
vote
1
answer
1k
views
Difference between adverb and preposition in English?
Sorry if this is a basic question, but I am in the weeds playing with language and finally encountered confusion when digging into prepositions in English. It appears to me that prepositions are ...
- 4,438
2
votes
1
answer
206
views
Are prepositions ever a wide open class in any language?
I am trying to see if I can come up with new prepositions according to my thoughts on getting rid of prepositions (for a conlang).
First, prepositions are "before things" traditionally, but ...
- 4,438
4
votes
2
answers
418
views
Word for difference between "in" and "into"
I was wondering whether there are words for the two types of prepositions, or a word for the distinction between them. I understand that the difference between them is that one is a "static" ...
2
votes
1
answer
101
views
Research on Preposition semantics
Is there any literature on preposition semantics available online?
Much of it is centered around spatial prepositions but what I want to know is more general approaches to the subject matter.
Thank ...
- 451
1
vote
0
answers
43
views
How do "transform into" and "turn into" function syntactically?
He turned into a car
He transformed into a car
What are the syntactic categories of "transform", "turn", and "into" in each sentence?
I think that "turned into&...
user31190
1
vote
1
answer
88
views
What other languages can get by in some cases without prepositions or particles like Somali?
I just learned of a clever workaround for prepositions: possessive phrases, as in Somali (and here):
miiska agtiisa: near the table -> [the table his vicinity]
dekedda agteeda: near the harbour -&...
- 4,438
4
votes
2
answers
248
views
Is there a language whose syntactic structure accepts a specifier of a PP?
We know a preposition (in X-bar theory) is the head of a prepositional phrase and it has a complement that is the sister of this very preposition. However I've never seen a language with a constituent ...
- 1,456
0
votes
1
answer
181
views
Why can't you treat prepositions as simply noun/verb modifiers (i.e. as adjectives or adverbs)?
I am working on a conlang and have (for many months/years?) been perplexed by the prepositions. They standout because they are extremely hard to pinpoint what they actually mean, unlike a noun or verb,...
- 4,438
4
votes
1
answer
166
views
Why are prepositions and subordinate conjunctions grouped as the same tag in the Penn Treebank tag set?
I was reading a book by Jurafsky et. al. It states following:
English adpositions occur before nouns, hence are called prepositions. They can
indicate spatial or temporal relations, whether literal (...
- 161
7
votes
1
answer
390
views
Preposition and postposition at the same time?
In sentences like two days before Easter, "Easter" is the complement of the preposition "before", but what about the complement "two days"? Seeing that we can also say ...
- 223
1
vote
1
answer
275
views
Is "Since + clause" a noun clause or adverbial clause in this phrase?
I wanted to know if "since + clause" was an adverbial clause or noun clause in the phrase or after the phrase "it's been a while since I've seen you.".
I was thinking “it's been … ...
- 43
4
votes
1
answer
443
views
Is "of the kitten" in "the paw of the kitten" a complement to the NP or an adjunct to the DP?
I'm drawing a tree for "the paw of the kitten" (from chapter 7 of Andrew Carnie's Syntax: A Generative Introduction). This chapter is "extending X-bar theory", so please keep that ...
- 4,840
3
votes
1
answer
168
views
Antecedents of prepositions and adverbs
It seems that some prepositions and clausal adverbs have antecedents while others do not – for example because and therefore require antecedents, while in and clearly do not. I was wondering whether ...
- 465
3
votes
1
answer
166
views
Whence אֶת between partners' names?
The word אֶת /et/ is used with the following meanings:
In Biblical Hebrew, it means "with". In modern Hebrew it survives, but only with a complement-of-the-preposition pronoun suffix: "with me", "...
- 1,013
3
votes
2
answers
194
views
Case in English phrase "friend of mine"
In English phrases like
Jesse is a friend of mine/*of me
the case of the word "mine" is not the oblique ("me") which usually occurs with prepositions ("That's a part of me that you don't see too ...
- 2,364
0
votes
0
answers
96
views
Sentence with two PPs, without recursive embedding of either in the other
I'm having some difficulty with finding an example of an English sentence which includes two consecutive prepositional phrases without embedding. Would "We ran off into the sunset" qualify?
- 1
-3
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Is to always a preposition? [closed]
[1] I am looking forward to seeing you.
[2] I want to see you.
In the sentence [1] we say that to is a preposition. followed by a gerund.
In [2] we say to is a particle ...
- 1,238
5
votes
6
answers
2k
views
What is the difference between case and adpositions?
The preposition expressions like "on top of the table", "under the tree", "above the building" are very well understood. Comparing these with the Germany noun cases "auf dem Tisch", "unter dem Baum", "...
long pencil
1
vote
0
answers
68
views
Substituting prepositional phrases
In English, if you take the sentence behind the house was untidy, what is untidy is really an area behind the house – so assuming for now that behind the house can be regarded as the subject of the ...
user23078
0
votes
2
answers
190
views
"I gave Tom an apple" and "I gave an apple to Tom"
"I gave Tom an apple" and "I gave an apple to Tom" have the same meaning. The meaning of Tom receiving the apple comes form the position of the word in the former example and from the preposition in ...
- 507
1
vote
0
answers
31
views
Has there been any development or long lasting influence of Leonard Talmy's work?
I've read some of Talmy's work particularly that of his semantic analysis of the spatial organization inherent in the meaning of prepositions like "across","around" or "over" among others. I've found ...
- 31
0
votes
1
answer
147
views
How to determine temporal prepositions
I have several phrases in my text such as
'The changes are consistent with post radiotherapy phrases'
I would like to pick these sentences up
Is there a way of using parts of speech to determine ...
- 169
2
votes
0
answers
140
views
Can prepositions take raised objects in English?
In English, some verbs are said to take raised objects as in:
I believe you to be seriously mistaken.
Here, the verb believe takes you as a raised object.
Can the same be said about prepositions?
...
- 812
-1
votes
2
answers
90
views
Term For A Prepositional Phrase With A Verb?
I know this is an adjectival prepositional phrase:
I like the girl next to him.
And I know this is an adverbial prepositional phrase:
I went to the store.
But what is the term for this? It's a ...
- 415
2
votes
1
answer
61
views
Where can I find an analysis of the semantic overlap of English "to have" and "with"?
For years I've understood via my native speaker intuition and my interest in languages and linguistics that the preposition "with" can carry the semantic meaning of the verb "to have".
The man who ...
- 14.8k
3
votes
2
answers
928
views
Why is the preposition treated as the head of a prepositional phrase?
What are the theoretical reasons for treating the preposition as the head of a prepositional phrase? (Noun as head of NP sounds fine intuitively, but the same does not apply to prepositions in ...
- 159
1
vote
3
answers
677
views
What languages do without "to"
I'm trying to figure out what the meaning of to is. By that I mean, what is it's deeper grammatical structure. Knowing that it is a preposition (a pre-position), an infinitive marker, or an adverb isn'...
- 4,438
-1
votes
2
answers
211
views
Latest research on the meaning of prepositions
Trying to understand what a preposition is. Wikipedia gives some hints (adpositions are the general case of preposition/postposition/circumposition):
...Adpositions are classed as syntactic ...
- 4,438
1
vote
0
answers
45
views
How to differentiate between adjuncts and complements? Specifically when the sentence has two prepositional phrases [duplicate]
When a sentence has 2 prepositional phrases, how I can determine whether the second prepositional phrase is a complement of the first prepositional phrase or it's an adjunct to the whole sentence? ...
- 11
1
vote
0
answers
66
views
English verbs requiring PP
Are there a set of English verbs that require a prepositional phrase? For example:
"The set consists of A and B." = GOOD
"The set consists" = BAD
Is there a name for this type of verb? They seem to ...
user21043
6
votes
2
answers
347
views
'Ago' and 'on' vs. 'in'
Consider the phrase a month in in the following sentences:
[1] a. Richmond turned nineteen his third week in Vietnam. A̲l̲m̲o̲s̲t̲ ̲a̲ ̲m̲o&...
- 497
7
votes
2
answers
653
views
How does Tok Pisin get by with just a few prepositions?
I know the language only has 'two' prepositions (though there seems to be a some dispute to that). Regardless, the two prepositions 'long' and 'bilong' seem to be quite broad in definition.
I do ...
user19661
1
vote
0
answers
68
views
A sort/type/kind of N. Which is the head?
Let's take the example 'A kiwi is [a type of bird]'.
Page 109 of this book https://faculty.mu.edu.sa/public/uploads/1367260110.5528Understanding%20Syntax.pdf sais that the head of a phrase:
A. Has ...
- 103
3
votes
2
answers
435
views
Is there such a thing as a "floating preposition"?
Floating quantifiers are quantifiers that can move away from the corresponding noun, such as "each" in "The boys hit each other" where it modifies "The boys". I am interested in prepositions in these ...
- 4,840
1
vote
2
answers
1k
views
Description of various placements of PPs in a syntax tree
How would you describe the difference in modifications a PP can make to a VP i.e.
[I want to visit them][before this time]
versus
[I want to [visit them before this time]]
I understand there is ...
- 11
7
votes
1
answer
548
views
Are there any languages that either effectively don't have verbs or that somehow get around using a "standard" verb system?
By this, I'm asking whether there are languages (natural or constructed) which somehow function without verbs, relying instead upon other types of words like prepositions or something like that.
...
- 607
1
vote
3
answers
194
views
How could we say it is a “object” by the definition?
The Object is a noun or a pronoun that receives an action in a sentence. There are three types namely Diect object,Indirect object and Object of a preposition.
Both direct object and indirect object ...
- 19
0
votes
0
answers
39
views
The place of "isolated" nominal and prepositional elements/groups within a transitivity analysis
What is the place of "isolated" (i.e. "standing alone") nominal and prepositional elements/groups within a transitivity analysis (i.e. there is no mention of an explicit process), and how can one ...
- 11
3
votes
1
answer
480
views
Case assignment with prepositions
Consider these examples:
'I am happy with my parents'
my parents gets assigned Case by 'with'.
*'I am proud with my parents'
My question is as follows:
What is the reasoning for 2 being ...
- 289
2
votes
1
answer
84
views
generic definite article with uncountable/mass nouns after preposition 'of' indicating material
The 'generic' subclass of the definite article treated in the pag. 112, section 1.12.3.1 of the Modern Written Arabic: A Comprehensive Grammar reads as follows
"it denotes a generic meaning مائدة من ...
- 275
4
votes
1
answer
4k
views
What kind of phrase is "until recently"?
I learned about prepositions:
they establish a relation with two words
the preposition is followed by an object
-the object of a prepositional phrase is made by a noun phrase
However, I don't know ...
- 1,047
7
votes
2
answers
6k
views
Is the word "here" a preposition?
In a related question, I got entangled in a debate whether the word "here" (which I would classify readily as an adverb) is in reality a preposition. I am curious which modern analyses find ...
- 2,363