7 Prepositions
Prepositions cannot be distinguished by any formal features. A list of prepositions will illustrate this point:
across, after, at, before, by, during, from, in, into, of, on, to, under, with, without
We can, say, however, that prepositions typically come before a noun:
|
across town |
for lunch |
The noun does not necessarily come immediately after the preposition, however, since determiners and adjectives can intervene:
after the storm
on white horses
under the old regime
Whether or not there are any intervening determiners or adjectives, prepositions are almost always followed by a noun. In fact, this is so typical of prepositions that if they are not followed by a noun, we call them "stranded" prepositions:
|
Preposition |
Stranded Preposition |
|
John talked about the new film |
This is the film John talked about |
Prepositions are invariable in their form, that is, they do not take any inflections.
7.1 Complex Prepositions
The prepositions which we have looked at so far have all consisted of a single word, such as in, of, at, and to. We refer to these as SIMPLE PREPOSITIONS.
COMPLEX PREPOSITIONS consist of two- or three-word combinations acting as a single unit. Here are some examples:
|
according to |
due to |
Like simple prepositions, these two-word combinations come before a noun:
according to Shakespeare
contrary to my advice
due to illness
Three-word combinations often have the following pattern:
Simple Preposition + Noun + Simple Preposition
We can see this pattern in the following examples:
|
in aid of |
in line with |
Again, these combinations come before a noun:
in aid of charity
in front of the window
in line with inflation