Functions of prepositional phrase or clause
Employed as adverb
Employed as object
Employed as adjective
Constituent elements of the prepositional unit
INFLECTIONAL PREPOSITIONS
Definition, Function, Form of Preposition
A preposition is a word that indicates a relation between the noun or pronoun it governs and another word, which may be a verb, an adjective, or another noun or pronoun: 'I live in this house.' Here in shows a relation be tween the noun house and the verb live. The preposition in, as prepositions in general, has a meaning. It expresses here the idea of place. There are in our language a large number of prepositions, which enable us to express ourselves quite accurately. Some of the most important ones are treated in the following articles.In 'I live with him' the preposition with shows a relation between the pronoun him and the verb live. The form him shows that the preposition today requires its object to stand in the objective case. In Old English different prepositions governed different cases. Now the object of the preposition is always in the objective case, which is an indistinctive form employed for either the dative or the accusative relation. After prepositions we now usually think of the objective case form as an accusative. But this matter of case is of little importance as only a few pronouns have a distinctive form for the object relation. A preposition standing before a noun or pronoun marks the noun or pronoun as an object. Here, as so often elsewhere, position is the distinctive feature.
The preposition does not function singly, but forms a grammatical unit with its object, i.e. the word or words following it: 'I live in this house.' This unit is called the prepositional unit. Where the object of the preposition is a single word, as in this example, the prepositional unit is a prepositional phrase. Where the object of the preposition is a clause, as in 'He spoke of what he had done,' the prepositional unit is a prepositional clause. An adverb is closely related to a preposition, but differs from it in that it functions singly, i.e. it does not take an object. 'He is in' (adverb), but 'He is in the house' (prepositional phrase). The prepositional unit, phrase or clause, has, like a simple word, a function to perform in the sentence. In 'I live in this house' the prepositional phrase in this house modifies the verb live, hence it performs the function of an adverb. In the following articles the functions and the constituent elements of the prepositional unit, i.e. the functions and the forms of the prepositional unit, will be discussed in detail.
1. Functions of Prepositional Phrase or Clause.
The prepositional unit performs the functions of (1) an adverb; (2) a noun in the objective relation, object of a verb or an adjective or participle; (3) an adjective in the predicative or the attributive relation.a. EMPLOYED AS ADVERB.
This is a common function: 'He stood by the window.' 'He stood behind me. In the first example the preposition by connects the intransitive verb stood with the noun window. In the second example the preposition behind connects the intransitive verb stood with the pronoun me. In each of the examples the prepositional phrase forms an adverbial element modifying the intransitive verb. The adverbial prepositional phrase is common also in connection with a transitive verb and its object: 'He is writing a letter by the window.' 'We sent a boy after water.'The adverbial prepositional phrase or clause indicates some relation of place, time, manner, result, degree, extent, cause, condition, concession, purpose, means, instrument, agency, association: 'I live in Chicago' (place). 'I can see him from where I stand' (place). 'I wrote a letter before breakfast' (time). 'I read in bed (place) before going to sleep' (time); but before is an adverb in 'I hadn't seen him before' and a subordinating conjunction in 'I had not seen him before I met him today.' 'I wrote the letter with care' (manner). 'He never plays with the children (association) without stirring up a quarrel' (result). 'I am taller than you by three inches' (degree). 'I have gone as far as collecting statistics for my investigation' (extent). 'We feel kindly toward him for his waiting so patiently under such trying circumstances' (cause). 'He couldn't have done it without my having helped him' (condition). 'His wife clings to him with all his faults' (concession). In spite of his untiring devotion to the community (concession) he has not received the recognition he deserves.' 'I bought the book for reference' (purpose). 'By industry and thrift he has amassed a fortune' (means). 'He cut it with a knife' (instrument). 'The trees were trimmed by a gardener' (agency). 'Blue does not go with green' (association). 'I walked to town with him' (association).
b. EMPLOYED AS OBJECT.
In 'She shot at him twice' the prepositional phrase made up of the preposition at and its object him stands in a little closer relation to the intransitive verb than an adverbial element, forming the necessary complement of the verb, which we call a prepositional object. As the preposition here is often in a closer relation to the intransitive verb than to its own object, it is often felt as a part of the verb, forming with it a com pound, a transitive compound verb. This can be seen in passive form, where the preposition remains with the verb: 'He has been shot at twice.' 'He can be depended upon.' 'He is easily imposed upon.' 'He is not a man to be trifled with.' The fact that the passive can be used here shows that the intransitive has become a transitive verb. This passive construction is a marked characteristic of English. On the other hand, the prepo sition is often in closer relation to the noun than to the verb, so that the verb remains intransitive and cannot be put into the passive: 'She went about her duties as usual.' "This obligation devolves upon you.' 'This case admits of no doubt.' 'This borders on the commonplace. This book teems with blunders.' 'The bottle smelled of brandy.' 'I don't fall for that kind of conduct' (American slang = 'I don't believe in, favor,' etc.). This prepositional object is common after an accusative object: 'He wrote a book on his experiences in the war.' The noun in this prepositional object is often an infinitive: 'His father forced him to make his own living.' '1 persuaded him to do it.' 'I can't bring myself to speak to him about it.' 'I will leave you to imagine my embarrassment. The to of the infinitive in these examples is not a mere sign of the infinitive but a real preposition governing the following infinitive, which is here still a verbal noun although it now takes an accusative object.The object of the preposition is often a substantive (noun) clause introduced by an indefinite relative pronoun, adjective, or adverb: 'He often spoke of what he had done and how he had done it.' 'He told me all about what had been done, who the leading spirits of the enterprise were, and what valuable experiences. they all had had.'
The prepositional phrase is much used also as the object, i.e. as the necessary complement, of an adjective or a participle: 'She is fond of music, of skating, of reading.' 'She is dependent upon her children. She is devoted to her children.' 'He is engaged in writing about his experiences in Australia.' After the preposition to the noun is often an infinitive: 'I am eager to go.'
The object of the preposition is often an indefinite relative clause: 'She is proud of what she has done.' 'She is fully informed as to who did it.' The expression is often elliptical: 'I am sure [of it] that he did it.'
c. EMPLOYED AS ADJECTIVE.
The prepositional phrase is em ployed as an adjective element in the predicative and the attributive relation.The prepositional phrase is much used in the predicate relation. After a copula: 'The country is at peace' (= peaceful).
There is no copula when the prepositional phrase is predicated of an object: 'I found him at home.' 'I found him at peace with himself.'
In 'The girl with dark hair is my sister' the preposition with connects the noun hair with the noun girl. The prepositional phrase with dark hair is an attributive adjective element since it modifies the noun girl. It is here equal in force to the descriptive (8) adjective dark-haired: "The dark-haired girl is my sister.' The prepositional phrase here often has the force of a limiting adjective, pointing out one or more individuals: 'the tree behind the house. After verbal nouns (i.e. nouns made from verbs) the prepositional phrase, though in a formal sense an adjective element, often has the force of an object or an adverb: a mother's love for her children' (with the force of an object); 'a walk in the evening' (with the force of an adverb of time).
2. Constituent Elements of the Prepositional Unit.
The object of the preposition is always a noun or a pronoun, which is uniformly in the accusative: 'He went with my brother and me.' The preposition usually stands before its object, but it may stand at the end of the sentence or clause: 'Whom (or in colloquial speech who object of the preposition with) do you play with?' Though the preposition here is separated from its object, the unity of preposition and object is distinctly felt. The thought holds the parts together.The object of the preposition is often an adverb, a phrase, or a clause which is used as a noun or a pronoun. As a noun: 'for ever, until now,' 'after today,' 'between now and then.' 'Where did he come from?' 'Many place-names do not go back to before the Norman Conquest' (W. J. Sedgefield, Introduction to the Survey of the English Place-Names, Ch. I). 'I have little insight into what he is doing.' 'He wrote me about what he is planning.' As a demonstrative pronoun: 'I promised him yesterday that I would go with him tomorrow, but since then I've had to change my plans.' Relative pronoun: 'I saw him a month ago, since when I haven't seen anything of him.'
In the preceding examples the preposition either stands before a noun or pronoun forming with it a phrase, or stands at the end of the sentence or clause. These are the most common uses of the preposition; but with a number of words the preposition is the first component of a compound verb, and its object stands after the verb: 'The enemy overran the whole country.' 'A great principle underlies this plan.' 'Water permeates the ground.'
Inflectional Prepositions.
Prepositions have played a conspicuous rôle in the development of our language. Their numbers are ever increasing.
There are now so many of them that we have a wide range of choice in shading our thought. Some do not differ from others in meaning, as with regard to, or with respect to; they simply serve to vary our expression. Some prepositions, however, are in certain grammatical relations perfectly rigid, and cannot be replaced by others with the same or a similar meaning. They have often lost a good deal of their original concrete meaning and are no longer felt as prepositions, for they have developed into inflectional particles which indicate definite grammatical relations, often taking the place of older inflectional endings. Thus we now can say 'I gave the book to my friend' instead of 'I gave my friend the book.' The words my friend are in the dative and once had a distinctive ending to indicate the dative relation. Now, as adjectives and nouns have lost their old distinctive dative ending, we often employ the prepo sition to to indicate the dative relation. Similarly, we often use the preposition of as an inflectional sign to indicate the genitive relation: the father of the boy' instead of 'the boy's father.
The inflectional preposition is not only placed before words, but often also after them in case of verbs: 'You can depend upon him.' The preposition, as upon in this example, which once be longed to the word following it, is now often felt as belonging to a preceding intransitive verb, serving as an inflectional particle with the office of converting the intransitive into a transitive. That the preposition and the verb have fused into one word, a real com pound, can be seen in passive form, where the preposition remains with the verb: 'He can be depended upon.'
