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Why Everything is a Preposition

Prepositions are among the most elusive of the traditional parts of speech, and learning which prepositions go with which words is a real trial for those who must learn the language from scratch. They are important, though, because a good deal of the history of the English language has involved replacing inflections with prepositions.

Genitives. An increasingly important post-modifying PP is the of-genitive. This replaces a premodifying possessive NP:

(1) his mother's nose ==> the nose of his mother
Use of the of-genitive has been growing, perhaps as part of the general loss of inflections in English over the years. It is more apt to be used with non-human nouns, but that is a tendency rather than a rule. It is particularly justified with plural possessives, where the combination of -s endings can be hard to hear, so that it is easier to distinguish sentence (1) from sentence (2) than from sentence (3):
(2) The ghoul's teeth were sharp. (one ghoul)
(3) The teeth of the ghouls were sharp. (many ghouls)
(4) The ghouls' teeth were sharp. (many ghouls)
The prepositional phrase is also a way of avoiding the so-called group genitive, in which the possessive apostrophe ('s) is attached to a postmodifying phrase. The group genitive is a very old construction in English, but it is sometimes felt to be awkward, and we may prefer at least the first of the two following substitutions:
(4) the car in the driveway's front bumper ==> the front bumper of the car in the driveway
(5) the Queen of England's nose ==> the nose of the Queen of England.

The so-called double genitive is also very old in English, but it has not attained quite the same level of respectability. In this structure, the NP object of of is itself in the possessive case or it consists of an independent possessive personal pronoun:

(6) This whim of George's was unsettling.
(7) He was a friend of my mother's.
(8) She was a friend of mine.
(9) This whim of yours is unsettling.
Such constructions are condemned in some handbooks and accepted in others. It may contribute to clarity on occasion; in any case, it is hardly worth avoiding in anything but very formal prose.

Prepositions or Adverbs? A great many prepositions which are used to head prepositional phrases serving as place adverbials are also used by themselves as place adverbs. In the pairs below, the underlined words are used first as adverbs and then as the heads of prepositional phrases:

(10) (a) He put his guns down.
(b) He walked slowly down the road.
(11) (a) We walked outside.
(b) We walked outside the house.
(12) (a) He struggled up.
(b) He struggled up the mountain.
Impressed by such dual uses, some analysts would suggest that these "adverbs" are just intransitive prepositions--that is, prepositions which take no complement.

Prepositions or Conjunctions?. In the same way, many prepositions which head prepositional phrases serving as time adverbials are also used as subordinators or subordinate conjunctions to introduce adverbial clauses of time. Some analysts would suggest that the subordinate clauses in such cases are clausal complements in a prepositional phrase. In the pairs below, the first sentence has a traditional prepositional phrase with a noun phrase complement; the second sentence has a subordinate clause which could be interpreted as a prepositional phrase with a clause as its complement:

(13) (a) He kissed her after the dance.
(b) He kissed her after I did.
(14) (a) She was nervous before the game.
(b) She was nervous before the game started.
(15) (a) We have been waiting since noon.
(b) We have been waiting since she left.
(16) (a) We will wait until noon.
(b) We will wait until she returns.

Echoing our treatment of those verbs which can be used both in transitive and intransitive predicates--that is, with or without direct objects--such analyses suggest we are dealing with the a case in which the same word, with the same basic meaning, can serve more than one kind of function in a sentence. This is very tempting, but it is so distant from traditional school handbook grammar, that adopting it can result in communication problems with those accustomed to that grammar. We will continue, therefore, to call up an adverb when it is acting by itself and a preposition, when it has an noun phrase complement or, as in sentence (17), another prepositional phrase as its complement:

(17) We went up into the attic.
By the same token, we'll call since a preposition when it takes a noun phrase complement and a subordinating conjunction when it introduces a subordinate clause.

One possible source of confusion in this approach are stranded prepositions, prepositions which have lost their noun phrase complement, as through WH-MOVEMENT, leaving the preposition all alone at the end of a clause:

(18) What are you complaining about?
(19) This is the predicament which I find myself in.
(20) ?Who am I speaking to?

Traditional prescriptive grammars once frowned on stranded prepositions, not unreasonably, given that the separation of preposition and complement can make the structure a little harder for the listener or reader. And we could, after, all move the prepositions with their complement:

(21) About what are you complaining?
(22) This the predicament in which I find myself.
(23) To whom am I speaking?
These alternatives are certainly more "correct" and more formal. Whether they are "better" depends on one's individual ear. I find it hard to imagine using sentence (21) even in writing, but I might prefer sentence(22) to sentence (19) even in speech. I would certainly use sentence (20) in speech in preference to either sentence (23) or the compromise version, sentence (24) below, but in a formal writing situation I might correct myself as far as (23).
(24) Whom am I speaking to?

How Much of This Will be on the Test?
This section has looked further into the wonderful word of prepositions. Its most practical portions dealt with genitive expressions, particularly the of-genitive. You should also know the meaning of double genitive and group genitive. Stranded prepositions is less important as a term, but you should be familiar with the phenomenon and its causes. The notion that some "adverbs" or "subordinators" are really just intransitive prepositions will not be on the test.