MODUL FIFTEEN (EACLS)

MODUL FIFTEEN

THE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

1. PREPOSITION AND THE PPOSITIONAL PHRASE (PP)

1. INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

In a prepositional phrase (PP), the relation between the preposition and the nominal unit that follows it does not center on a head. A part of PP if there is no preposition . Both are equally necessary to from the phrase; both have equal grammatical status . For this reason we refer to the unit consisting of a preposition, its complement and an optional modifier as a 'prepositional phrase'(PP).

Here is the sentences which illustrates the abundant use of prepositional phrases in English

• She works from morning to night
• He makes a living by teaching
• Shalley was shot by jackson with a pistol.
  (SAR,1986)

2. FEATURES OF THE PREPORITIONAL PHRASE
   The meaning of preposition are either lexical and 'free', or grammaticised and 'bound'. Grammaticised uses of prepositions are those which are controlled by a verb, adjective or noun , as happens in obsessed with,talk to us, kind to animals, cases of cruelly.

What's it belong to? ('what' function as complement of belong to)

• Which words do you refer to? (to which words do you refer to)

( Look Ahead Book 3)

3. ONE-WORD, TWO-WORD AND MULTI-WORD PREPOSITIONS
   Preposition may be ' simple' (consisting of a single word) or 'complex' (consisting of two words there)

• One-word prepositions
  The short, simple forms are by far commonest,such as:

about,across,after,around,as,at,by,down,for,from,etc.

Other one-word preposition include:

above,against,beneath,besides,below,during,inside,throughout,considering,etc.

• Two-word prepositions
  These consist of a prepositions (e.g.except), an adjective,an adverb,or a conjunction, followed by one of the prepositions for,form,of,to,with:

• for : as for, except for, but for.
• From: apart from, away from, as from
• of: ahead of, because of, inclusive
• to: according to, because of, etc.
• with: together with, along with.
. Three-word prepositions

These usual have the form prep+noun+prep(e.g. In conflict with), with the noun sometimes being determined by the( e.g. In the hands of).

As far as, as well as, by means of, by way of, in aid of, in charge of, in view of, in return for, in exchange for, in spite of,etc.

• Adjectival and adverbial groups
  Nouns, pronouns and Ngs are by far the most common realisation of the prepositional complement. By contrast, the use of AdjGs and AdvGs as complements in infrequent and limited to certain set expressions such as at last , for good, for ever, as in:
  At last he die!
  I love him for ever , he is great person
  (Look Ahead Book 3)
• Wh-clauses
  The only type of finite clause admissible is the wh-clause, and the only non-finite type the-ing clause.
• Use of -ing clauses
  Most of other prepositions likewise take the-ing form , as this is the most nominal among clauses:
  He went to Bali for spending his holiday.
  She finally found the way, by following the guiders.
  (SAR,1986)

5. REALITIONS OF THE MODIFIER ELEMENT
   Like nouns,adjectives,and adverbs , prepositions can also be modified. As already the modifier tends to modify the propositions, thought, as we have mentioned, it sometimes appears to modify the relationship expressed the prepositions + complement , foe instance, in the case of directional modifiers.

• Grading modifiers- more,less, for more, much less, the most, the least , in the least.

Ane has checked out from the hospital , she seemed more fresh like whats she looks like before

(Look Ahead Books 3)a

• Intensifying modifiers- completely, directly, right,well,all,absolutely,greatly.

John talks directly to Ane

(Look Ahead Book 3)

• Directional modifiers- up,out,down,over.
  She climb fast up to the hill
  (SAR,1986)
• Attenuating modifiers- partly, scarcely, not fully, to some extant, slightly,a little.

I feel a little bit confuse with my choice

(Look Ahead Book 3)

• Quantifying modifiers- a long time, not that much, miles, two hours, way back.
  John walks miles away to his house
  (Look Ahead Book 3)
• Descriptive or attitudinal modifiers- surprisingly, hopelessly, dangerously.
  It was unexpectedly situation
  (SAR,1986)

2. SYNTATIC FUCTION OF THE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

1. THE GRAMMATICAL ROLE OF PREPOSITIONS
   The grammatical role of prepositions is to express a variety of syntactic and semantic relationships between nominal entities and

• other nominals(the bridge over the river)
• verbs(he run into the room)
• clauses(support for raising the subscription)
• adjectives ( angry at his refusal)
• adverbs ( up to the top)

2. SYNTATIC FUNCTIONS OF PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES
   Pps can realise up to fourteen syntactic functions as constituent of groups, of clauses or outside clauses. They share the functions with other classes of unit and are therefore mentioned again in the sections below.

1. Pps embedded as elements of groups

• (post-)modifier in NG The student over the class, sit on the ground
• complement in NG Mr. Tama is a teacher of economic subject.
• (Pre-)modifier in NG Off-the road comment should not be printed in a newspaper
• complement in Adjg Sam ias good at mathematic
• complement in AdvG They don't stand far from their desk
• complement in PP I'm free all day except saturday

An important feature of Pps is to be embedded recursively in other Pps in groups

• A bus accident ( on the bus way(to Batu)
• As connective adjuncts
  In that case, you have to be wise.

3. CLASES OF WORDS WITH THE SAME FROM AS PREPOSITIONS

1. Prepositions and verbs
   The following participial forms can functions either as prepositions or as verbs: barring, considering, excluding,following,etc.
2. Prepositions and conjunctions
   Prepositions may be followed by finite wh-clauses and by non-finite clause in -ing ,since these have nominal reference.

3. Prepositions and adverbs
   Both prepositions and adverbs express, typically, circumstantial meanings, especially those of space and time. It is not surprising, therefore, that some words can realisefunctions of both classes.
   Here are some structural criteria for distinguishing prepositions from adverb:

• A preposition- but not and adverb-requires a nominal complement, and when this is a pronoun, the preposition govern its case (for him, to them)
• In paired examples such as We went into the cafe
• the adverb is heavily stressed, whereas the prepositions is normally unstressed .

In the following examples , both the adverb and the PP are functioning as Adjuncts or locative complements

There always two man aboard (adverb) the bus

All student were running around(adverb) the hall

The last time I met Rani was in last week, but I haven't seen her since(adverb) then.

(SAR,1986)

3. SEMANTIC FEATURES OF THE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

1. TWO TYPES OF PREPOSITIONAL MEANINGS
   Prepositional meanings can be divided into two broad types

• those in which the choice of prepositions is determined by the verb, noun or adjective preceding it, and
• those in which a preposition is chosen freely in accordance with thd speaker's intentions.

We noticed that nouns which take propositional complement, as in following examples

• nouns: compatibility with, reliance on, damaged to, etc.
• adjs: compatible with, opposed to, etc.
• verbs: to rely on, to dispose of, etc.

2. LEXICAL PREPOSITIONAL MEANINGS