PREPOSITIONS

The preposition is a word that indicates the relation between its complement ( generally a
noun phrase) and some other word in the sentence. This other word can be a noun , an
adjective, an adverb or a verb. Consider the following sentences.

1- The owner of the shop.

2- They are good at grammar.
3- She did it independently of them.
4- She looked after the children.

It should be noted that a preposition is a word that requires a complement. The prototypical
complement of the preposition is a noun phrase ,NP for short. A noun phrase is a pronoun ,
a noun alone or expanded.The preposition and its complement form a constituent called
“the prepositional phrase ,or PP for short.

1- They are talking [PP about him ] -------à The complement of the preposition “about”
is the pronoun “him”.
2- They are talking [PP about John] -------à The complement of the preposition “about”
is the noun “John”.
3- They are talking [PP about the young man who won the prize] -------à The
complement of the preposition “about” is the noun phrase “ the young man who
won the prize”
Sometimes the complement of a preposition is a clause. Consider the following
examples.
4- They are interested [PP in what she said] .
5- John is fond [PP of playing football ] .

EXCEPTIONALLY, an adjective or an adverb may function as complement of the

preposition:

PREPOSITION + ADJECTIVE >>>> In brief, at worst, at least..

PREPOSITION + ADVERB >>>>>> At once , until now, in there..

A prepositional phrase,or PP for short can itself be the complement of a

preposition:
6- He looked out [PP from under the table] .( The PP “Under the table “ is
complement of the preposition “ from”.

A preposition can be one word (single preposition) or more than one word (a
complex preposition) :

SINGLE PREPOSITIONS: in, on, to, before, at, after….

COMPLEX PREPOSITIONS: save for, instead of, in case of, instead of…
 EX: It is a good book [PP save for the last chapter].

In English the preposition generally precedes its complement. (At home) we say and not
(*home at).Departures from this order arise in non-basic constructions, such as relative ,
interrogative and exclamative clauses, where the complement of the preposition is moved
to clause initial position leaving the preposition stranded on its own.

7- The girl (whom I talked to) is Spanish. ”Whom” is complement of the prep “to”.
8- What are you talking about ? “What” is complement of the preposition “about”.
9- What a mess we are into ! “ What a mess” is complement of the preposition
“into”