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English prepositions are words – such as of, in, on, at, from, etc. – that function as the head of a prepositional phrase, and most characteristically license a noun phrase object (e.g., in the water). [1] Semantically, they most typically denote relations in space and time. [2] Morphologically, they are usually simple and do not inflect. [1]
The following are single-word prepositions that take clauses as complements. Prepositions marked with an asterisk in this section can only take non-finite clauses as complements. Note that dictionaries and grammars informed by concepts from traditional grammar may categorize these conjunctive prepositions as subordinating conjunctions.
In English, objects and complements nearly always come after the verb; a direct object precedes other complements such as prepositional phrases, but if there is an indirect object as well, expressed without a preposition, then that precedes the direct object: give me the book, but give the book to me.
John's book was on the table. The pages of the book turned yellow. The table is made out of wood. Whose? From what or what of? Roughly corresponds to English's possessive (possessive determiners and pronouns) and preposition of construction. Case Indicates Sample case words Sample sentence Interrogative Notes Vocative: Addressee John John, are ...
In Koine Greek, for example, certain prepositions always take their objects in a certain case (e.g., ἐν always takes its object in the dative), while other prepositions may take their object in one of two or more cases, depending on the meaning of the preposition (e.g., διά takes its object in the genitive or the accusative, depending on ...
Steven Pinker explored this question in a popular science format in a 2007 book on language and cognition, using a widely publicized example from a speech by a U.S. president. [6] A 2003 speech by George W. Bush included the line, "British Intelligence has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
[9] Many examples of terminal prepositions occur in classic works of literature, including the plays of Shakespeare. [5] The saying "This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put" [10] [5] satirizes the awkwardness that can result from prohibiting sentence-ending prepositions. Misconception: Infinitives must not be split.
For example, in English, prepositions govern the objective (or accusative) case, and so do verbs. In German, prepositions can govern the genitive, dative, or accusative, and none of these cases are exclusively associated with prepositions. Sindhi is a language which can be said to have a postpositional case. Nominals in Sindhi can take a ...