Prepositional Word

A Prepositional Word is an adposition word that introduces a Prepositional Phrase.

• AKA: P, PP.
• Context:
  • If it is followed by a Noun Head Word then it is a Prepositional Head Word and the NP is internal to the PP.
  • It can (typically) be placed before the modifying concept.
  • It can be a member of a Prepositional Phrase, a preposition along with its modifier.
  • It can be an Inflected Preposition (though not in English).
    • E.g. “conmigo” ← “con mi -go”, a Spanish Word (~ "with me").
  • It can have a Prepositional Pronoun as its object.
  • It can be a Compound Preposition.
• Example(s):
  • “above”, “below”.
  • “to”
  • “on”
  • “with”
    • “I ate with Mary].”
    • “John spoke [with] me” (where me is a Prepositional Pronoun).
    • “Juan habla [conmigo]”, an Inflected Preposition.
    • “I saw the man [with] a telescope”.
  • “by”
  • “among(st)”
  • “from”
  • “until”
  • “in keeping with”, a Compound Preposition.
  • BESIDE_PREP_2, WITH_PREP_2, TO_PREP_1, BY_PREP_2, IN_PREP_1, ...
  • …
• Counter-Example(s):
  • a Postpositional Word.
• See: Determiner, Function Base Word.

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References

• http://www.clres.com/prepositions.html

2009

• (WordNet, 2009) ⇒ http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=preposition
  • S: (n) preposition (a function word that combines with a noun or pronoun or noun phrase to form a prepositional phrase that can have an adverbial or adjectival relation to some other word)
  • S: (n) preposition ((linguistics) the placing of one linguistic element before another (as placing a modifier before the word it modifies in a sentence or placing an affix before the base to which it is attached))
• http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/preposition
  • Noun
    • 1. (grammar): A closed class of non-inflecting words typically employed to connect a noun or a pronoun, in an adjectival or adverbial sense, with some other word; a particle used with a noun or pronoun (in English always in the objective case) to make a phrase limiting some other word; — so called because it is usually placed before the word with which it is phrased; as, a bridge of iron; he comes from town; it is good for food; he escaped by running. Prepositions are a heterogeneous class of words in some languages, with fuzzy boundaries that tend to overlap with other categories (like adverbs, adjectives, and conjunctions).
    • 2. (obsolete) A proposition; an exposition; a discourse. He made a long preposition and oration — Fabyan.
• (Wikipedia, 2009) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preposition
  • In grammar, a preposition is a part of speech that introduces a prepositional phrase. For example, in the sentence "The cat sleeps on the sofa", the word "on" is a preposition, introducing the prepositional phrase "on the sofa". In English, the most used prepositions are "of", "to", "in", "for", "with" and "on". Simply put, a preposition indicates a relation between things mentioned in a sentence.
  • Linguists sometimes distinguish between a preposition, which precedes its phrase, a postposition, which follows its phrase, and as a rare case a circumposition, which surrounds its phrase. Taken together, these three parts of speech are called adpositions. In more technical language, an adposition is an element that, prototypically, combines syntactically with a phrase and indicates how that phrase should be interpreted in the surrounding context. Some linguists use the word "preposition" instead of "adposition" for all three cases. [1]
  • In linguistics, adpositions are considered to be members of the syntactic category "P". "PPs",[2] consisting of an adpositional head and its complement phrase, are used for a wide range of syntactic and semantic functions, most commonly modification and complementation. The following examples illustrate some uses of English prepositional phrases:
    • as a modifier to a verb
      • sleep throughout the winter
      • danced atop the tables for hours
    • as a modifier to a noun
      • the weather in April
      • cheeses from France with live bacteria
    • as the complement of a verb
      • insist on staying home
      • dispose of unwanted items
    • as the complement of a noun
      • a thirst for revenge
      • an amendment to the constitution
    • as the complement of an adjective or adverb
      • attentive to their needs
      • separately from its neighbors
    • as the complement of another preposition
      • until after supper
      • from beineath the bed
  • Adpositions perform many of the same functions as case markings, but adpositions are syntactic elements, while case markings are morphological elements.

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