The power of thought for a moment.They agreed to his proposal independently of each other
Prepositions may be single words, e.g. in, for, below, behind,
across, inside, within, etc., and also phrases consisting of more
than one word, e.g. because of, thanks to, due to, in front of, ow-
ing to, but for, etc. Besides, there are a large number of combina-
tions in English based on the pattern preposition + noun + preposi-
tion(e.g. in addition to, on top of, on account of, in view of, in
accordance with, in contrast with, with respect to, etc.). They are on
the way to becoming prepositions.
Note. Some ing-forms are also used as prepositions, e.g. concerning, including, etc.
§ 2. Prepositions may have a lexical meaning of their own.
e.g. Her sister appeared, carrying a wine-glass in which there was
a raw egg, witha little sherry onit.
Thepath felt springy beneathhis feet.
He dropped intoa chair besidehis mother.
She arrived beforelunch.
Prepositions may indicate position in space or direction (e.g.
on, in, under, over, at, near, to, into, out of, from, towards, etc.),
time (e.g. after, before, during, for, in, on, at, etc.), various ab-
stract relations (e.g. by, with, at, on, for, against, because of, in-
stead of, owing to, according to, etc.).
Most prepositions are polysemantic.
e.g. I've been here fortwo weeks.
He's brought a letter foryou.
Did you pay him forhis work?
I was punished formy little joke.
They went out fora walk.
They sent fora doctor.
The letters MP stand forMember of Parliament.
But the meaning of prepositions is often weakened and some-
times becomes even difficult to trace.
e.g. There is a man waiting foryou in your office.
The success of the operation depends entirely onyour consent.
Who is responsible forthis decision?
There is nothing wrong withhim.
§ 3. The choice of prepositions is determined by different fac-
tors. Sometimes it is quite free, i.e. it entirely depends on the
meaning the speaker wishes to convey.
e.g. There was a photograph of a young girl onhis desk.
There was a photograph of a young girl in his desk.
There was a photograph of a young girl over his desk.
There was a photograph of a young girl under his desk.
But more often the choice of the preposition is determined by
the head-word.
e.g. No one could account for his objection toour plan.
He should be ashamed ofhimself.
You shouldn't rely onhim.
Who is going to look after your children while you are away?
Your brother was cruel tohim.
I've been dependent onboth of you so long.
She was treated fordiabetes.
He was proud ofhis elder son.
Everyone is conscious ofthe change in the man.
He is quite good atpainting.
There is no point inarguing.
It is in this case that the meaning of the preposition often be-
comes weakened.
The choice of the preposition may also depend on the noun
that follows the preposition.
e.g. Who was the first to speak at themeeting?
He went there on business.
He isnow on a concert tourin Europe.
I'm planning to finish it in February.
He woke up at 8 o'clock.
We discussed it in detail.
No one could help him under the circumstances.
Inthis case the preposition and the noun often become set
phrases (e.g. in the evening, at dawn, by day, by taxi, etc.). The
meaning of the preposition is also weakened here.
§ 4. Although prepositions serve to express various relations
between the noun (or noun-equivalent) following it and other
words in the sentence, they sometimes get separated from the
noun (or noun-equivalent). This occurs in:
a) special questions,
e.g. What are you looking for?
Who(m) did you speak with?
What conclusion did you come to?
b) certain subordinate clauses,
e.g. What he is waiting foris not likely to happen.
That is what he wanted to begin with.
Iknow who(m) he is worried about.
I'm expecting a letter my plans for the future depend on.
c) certain passive constructions,
e.g. He loved the dogs and they were taken good care of.
They found him so ill that a doctor was immediately sent for.
His marriage was very much talked about.
d) certain functions of the infinitive or infinitive phrase,
e.g. He hated to be made fun of.
When he retired he went to live in Dorset, in a charming
place his wife had bought for him to retire to.
You have a lot to be thankful for.
You've done nothing to be ashamed of.
There is nothing more to worry about.
Sometimes one and the same noun is associated with two or
more different prepositions. The noun itself need not be repeated
after each preposition and is usually placed after the last one.
e.g. It is a book forand about children.
The pronoun much is used ofand with uncountable nouns.
He cared forand looked after his ageing mother.
Itfollows from the above examples that the prepositions in
this case are retained by the preceding head-word.
§ 5. The prepositions of, by and to may become entirely devoid
of lexical meaning and serve to express mere grammatical rela-
tions. This occurs in the following constructions:
e.g. Anne was the wife ofa miner.
They were followed by their two daughters.
They offered the job toHawkins.
The prepositions are said to be grammaticalizedin this case.
CONJUNCTIONS
§ 1. Conjunctions are structural words that serve to connect
words or phrases as well as clauses or sentences (see the examples
below).
Conjunctions may be single words (e.g. and, as, because, but,
or, though, while, etc.)> phrases consisting of more than one word
(e.g. in order that, on condition (that), in case, as soon as, as
long as, for fear (that), as if, as though, etc.) and also correlative
conjunctions, i.e. conjunctions that are always used in pairs (e.g.
as...as, both.,.and, either...or, not only...but also, etc.).
Note. Some ing-forms and participles are also used as conjunctions (e.g. suppos-
ing, seeing, given (= on condition, if), providing or provided).
§ 2. Conjunctions have a lexical meaning of their own.
e.g. He came to see me because he felt happy.
He came to see me thoughhe felt happy.
He came to see me whenhe felt happy.
He came to see me if he felt happy.
Note. The lexical meaning of the conjunction that is vague. It serves to intro-
duce different kinds of clauses.
e.g. That Iwas not going to be popular with the other children soon became clear to
my parents, {subject clause)
The probability is that he refused to cooperate, (predicative clause)
He believed thathis father was an innocent man. (object clause)
I was sure thatmany would follow his example, (object clause)
My father then sold everything thathe might have the money for my educa-
tion, (adverbial clause of purpose)
He was so shabby thatno decent landlady would take him in. (adverbial clause
of result)
He agreed with the assertion thathis results fell short of the requirements.
(appositive clause).
§ 3.According to their role in the sentence, conjunctions fall
into two groups: coordinating conjunctions(e.g. accordingly, and,
besides, both...and, but, either,..or, hence, likewise, moreover, never-
theless, or, still, therefore, yet, etc.) and subordinating conjunctions
(e.g. after, as, as,..as, as long as, because, before, if, since, so that,
than, that, though, unless, until, when, whether, etc.).
Coordinating conjunctions connect words, phrases, clauses, or
sentences which are independent of each other.
e.g. His light-brown hair was fine and thick.
She took a piece of cake and a cup of tea.
She flung the door open and entered.
She felt jealous because there was someone who knew what
was so closely connected with her father and what she
herself had not known.