Prepositions and Adjectives in English Grammar

Posted on May 9, 2024 in English

Prepositions

What are prepositions and their function?

Prepositions are words that connect two units in a sentence and specify a relationship between them. One unit is the prepositional complement, which can be a noun, noun phrase, pronoun, -ing form, or a wh-clause. The other unit is another part of the sentence.

Examples of prepositional complements:

Preposition + Noun: I prepared the dinner for Mary.
Preposition + Pronoun: I showed it to her.
Preposition + Gerund: Jack prepared his bike for riding.
Preposition + Wh-clause: Listen to what she says.

Types of Prepositions

Prepositions can be simple or compound.

Simple prepositions consist of single words, such as at, from, into, of.
Compound prepositions include two or more words, such as according to, apart from, because of.

Examples:

Simple preposition: I have dinner at 7 o’clock.
Compound preposition: We answer the question according to the book.

Prepositions and Adverb Particles

Some words can function as both prepositions and adverb particles.

Preposition: When followed by a noun or pronoun (e.g., We drove around the city).
Adverb particle: When there is no noun or pronoun following them (e.g., We drove around).

Examples of words that can be both prepositions and adverb particles: about, above, across, after, along, around, before, behind, below, beneath, beyond, by, down, in, inside, near, off, on, opposite, outside, over, past, round, through, under, underneath, up, without.

Examples of words used only as prepositions: against, at, beside, despite, during, except, for, from, into, of, onto, per, since, till/until, to, toward(s), upon, via, with, and prepositions ending in -ing such as excepting, regarding.

Examples of words used only as adverb particles: away, back, backward(s), downward(s), forwards, out, upward(s).

Prepositions and Conjunctions

Some words can function as prepositions or conjunctions depending on the following word.

Preposition: When followed by a noun phrase (e.g., I have met her since high school).
Conjunction: When followed by a clause (e.g., I have met her since we were in high school).

Examples of words that can be both prepositions and conjunctions: as well as, than, except, but, until/till, before/after.

Prepositions of Space

Prepositions of space indicate position or direction.

Position

Position refers to a location in relation to a point, line, surface, or area/volume.

Point: at the cinema, at a party, to/from London
Line: across/along the border
Surface: off/on the table/floor/wall
Area/Volume: in/out of/outside/within a room/a car/a forest/a ship

Direction

Direction refers to the way something or someone moves.

Examples of prepositions of direction: into, onto, out of, off, to, from, against, by, over, under, through, past

Differences between “to” and “towards”

To: Indicates movement with arrival at a destination (e.g., My neighbors went to the North).
Towards: Expresses movement without completion (e.g., My neighbors went towards the North).

Differences between “in/into/inside”

Into: Reflects movement (e.g., I’ll put the coin into my pocket).
In: Reflects position (e.g., I’ll meet you in the restaurant).
Inside: Can replace “in” when referring to enclosed spaces (e.g., I’ll meet you inside the restaurant).

Differences between “out of/outside”

Out of: Opposite of “into” for movement or “in” for position (e.g., She jumped out of the car; John is out of the house).
Outside: Can sometimes replace “out of” for movement or indicate a location just outside something (e.g., She jumped outside the car; She is outside the house).

Prepositions of Time

Time Position

At: Used for points in time (e.g., I have a meeting at 7 o’clock).
In: Used for periods of time (e.g., In the morning, I get up to go to school).
On: Used for days and dates (e.g., The meeting is on Tuesday; On his arrival, the president held a press conference).

Time Duration

For, throughout, all through: Indicate the length of time something lasts (e.g., I went to visit my parents for the holidays).
By, before, from, after, since, till, until, up to: Indicate the starting or ending point of a duration (e.g., He will come home by Sunday).

Differences between “during” and “for”

During: Refers to a general period of time (e.g., I played the guitar during the holidays).
For: Refers to a specific period of time (e.g., I played the guitar for a week).

Omission of Prepositions

Prepositions can be omitted in certain cases, such as in questions and answers about time or with words like last, next, this, that.

Collocations

Collocations are groups of words that commonly occur together (e.g., completely satisfied, excruciating pain, alarm clock).

Adjectives

What are adjectives?

Adjectives describe nouns and provide information about qualities, size, age, temperature, shape, color, origin, etc.

Characteristics of Adjectives

Attributive position: Placed before a noun (e.g., a pleasant company).
Predicative position: Used as a subject complement (e.g., The company was pleasant).
Intensification: Can be modified by intensifiers like “very” (e.g., The company was very pleasant).
Comparison: Can take comparative and superlative forms (e.g., happier, happiest).

Gradability

Gradability refers to the ability of an adjective to express different degrees of a quality (e.g., very long road, very short road).

Central and Peripheral Adjectives

Central adjectives: Can be used in both attributive and predicative positions (e.g., dull, tedious).
Peripheral adjectives: Can only be used in one position (e.g., outdoor, alone).

Postposition of Adjectives

Adjectives can sometimes be placed after the noun they modify, often as a reduced relative clause (e.g., something useful).

Participial Adjectives

Participial adjectives have the same suffixes as present or past participles (-ing, -ed) and can be used in attributive or predicative positions (e.g., surprising views, the offended man).

Adjectives as Noun Phrase Heads

Adjectives can function as the head of a noun phrase, usually with the definite article “the” and referring to groups of people (e.g., the brave, the young, the British).

Order of Adjectives

When multiple adjectives modify a noun, they follow a specific order based on their semantic categories (e.g., a valuable small heavy old round green French wooden dining handmade table).

Comparison of Adjectives

Adjectives can be compared to a higher, same, or lower degree using comparative and superlative forms.

Irregular Comparison

Some adjectives have irregular comparative and superlative forms (e.g., good/better/best, bad/worse/worst, far/farther/farthest).

Choice between Inflectional and Periphrastic Comparison

The choice between using inflections (-er, -est) or periphrastic forms (more, most) depends on the number of syllables in the adjective and its structure.