• UNIVERSITY « GOCE DELCEV »

STIP
FACULTY OF PHILOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

MORPHOLOGY 2 – LECTURE 12
M.A. Snezana Kirova

01
 PREPOSITIONS
In the most general terms, a preposition
expresses a relationship in space
between one thing and another, and a
relationship in time between events. A
preposition is a word which relates a
noun or noun equivalent to some other
word in the sentence, as in ex. (1):
(1)The flower in the vase.
The preposition in shows the relationship
between flower and vase.
 (2) The doll on the bed.
The preposition on shows the relationship
between the words doll and bed.
We can use other prepositions with these
words and they will show other
relationships, as in ex. (3):
(3) a) The doll under the bed.
b) The doll by the bed.
c) The doll in front of the bed.
The word which the preposition governs is
its object. The preposition and its object
form a prepositional phrase. The
prepositional phrase modifies the word to
which its object is related. In ex. (3a) the
prepositional phrase is the same as in ex.
(4):
(4) under the bed
It modifies the word doll, that is, it shows
which doll. Ex. (5):
(5) The girl went to school. (prep. phrase)
Prepositions may consist of one word, as in
ex. (6):
(6) in, on, after, since, for, by, down, up;
Or they may consist of more then one word,
as in ex. (7):
(7) Along with, apart from, except for,
owing to, in comparison with, by means
of, in the light of
 Some prepositions are called group
prepositions. The group prepositions may
be analyzed into their components, as in ex.
(8):
(8) The girl in front of the house is my sister.
Where the group preposition is in front of. In
it, the preposition in has the object front. But
group prepositions function as units.
Some group (phrasal) prepositions are simply
two prepositions combined to produce a third
meaning, as in i:
 i. along with but for
up to out of
Many of the group (phrasal) prepositions are
combinations of other parts of speech
with prepositions, as in ii:
ii. According to in place of
Because of in spite of
In accordance with instead of
In connection with in regard t
In front of on top of
 In the examples given above (ex. 1-8),
objects of prepositions are nouns, as well
as in ex. (9):
(9) The man in the car.
Other words, of course, can also be objects
of prepositions:
A: Pronouns
(10) He spoke to me.
(11) We have not heard from him.
• B. Verbs
• -ing forms
• (12) He left without saying good-bye.
• (13) Since going back to England Sheila
has forgotten her friends abroad.
• (14) He succeeded in opening the
parachute.
• Infinitive
• (15) What would you like to do
besides eat?
• a clause
• (16) He borrowed money from
whoever was willing to lend.
• Position of prepositions
• The preposition usually precedes its
object.
• (17) The woman in the garden
• But there are some cases when the
preposition comes at the end of the
sentence:
• A. When the object of the preposition is
an interrogative pronoun, as in ex: (18)
• (18) a) Who are you looking at?
• b) Who are you fighting for?
• c) Where do you come from?
• (B) In clauses beginning with that or what,
as in ex. (19):
• (19) a) This is the film (that) I was talking
about.
• b) This is what I cannot look after.
• (what cannot be omitted)
• C. In the Passive
• (20) a) The TV could not be turned off.
• b) The bed has been slept in.
• Functions and meaning of
Prepositional Phrases
• The prepositional phrase may be used in
the function of:
• A. Noun modifier (then it usually follows
the noun)
• (21) a) The lion in the cage.
• b) A person of great
importance.
• c) A man of great wealth.
• In this function, the prepositional
phrase may be substituted by a single
word, as in ex. (22):
• (22) a) The caged lion.
• b) A very important person.
• c) A very wealthy man.
• B. The prepositional phrase may have
adverbial function. Then it modifies
adjectives and adverbs, as in ex. (23):
• (23) a) (verb modifier) He was looking at the
park.
• b) (adj. modifier) She is afraid of ghosts.
• c) (adv. modifier) Luckily for her nobody
recognized her.
• C. The prepositional phrase may modify
clauses and sentences, as in ex. (24):
• (24) a) In truth, we couldn’t come.
• b) For the most part Mary was a very
good friend.
• Prepositions and prepositional adverbs
• A prepositional adverb is a particle
which shares the form, but not the
syntactic status of a preposition. It is
capable of standing alone, i.e. without the
addition of a prepositional complement, as
in ex. (25):
• (25) a) A car drove past the door. (past is
preposition)
• b) A car drove past. (past is a
prepositional adverb)
• The following is a list of (simple)
prepositional adverbs:
• (26) about, above, across, after, along,
before, behind, below, beneath, below,
beneath, besides, beyond, in, inside,
near, off, on, opposite, over, outside,
past, round, since, through,
throughout, under, up, within, without.
Illustrations of a particle with different
syntactic status:
(27) a) She climbed up the rope.
(preposition)
b) She went up in the lift. (adverb)
(28) a) She ran along the passage.
(preposition)
b) Come along: we’re already
late. (adverb)
These prepositions/adverbs and some
other prepositions and adverbs are often
placed after certain verbs so as to give
these verbs a variety of meanings, as in
ex. (29). When such combinations are
followed by a verb object, the gerund
form of the verb must be used, as in ex.
(30):
(29) His plans fell through = ‘came to
nothing’
(30) He gave up trying = ‘stopped trying’
 PHRASAL VERBS
In modern English it is very usual to
place prepositions or adverbs after
certain verbs so as to obtain a variety
of meanings, as in ex. (1):
(1)a) look for = search for, seek
look out = beware
look after = take care of
b) Give up = abandon (a habit or
attempt)
give away = give to someone/
anyone
give out = fail
give up = 1. surrender
2. renounce, stop
give in = yield
c) Set about = begin to
set up = establish
set out = expose to view
set on = attack
set to = begin
It is important to learn whether the
combination is transitive (i.e. requires an
object) or intransitive (i.e. cannot have an
object). Look for is transitive as in ex. (2):

(2) I’m looking for my passport

Look out is intransitive as in ex. (3):
(3) Look out! This ice isn’t safe.
Note that it is possible for a combination to
have two or more different meanings, and to
be transitive in one of these and intransitive

05
in others: e.g. take off can mean ‘remove’. It
is then a transitive expression, as in ex. (4):
(4) He took off his hat.
Take off can also mean ‘rise from the ground’
(used of aircraft). Here it is intransitive, ex.
(5):
(5) The plane took off at ten o’clock.
Verbs in English may consist of one word
or more that one word:

a) Verbs consisting of one word, ex. (6):

(6) wash, smile, play, write, etc.

b) Verbs consisting of more words, ex. (7):

(7) Look for, look out, look after, take off,
turn on, turn off, etc.
Verbs consisting of more words have
some common characteristics:
I The combinations of a verb + one or
more other words function as units.
II The components of such combinations
may not follow directly one after another.
III They may have lexical meaning quite
different from that of the components. We
cannot always deduce their meaning from
that of the components as in ex. (8):
(8) Give up, get up, get on, get along, etc.
This kind of more than one word verbs
which function as a unit has 3 different types
of verbs:

A. THE PREPOSITIONAL VERBS

B. THE PHRASAL VERBS
C. THE PREPOSITIONAL – PHRASAL
VERBS
THE PREPOSITIONAL VERBS
These three types are distinguished according to
the following criteria:
i. Position of object: if the object of the
phrasal verb is a pronoun it must be placed
between the phrasal verb and its particle. If
the object is a noun it may have either
position, that is, it may be put either
between the verb and the particle or after
the particle, as in ex. (9):
(9) a) she turned off the light. (object, noun)
b) she turned the light off.
But:
c) she turned it off. (pronoun)
(10) a) take off your hat.
b) take your hat off.
But:
c) take it off.
(11) a) put on your coat.
b) put your coat on.
But:
c) put it on.
(12) a) the boy knocked over the ornament
b) the boy knocked the ornament over.
But:
c) he knocked it over.
In the case of a prepositional verb the object
nominal or pronominal follows the particle,
as in ex. (13):
(13) a) she turned off the road.
(prepositional verbs)
b) she turned off it.
(14) a) she looked after her father.
b) she looked after him.
Sometimes the same verbs can be either
prepositional or phrasal with difference in
meaning, as in ex. (15), (16):
(15) He brought the wine up from the cellar.
(prepositional)
(16) They brought me up to speak English.
(phrasal).
ii. The second criterion for distinguishing the
prepositional verb from the phrasal verb is the
position of adverbs. Adverbs cannot be put
between the components of a phrasal verb, ex.
(17):

(17) a) She turned off the light suddenly.

b) He put on his coat quickly.
c) The boy knocked over the ornament
unintentionally.
In the case of the prepositional verb,
adverbs can be put between the verb and
the preposition, ex. (18):
(18) a) She turned suddenly off the road.
(prepositional verbs)
b) She turned off the road suddenly.
(prepositional verb).
(19) a) She looked unselfishly after the sick.
b) She looked after the sick unselfishly.
iii. The third criterion for distinguishing the
prepositional verb from the phrasal verb is
the stress: when we use prepositional
verbs the stress is on the verb. When the
phrasal verb is used, the main stress is on
the particle, ex. (20):

(20) a) He can’t be taken in at any price.

(phrasal)
b) It can’t be taken in large dozes.
(prepositional)
iv. Idiomaticness – the majority of verbs
consisting of more than one word are
idiomatic. Idiomaticness is a feature of
three kinds of verbs.
So the idiomatic verb need not always be
phrasal as it may be concluded from some
of the examples given above.
The idiomatic verb can be a prepositional
one, too, as in ex. (21):
(21) to look after – prepositional idiomatic
B. PHRASAL VERBS
Phrasal verbs are a type of compound verbs
made up of a simple verb and an adverb
particle, ex. (22):
(22) to switch off
The principle adverb particles are, ex. (23):
(23) about, above, across along, away, back,
backward(s), before, behind, below, between,
beyond, by, down, downward(s), forward(s),
in, inside, off, on, out, outside, over, past,
round, through, under, up, upwards.
With the exception of out, away, back,
backwards, downwards, and forwards,
these particles have the same meaning
as their corresponding prepositions.
When used with verbs of movement,
with or without objects, there is generally
no difficulty in understanding the
meaning of the phrasal verb if the
meaning of the adverb particle is known.
(24)

GO IN

COME OUT
JUMP AWAY
WALK BACK
SWIM DOWN
HURRY UP
RUN OFF
C. THE PREPOSITIONAL – PHRASAL
VERBS
The prepositional – phrasal verb has two
particles in addition to the verb component.
The group cannot be interrupted by
objects and adverbs.
(25) I cannot put up with it any longer.

(26) He put in for a job in all the schools in

the district. (‘he asked for a job’)
Conclusion:
Analysis of verbs consisting of more than
one word have discovered over 900
combinations of which the greatest number
is formed by mono-syllabic verbs such as,
ex.(27):

(27) blow, break, bring, call, come, fall, get,

give, go, hold, lay, let, make, put, run, set,
take turn, work.
These verbs can enter into 155
combinations with distinct uses. There are
about 16 most productive particles. They
are, ex. (28):

(28) about, across, around, at, by, down, or,

in, off, on, out, over, though, to, up, with.