Hot answers tagged prepositional-phrase
11
To get all linguisticsy about it, we can talk about the generalization of how verbs work. In traditional grammar, we talk about verbs having subjects and objects and whether they are transitive or intransitive. If we generalize this, we can talk about verbs being a kind of function that takes arguments, where subjects and objects are examples of kinds of ...
6
Of is the correct preposition to use in your second example:
The body consists of cells.
In is the correct preposition to use in your first example:
Meditation consists in attentive watchfulness.
Consist of means to be composed or made up of, while consist in
means:
To have the thing mentioned as the only or most important part.
Tolerance ...
6
Your first two examples are a special use of of that's not readily explained by reference to its other uses. In each of them, the of is optional ("more of a sanity check" = "more a sanity check"; "more of a hack" = "more a hack"), and serves to introduce a singular countable predicate noun that's modified by more. The same happens with much ("it's not much ...
6
There is no problem with this phrase - it is idiomatic English.
With is part of the compound adjective over with. To be over with means to be finished. As far as I know, it's only ever used with the verb be.
It's fine as it is. You could say "Can we get this finished?".
6
A prepositional phrase is a grammatical structure consisting of a preposition followed by a noun phrase. An adverbial complement is a grammatical function. Adverbial complements may be realized through prepositional phrases or other adverbials.
Consider:
I put the book down.
I put the book on the table.
I put the book down on the table.
There are verbs ...
5
Larry Trask’s advice in cases like this is to see what happens if you remove from the sentence the words marked off by the comma. If you are left with a meaningful sentence, then the comma is appropriate. If no meaningful sentence remains, you don’t need the comma.
5
M-W.com says of this usage of like, which is an adjective and not a preposition:
3 like [adjective]
1a : the same or nearly the same (as in appearance, character, or quantity) [suits of like design] —formerly used with as, unto, of [it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren — Heb 2:17 (Authorized Version)]
1b chiefly British : closely ...
5
Like a lot of, something like 90% of functions not so much as a preposition as it does a premodifier. And premodifiers work like adjectives. They do not change the head noun, which remains the grammatical subject and still must be agree with the verb in number.
People are coming. Trouble is avoided.
A lot of people are coming. A lot of trouble is ...
4
It might be totally wrong, but I'd like to share my understanding of the two:
Movement: moving from one place to another
Motion: not standing still
In that sense, in motion might be regarded as opposite of stationary while in movement could indicate something or somebody is in the process of moving from place A to place B.
Intuitively, in motion brings ...
4
It seems more or less OK to me, unless you prefer to expand the phrase to:
In the Winter of 2010, two penguins named Jony and Rony were born.
In the Winter of 2010, five ice skaters, each in the 130 lb category, won a gold medal for their country.
There are some subtle changes in the sentences. The obvious one is the use of 'In the Winter of 2010', ...
4
It's the same kind of usage as saying "I'm going up/down the street".
I don't know if up/down ever had specific usage - but these days, they're fairly interchangeable, and you'll get any number of different phrases like:
I'm going down the street to see if Mrs Higgins is okay
I'm going up to the pub for a pint
There may be some sub-conscious ...
4
I have heard this exact sentence used and my hunch (sorry, no source) is that it is derived from the general store days in which the warehouse or storage area of the retail shop was located above it. In that case,
I will go up to the stores.
would have been something said by the proprietor if he intended to check the warehouse area of his shop for ...
4
Here's part of an explanation found here:
TO ... is used in cases where a "transfer" happens.
E.g.
I will give this book to you. (from me to you)
I will go to work. (from home to work)
I will talk to her. (information goes from me to
her)
FOR is used in the following situations:
for the benefit of
e.g. I will do that for you.
purpose
e.g. This ...
4
"To" specifies a direction, an intention, it implies some action, while "for" is more associated with someone/something who is intended to own or use the noun preceding "for".
key to exercise - I cannot find a key to this exercise.
key for exercise - The keys for the exercises are on the last page.
bullet to a gun - The police could not find any bullet to ...
4
“Very out of the way”
It is a bit tough to find cases of very modifying individual prepositions, but it is easy to find cases of very modifying entire prepositional phrases as a unit, just as it does other adjectives and adverbs.
I think it’s very out of character for him.
Things can be very out of place.
Or very out of date.
And very out of the way.
They ...
4
In general, it's not advisable to rely too heavily on rules like this that refer to the linear word order of items in the sentence.
In English (and in languages in general) there are always cases where, e.g. for rhythmic reasons, elements can move outside their "canonical" position. (This process is sometimes referred to as "move alpha" in more technical ...
4
Prepositions are often interchangeable in English, even when they seem to mean exactly the opposite thing in their literal sense. It is possible, for example, to say
You'll find a Chevron station down the road about five miles.
or
You'll find a Chevron station up the road about five miles.
or even
You'll find a Chevron station along the road ...
4
Neither of your examples is most correct; programs are compiled by compilers. GCC is doing the work to compile C code to machine code or whatever.
As for the subtle differences between your examples:
Compiled with is more correct than compiled in but both are awkward compared to the above. Using "with" to say "compiled using" is more appropriate if you are ...
4
Your second sentence I'm off to my place in my car would be perfectly recognisable in Australian English. The alternative with my car suggests that the car is accompanying you rather than being driven by you.
As an aside, vernacular Australian would avoid identifying the ownership of the car, so the response to Where's John? is He's off to the library in ...
3
Connotes can be used as a verb; that is, one could say "The object connotes magic" or perhaps "The object connotes being magical". (The constructions "object connotes" and "object has ... connotation" both are slightly metaphorical uses of connote, as connote ordinarily is a term applied to words, phrases, statements, rather than to things. As suggested in ...
3
She was going home. Home is an adverb meaning to home, she is a pronoun, going is a participle, was is a copula.
She was home. Home is an adverb meaning at home.
She was at home. Home is a noun, at is a preposition.
She got home. Home is an adverb.
My height is six feet. Feet is a noun, six is an adjective, height is a noun, my is a possessive pronoun ...
3
Comma sense—a fun-damental guide to punctuation suggest to use the comma to set off introductory elements, which are reported to be:
an adverb: First, I need to call my girlfriend.
a prepositional phrase: After dinner, let's go to see a movie.
an appositive: A stumbling giggler, Lumpy was hardly prepared for the relay baton suddenly being thrust upon him.
...
3
I had not previously been aware of seeing it printed other than as two words, but the practice seems not to be particularly new. The OED records the hyphenated noun in-between as meaning ‘(a) An interval. (b) A person who intervenes.’ The first citation is dated 1815:
He's fallen in love with Lady Naglefort, because she's an in-between.
It’s followed ...
3
I think from the beginning puts a little more emphasis and focus on the significance of the beginning. If you were talking about a business, perhaps "he" was there in the planning process and integral to starting the business. Since the beginning places more emphasis on the intervening time period. Again, if a business, perhaps "he" is the most loyal ...
3
You could say it is an adjunct of space / a locative adjunct, more specifically one that indicates direction: it is then used metaphorically, as lead is also used metaphorically—the case is not leading a person or cattle to some physical place, but it is metaphorically leading events along a causal chain towards a result, or something like that.
As an ...
3
You have an (or a) average, maximum, minimum, or other group-based calculation of something, while you take (or calculate) the average, maximum, or minimum.
Thus your samples 1, 3, and 5 are correct, but not 2, 4, or 6.
(To clarify, as per the comments: In the example sentences, the average is a property that is already known, and it is being treated ...
3
The answer to the last part of the question is clearly that against can be used after do. Never do anything against the law is one example. I never did anything against you is another. Why, then, does The USA never did anything against violence sound odd, when it is certainly grammatical? We can, after all, say The USA intends to act against violence ...
3
A very interesting question!
In the first place, there are no absolute rules - here in the UK, my wife and I sometimes disagree on which preposition sounds more natural in a given expression.
Secondly, the non-central senses of the prepositions (up connoting 'good', 'an improvement', or 'towards the central, main, important place' influence the choice. We ...
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