Preposeetion an postposeetion

Preposeetions an postposeetions, or adposeetions whan taen thegather, or juist prepositions in Ingles), ar ae claiss o wirds that speak o sibness in space an time (in, unner, thewards, afore) or maurk sindrie semanteec roles (o, fer).

Ae preposeetion or postposeetion normalie combines wi ae noon or pronoon, or mair geeneralie ae noon phrase, this is cawed its complement, or whilies its object. Ae preposeetion comes afore its complement; an ae postposeetion comes efter its complement. Scots generalie haes preposeetions insteid o postposeetions – wirds lik in, unner an o precede (or comm afore) thair objects, aes in in Scotland, unner the buird, o Jane – awthou thaur's ae smaa haunnfu o ceptions inclaedin "syne" , lik in "three days syne" . Somm leids, that uise ae differt wird order, hae postposeetions insteid, or hae baith types. The phrase formed bi ae preposeetion or postposeetion thegather wi its complement is cawed ae preposeetional phrase (or postposeetional phrase, adposeetional phrase, etc.) – sic phrases normalie hae aen adverbial role in ae sentence.

Ae less common type o adposeetion is the circumposeetion, this conseests o twa pairts that appear oan baith sides o the complement. Ither terms whilies uised fer parteecular types o adposeetion inclaed ambiposeetion, inposeetion and interposeetion. Some lingueests uise the wird preposeetion in the steid o adposeetion regairdless o hou the appleecable adposeetion is uised.

Termeenologie

The wird preposeetion comes fae Laitin: prae ("afore") an Laitin: ponere ("tae pit"). This speaks o the situation in Laitin an Greek (an in Scots), whaur sic wirds ar steided afore the noon that they modifie (cept whilies in Ancient Greek), an hence ar "pre-poseetioned".

In somm leids, inclaedin Sindhi, Urdu, Turkish, Hindi, Korean, an Japanese, the same kinn o wirds affen come efter thair complement. Tae shaw this, they ar cawed postposeetions (uisin the prefix post-, fae the Laitin post that means "ahint, efter"). Thaur's some cases an aw whaur the job is duin bi twa pairts comin afore an efter the complement; this is cawed ae circumposetion (fae the Laitin circum "aroond").

Preposeetions, postposeetions an circumposeetions ar kent aes adposeetions aes ae groop (uisin the Laitin prefix ad-, meanin "tae"). Houniver, somm lingueests prefer tae uise the weel-kent an langer estableeshed term preposeetion insteid o adposeetion, regairdless o the poseetion compared tae the complement.

Graimmateecal properties

Aen adposeetion affen combines wi exactlie the ae complement, maist affen ae noon phrase (or, in ae differt analysees, ae determiner phrase). In Scots, this is aft times ae noon (or sommit that wirks lik ae noon, e.g., ae gerund), thegather wi its specifier an modifiers lik airticles, adjecteeves, etc. The complement is whilies cawed the object o the adposeetion. The ootcomin phrase, creatit wi the adposeetion thegather wi its complement, is cawed aen adposeetional phrase or preposeetional phrase (PP) (or fer tea be speceefeec, ae postposeetional or circumposeetional phrase).

Aen adposeetion establishes ae grammateecal relationship that airts its complement tae anither wird or phrase in the context. It aft times establishes an aw ae semanteec relationship, that micht be spatial (in, on, unner, ...), temporal (efter, ...), or o somm ither type (o, fer, bi waa o, ...). The World Atlas of Language Structures treats ae wird aes aen adposeetion gif it taks ae noon phrase aes complement an shaws the grammateecal or semanteec relationship o that phrase tae the verb in the clause that hauds it.

Some exaumples o hou the Scots uises its preposeetions ar shawen ablo. In ilka case, the preposeetional phrase kyths in italeecs, an the preposeetion wiin kyths in bold. The wird that the phrase speaks o ae relation wi – that is, the wird that the preposeetional phrase is aen adjunct or complement tae – is unnerlined. In somm o the exaumples, the same wird haes twa preposeetional phrases aes adjuncts.

• Aes aen adjunct tae ae noon:
  • the wather in Mairch
  • cheese fae Fraunce wi live bacteria
• Aes ae predicateeve expression (complement o ae copula)
  • The key is unner the stane.
• Aes aen adjunct tae aae verb:
  • sleep throuoot the winter
  • danced atap the buirds fer hoors
  • dispense wi the formalities (see Semanteec functions, below)
• As an adjunct to an adjective:
  • happie fer thaim
  • sick ontil recentlie

In the hainmaist o thir exaumples the complement haes the form o aen adverb that's bin nominalised fer tae serve aes ae noon phrase; see Differt forms o complement, doon ablow. Preposeetional phrases thirsels ar whilies nomeenalised:

• In the cellar wis chaisen aes the best steid fer tae skalk the bodies.

Aen adposeetion can determine the grammateecal case o its complement. In Scots, the complements o preposeetions tak the objecteev case whaur it can (fae him, no *fae he). In Koine Greek, aes aen exaumple, certain preposeetions aye tak thair objects in ae certain case (e.g., ἐν aye taks its object in the dateeve), while ither preposeetions coud tak thair object in ane o twa or mair cases, dependin oan the meanin o the preposeetion (e.g., διά taks its object in the geniteev or in the accusateev, dependin oan the meanin). Somm leids hae cases that ar uised excluiseevlie efter preposeetions (preposeetional case), or byordinair forms o pronoons fer uiss efter preposeetions (preposeetional pronoon).

The functions o adposeetions owerlap wi the functions o case maurkins (aes aen exaumple, the meanin o the Scots preposeetion o is expressed in monie leids bi ae geniteev case endin), bit adposeetions ar claissed aes syntacteec elements, while case maurkins ar morphaelogeecal.

Adposeetions thirsels ar aft times non-inflectin ("invariant"): they dinna hae paradigms o form (lik tense, case, gender, etc.) the same waa that verbs, adjecteeves, an noons can. Thaur's ceptions tae this, mind, lik preposeetions that hae fuisit wi ae pronominal object fer tae form inflected preposeetions.

The follaein properties ar charactereestic o maist adposeetional systems:

• Adposeetions ar among the maist frequentlie occurrin wirds in leidss that hae thaim.
• The maist common adposeetions ar single, monaemorpheemic wirds.
• Adposeetions form ae claised claiss o lexeecal eetems an canna be producteevlie derived fae wirds belangin tae ither categeries.

Classifeecation bi poseetion

Aes mynded abuin, adposeetions ar referred tae by sindrie terms, dependin oan thair poseetion reelateev tae the complement.

While the term preposeetion is whilies uised fer the name o onie adposeetion, in its  mair streect meanin it refers anely tae the ane that comes afore its complement. Exaumples o this, fae the Ingles, hae bin shawen abuin; siclik exaumples can be foond in monie leids o Europ an the world, lik in:

• German: mit einer Frau ("wi ae wiman")
• Franch: sur la table ("oan the buird")
• Polish: na stole ("oan the buird")
• Russian: у меня ("in the possession o me" [I hae])
• Khmer: លើក្តារខៀន [ləː kdaːkʰiən] ("oan (the) blaickbuird")
• Tigrinya: አብ ልዕሊ ጣውላ [abː l:ali tawla] ("at/oan tap o buird"); አብ ትሕቲ ጣውላ [abː t:hti tawla] ("at/oan unner buird")

In certain grammateecal constructions, the complement o ae preposeetion michtna be thair or micht hae bin muived fae its poseetion directlie efter the preposeetion. This micht be spaken o aes preposeetion straundin (see ablo an aw), lik in "Wham did ye gae wi?" an "Thau's anely the ae thing worse than bein blathered anent." Thaur's somm (maistlie colloqueeal) expressions an aw whaurin ae preposeetion's complement micht be left oot, lik "Ah'm heidin aff tae the pairk. Dae ye wannae com wi?", an the Fraunch Il fait trop froid, je ne suis pas habillée pour ("It's ower caud, Ah'm no dressed fer [the seetuation].") The boldened wirds in thir exaumples ar still maistlie thocht o aes preposeetions, cause whan thay form ae phrase wi ae complement (in mair ordinair constructions) they maun kyth first.

Ae postposeetion follaes its complement fer tae form ae postposeetional phrase. Somm exaumples inclaed:

• Laitin: mecum ("wi me", leeteralie "me wi")
• Turkish: benimle or benim ile ("with me", literally "my with")
• Chinese: 桌子上 zhuōzi shàng (lit. "buird oan"); this is ae nominal form that aft times needs aen addeetional preposeetion fer tae form aen adverbial phrase (see Chinese locateev phrases)
• Inglis: ten months ago (ago is maistly thocht o aes aen adverb, bit is whilies analyzed aes ae postposeetion)

Somm adposeetions can kyth either afore or efter thair complement:

• Inglis: He slept through the whole night OR the whole night through. (He slept aw nicht)
• German: meiner Meinung nach OR nach meiner Meinung ("in ma opeenion")
• German: die Straße entlang OR entlang der Straße ("alang the road"; here ae differt case is uised whan entlang kyths afore the noon)

Aen adposeetion lik the abuin, that can be ae preposeetion or ae postposeetion, can be cawed aen ambeeposeetion. Houniver, ambeposeetion can be uised fer tae speak o ae circumposeetion an aw (see ablo), or o ae wird that seems tae function aes ae preposeetion an postposeetion at the same time, lik in the Vedic Sanskrit construction (noon-1) ā (noon-2), meanin "fae (noon-1) tae (noon-2)".

Whather ae leid haes maistlie preposeetions or postposeetions is seen aes aen aspect o its typologeecal classification, an tends tae correlate wi ither properties relatit tae heid directionalitie. Cause aen adposeetion is seen aes the heid o its phrase, preposeetional phrases ar heid-ineetial (or richt-braunchin), while postposeetional phrases ar heid-final (or cair-braunchin). Thaur's ae tendencie fer leidss that featur postposeetions tae hae ither heid-final featurs, lik verbs that follae thair objects; an fer leids that featur preposeetions tae hae ither heid-ineetial featurs, lik verbs that comm afore thair objects. Houniver, this is anely ae tendencie; ae exaumple o ae leid that behaves differt is Laitin, that maistlie maks uiss o preposeetions, een thou it aft times steids verbs efter thair objects.

Ae circumposeetion is makit up o twa or mair pairts, poseetioned oan baith sides o the complement. Circumposeetions ar fair common in Pashto an Kurdish. The follaein ar exaumples fae Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji):

• bi ... re ("wi")
• di ... de ("in", fer things, no steids)
• di ... re ("bi waa o, throo")
• ji ... re ("fer")
• ji ... ve ("sine")

Syndrie constructions in ither leids micht be analysed aes circumposeetional an aw, fer tae gie exaumples:

• Inglis: from' now on ("seirtin richt nou", lit. "fae nou oan")
• Dutch: naar het einde toe ("thewairds the end", lit. "tae the end tae")
• Chinese: 從冰箱裡 cóng bīngxiāng lǐ ("fae inside the freedge", lit. "fae freedge inside")
• French: à un détail près ("apairt fae the ae detail", lit. "at ane detail near")
• Swedish: för tre timmar sedan ("three hoors syne", lit. "fur three oor sine")
• German: aus dem Zimmer heraus ("oot o the ruim", lit. "fae the ruim oot")
• Tigrinya: ካብ ሕጂ 'ንደሓር ("seirtin richt nou", lit. "fae nou ontae later")

Houniver, maist o thir phrases, can be analysed aes haein ae differt hierarcheecal structur (lik ae preposeetional phrase that modifies ae follaein adverb). The Chinese exaumple coud be analysed tae be ae preposeetional phrase heidit bi cóng ("from"), cause it take the locateev noon phrase bīngxīang lǐ ("freedge inside") aes its complement.

Aen inposeetion is ae rare type o adposeetion that kyths atween pairts o ae complex complement. Fer tae gie aen exaumple, in the naiteev Californian Timbisha lleid, the phrase "fae ae mean caud" can be owerset bi uisin the wird order "caud fae mean"—the inposeetion follaes the noon bit comms afore onie follaein modifiers that ar pairt o the samm noon phrase.

The term interposeetion haes bin uised fer adposeetions in structurs lik wird fer wird, (French) coup sur coup ("ane efter anither, repeatinlie"), (Russian) друг с другом ("ane wi the ither"). This is no ae case o aen adposeetion kyth inside o its complement, cause the twa noons dinna form ae single phrase (thaur's nae phrase *wird wird, fer aen exaumple); thir uisses hae mair o ae coordinatin ilk.

Straundin

Preposeetion straundin is ae syntacteec construct whaurin ae preposeetion happens sommwhaur ither than richt afore its complement. Fer tae gie aen exaumple, in the Scots sentence "Whit did ye seet oan?" the preposeetion oan haes whit fer its complement, bit whit haes bin muivit tae the stairt o the sentence, cause it's aen interrogateeve wird. This sentence is ae lot mair common an naitural soondin than the equeevalent sentence wioot the straundin: "Oan whit did ye seet?" Preposeetion straundin is affen foond in Inlis, aes weel aes North Germaneec leids lik Swadish. Whather or no it exeests in German an Dutch is debated. Preposeetion straundin is fond in some Niger–Congo lieds an aw, lik Vata an Gbadi, an in some North American kinds o French.

Somm prescreepteev Inglis grammars threap that preposeetions canna be at the end o ae sentence, awthoo thaur's nae rule tae proheebit that uiss. Siclic rules came aboot wi the rise o classicism, whan thay were applied tae Inglis fer tae imitaet classical leids lik Laitin. Otto Jespersen, in his Essentials of English Grammar (first publeeshed in 1933), haed this tae say aneat this defineetion-derived rule: "...nor need a preposition (Laitin: praepositio) stand before the word it governs (go the fools among (Sh[akespeare]); What are you laughing at?). You might just as well believe that all blackguards are black or that turkeys come from Turkey; many names have either been chosen unfortunately at first or have changed their meanings in course of time."

Seemple, complex an improper

Seemple adposeetions ar o ae single wird (oan, in, fer, thewairds, etc.). Complex adposeetions ar o ae groop o wirds that act lik the ae unit.

The disteenction atween seemple an complex adposeetions isna sae clear-cut. Monie seemple adposeetions ar derived fae complex forms (e.g., wi + in → wiin, bi + side → beside) throo grammateecalisation. This change taks time, an aw throo the transeetionin stages the adposeetion acts in somm waas lik ae single wird, an in ither waas lik ae monie-wird unit. Fer an exaumple, the nou German orthographeec conventions recognise the indeterminate status o somm preposeetions, allouin fer twa speelins: anstelle/an Stelle ("insteid o"), aufgrund/auf Grund ("acause o"), mithilfe/mit Hilfe ("bi means o"), zugunsten/zu Gunsten ("in favor o"), zuungunsten/zu Ungunsten ("at the disadvantage o"), zulasten/zu Lasten ("at the expense o").

The disteenction atween complex adposeetions an free combeenations o wirds isna ae blaick an white issue: complex adposeetions (in Scots, "preposeetional eedeeoms") can be mair fossilised or less fossilised. In Scots, this applies tae ae nummer o structurs o the form "preposeetion + (airticle) + noon + preposeetion", lik in front o, fer the sake o.

In descreeptions o somm leids, preposteeons ar divided intae proper (or "essential") an improper (or "accideental"). Ae preposeetion is cawed improper gif it's somm ither pairt o speech that's uised in the same waa aes ae preposeetion. Exaumples o seemple an complex preposeetions that hae bin classified lik this inclaed prima di ("afore") an davanti (a) ("in front o") in Italian, an ergo ("acause o") an causa ("fer the sake o") in Laitin. A biordinair case, houniver, is  Ancient Greek, whaur aen improper preposeetion is ane that canna serve aes ae prefix tae ae verb an aw.

Differt forms o complement

Aes said abuin, adposeetions aft times hae noon phrases aes complements. This can inclaed nominal clauses an somm types o non-finite verb phrase:

• Lat's think aneat solvin this proablem (the complement is ae gerund phrase)
• pour encourager les autres (French; "tae encoorage the ithers", the complement is aen infeeniteev phrase)

Whan the wird tae comes afore the infeeniteev in Scots, it's no ae preposeetion, bit is insteid ae grammateecal pairticle ootside o onie main wird claiss.

In ither cases the complement micht be in the form o aen adjecteeve, adjecteev phrase, or an adverbial. This coud be seen aes ae complement that represen ae differt syntacteec categerie, or aes seemplie aen aetypical form o noon phrase (see nominalisation).

Semanteec functions

Adposeetions can be uised tae express ae wide range o semanteec relations atween thair complement an the rest o the context. The relations expressed can be spatial (spakin o location or direction), temporal (spakin o poseetion in time), or relations expressin comparison, content, agent, instrument, means, manner, cause, purpose, reference, etc.

Maist common adposeetions ar extreemlie polysemoos (thay hae syndrie differt meanins). In monie cases ae primarie, spatial meanin becomes extendit tae non-spatial uisses bi metaphoreecal or ither processes. Cause o the varietie o meanins, the ae adposeetion offen haes monie possible equeevalents in anither leid, dependin oan the exact context that it's uised in; this can cause somm richt confusion in learnin seicont leids. Uissage can be differt an aw atween byleids o the same leid (fer aen exaumple, American Inglis haes on the weekend, whaur-as Breetish Inglis uises at the weekend).

In some contexts (lik in the case o some phrasal verbs) the choice o adposeetion micht be determined bi anither element in the construction or be fixed bi the hael construction. Here the adposeetion micht hae it's ain wee bit freestaundin semanteec content, an thaur michtna be onie clear raison why the ae adposeetion is uised bit no anither.

Preposeetions whilies maurk roles that can be considered quite grammateecal:

• possession (in ae wider sense) – the pen o ma aunt (whilies maurkt bi geniteev or possesseev forms)
• the agent in passeev constructions – killit bi ae gunman oan his ain
• the recipient o ae transfer – gie it tae him (whilies maurkt bi ae dateev or aen ondirect object)

Spatial meanins o adposeetions can be directional or stateec. Ae directional meanin normalie involves motion in ae particulair direction ("Kay gaed tae the store"), the direction that sommit leads or points ("Ae path intae the wuids"), or the extent o sommit ("The fog stretched fae Lonnon tae Paris"). Ae stateec meanin anely shaws ae steid ("at the store", "ahint the chair", "oan the muin"). Somm preposeetions can hae baith thir uisses: "he sat in the watter" (stateec); "he jumped in the watter" (proabablie directional). In somm leids, the case o the complement varies dependin oan the meanin, lik wi twa three preposeetions in German, lik in:

• in seinem Zimmer ("in his ruim", stateec meanin, taks the dateev)
• in sein Zimmer ("intae his ruim", directional meanin, taks the accusateev)

In the Scots an monie ither leids, preposeetional phrases that hae ae stateec meanin ar aft times uised aes predicateev expressions efter ae copula ("Jock is at the store"); this micht happen wi some directional preposeetions an aw ("Bob is fae Australia"), bit this is less common. Directional preposeetional phrases combine maistlie wi verbs that shaw muivment ("Heather is gaun intae her bedruim", bit no *"Heather is liein doun intae her bedruim").

Directional meanins can be divided een mair intae teleec and ateleec. Teleec preposeetional phrases implie muivment aw the waa tae the end ("she ran tae the fence"), while ateleec phrases dinna ("she ran thewairds the fence").

Stateec meanins can be divided intae projecteev an non-projecteev, whaur projecteev meanins ar the anes that need knawledge o the perspecteev or point o view. Fer aen exaumple, the meanin o "ahint the rock" is liklie tae depend apo the poseetion o the speaker (projecteev), whaur aes the meanin o "oan the desk" is no (non-projecteev). whilies the interpretation is ambeeguoos, lik wi "ahint the hoose", that micht mean either at the naitural back o the hoose, or oan the ither side o the hoose fae the speaker.

Owerlaps wi ither categeries

Adverbs an pairticles

Thaur's oft times similairities in form atween adposeetions an adverbs. Some adverbs comm fae the fusion o ae preposeetion an its complement (lik dounstairs, fae doun (the) stairs, an unnergroond, fae unner (the) groond). Some wirds can function lik adverbs aes weel aes preposeetions, lik inside, abuird, unnerneath (fer aen exaumple, ye can say "gae inside", wi adverbial uiss, or "gae inside the house", wi preposeetional uiss). Thir cases ar analogous tae verbs that can be uised transiteevlie or intransiteevlie, an fer that raison the adverbial forms micht be analysed aes "intransiteev preposeetions". This analysis coud be extendit tae ither adverbs, lik here, thaur, efterwairds, etc., een thou thir niver tak complements.

Monie Scots phrasal verbs hae pairticles that ar uised adverbalie, een thou they maist pairt hae the form o ae preposeetion (thir wirds could be cawed preposeetional adverbs). The equeevalents in Dutch an German ar separable prefixes, that offen hae the samm form aes preposeetions: fer aen exaumple, Dutch aanbieden an German anbieten (baith mean "tae offer") hae the separable prefix aan/an, this is ae preposition an aw that means "oan" or "tae".

Conjunctions

Somm wirds can be uised baith aes adposeetions an aes subordinatin conjunctions:

• (preposeetion) afore/efter/sine the end o summer
• (conjunction) afore/efter/sine summer ended
• (preposition) It luiks like anither day o rain
  
• (conjunction) It luiks like it's gaunnae rain agin theday

It would be possible tae analyse sic conjunctions (or een ither subordinatin conjunctions) aes preposeetions that tak ae hael clause aes ae complement.

Verbs

In some leids, inclaedin ae nummer o Chinese varieties, monie o the wirds that serve aes preposeetions can be uised aes verbs an aw. Fer aen exaumple, in Staundard Chinese, 到 dào can be uised in ae preposeetional or ae verbal sense:

• 我到北京去 wǒ dào Běijīng qù ("Ah gae tae Beijing"; qù, means "tae gae", is the main verb, dào is ae preposeetional an means "tae")
• 我到了 wǒ dào le ("I have arrived"; dào is the main verb, an means "tae arrive")

Cause o this owerlap, an the fact that ae sequence o preposeetional phrase an verb phrase affen resembles ae serial verb construction, Chinese preposeetions (an thae in ither leids wi siclik grammateecal structurs) ar affen spaken o aes coverbs.

As seyed in sections abuin, Chinese can be said tae hae postposeetions an aw, althou thir can be analysed as nominal (noun) elements. Fer mair information, see the airticle aneat Chinese grammar, in parteeculair the sections anent coverbs an locateev phrases.

Case affixes

Somm grammateecal case maurkins hae ae siclik function tae adposeetions; ae case affix in the ae leid micht be equeevalent in it's meanin tae ae preposeetion or postposeetion in anither. Fer aen exaumple, in Inglis the agent o ae passeev construction is maurkt bi the preposeetion by, while in Russian it is maurkt bi the uiss o the instrumental case. Whilies sic equeevalents exeest wiin ae single leid; fer an exaumple, the geniteev case in German is affen interchangeable wi ae phrase that uises the preposeetion von (juist lik in Scots, the preposeetion o is affen interchangeable wi the possesseev suffix 's).

Adposeetions combine syntacteeclie wi thair complement, whaur-aes case maurkins combine wi ae noon morphaelogeeclie. In some instances it micht no be clear whilk applies; the exaumples ablo ar some possible waas tae mak sic ae disteenction:

• Twa adposeetions can normalie be joined wi ae coordinatin conjunction an shair the ae complement, whauraes this is normalie no possible wi case affixes;
• Ane adposeetion can normalie combine wi twa coordinated complements (o the ceetie an the world), whauraes ae case affix wid need tae be repeatit wi ilka noon (Laitin urbis et orbis, not *urb- et orbis);
• Case maurkins combain maistlie wi noons, whauraes adposeetions can combain wi (nominalised) phrases o differt categeries;
• Ae case maurkin normalie kyths directlie oan the noon, bit aen adposeetion can be separatit fae the noon bi ither wirds;
• Wiin the noon phrase, determiners an adjecteevs can agree wi the noon in case (case spreadin), bit aen adposeetion anely kyths the ae time;
• Ae leid can hae hunners o adposeetions (inclaeds complex adposeetions), bit nae leid haes that monie disteenct morphaelogical cases.

Een sae, ae clear disteenction canna aye be makit. Fer aen exaumple, the post-nominal elements in Japanese an Korean ar whilies cawed case pairticles an whilies cawed postposeetions. Sommtimes they ar analysed aes twa differt groops cause they hae differt charactereesteecs (e.g., the abeelitie tae combain wi focus pairticles), bit in sic analysis, it's no clear whit groop ae gien wird shid in.

See an aw

• Leet o Ingles preposeetions
• Auld Inglis preposeetions
• Spainish preposeetions
• Japanese pairticles
• Relational noon

Bibleeographie

• Mark, L Hernandez The power of the letter (2001). ISBN 978-0-534-42066-6.
• Bennett, David C. (1975) Spatial and Temporal Uses of English Prepositions: An Essay in Stratificational Semantics. London: Longman.
• Emonds, Joseph E. (1985) A Unified Theory of Syntactic Categories. Dordrecht: Foris.
• Haspelmath, Martin. (2003) "Adpositions". International Encyclopedia of Linguistics. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513977-1.
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Ootby airtins

• Merriam Webster Editor's take on whether it is ok to end a sentence with a Preposition
• Some prepositions at Purdue Online Writing Lab