Understanding, Using and Teaching Prepositions (Murcia and Freeman, 2008)

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Prepositions

• Understanding, Using and Teaching Prepositions
• Prepared by
• By Orly Agawin
• Master of Arts in Education major in English
  Language Teaching
• Philippine Normal University - Manila

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General Fact Prepositions are NOTORIOUSLY
DIFFICULT TO LEARN
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Fact 1

• Germans, Russians and Latin have their preps
  inflected.

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Fact 2

• Preps with spatial meanings do not always match
  up well from one language to another.

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Fact 3

• Even native-speakers of English experience
  variable performances with regard to which
  preposition they use for meanings

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Thus

• It is critical that teachers analyze preposition
  through a TRIDIMENSIONAL approach focusing on
• FORM
• MEANING
• USE

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The Form of Prepositions (1 of 3)

• Understanding, Using and Teaching Prepositions

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THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS

• BASIC CHARACTERISTICS
• Prepositions are free morphemes
• Prepositions, normally, precede a Noun or Noun
  Phrase
• PrepP Prep NP (wherein N is the object of the
  preposition)
• for us / for John
• Some complex prepositions consist of two or more
  words that function as single prepositions
• because of / on top of / in front of

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THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS

• CO-OCCURRENCE WITH VERBS, ADJECTIVES AND NOUNS
• Verbs Prep Adj Prep
• to rely on to be dependent on
• to detract from to be free from / of
• to consist of to be sorry for

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THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS

• Sometimes, the same verb with two different
  prepositions will have significantly different
  meanings.
• You should provide for your old age now.
• The Red Cross provided us with blankets last
  night.
• I am moving on.
• I am moving in.

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THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS

• However, sometimes, two different prepositions
  can be used with the same verb with little or no
  change of meaning.
• John competes with his older brother.
• John competes against his older brother.

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THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS

• It is possible for some verbs to be followed by a
  preposition.

I believe that. It wasnt at all what she had planned.
I believe in that. It wasnt at all what she had planned on.
In the samples, however, there are meaning
differences. Also, the prepositions weakens the
transitivity of the verb creating a distance
between the verb and its arguments.
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THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS

• If certain noun phrases are precedes or followed
  by a preposition, there may be only one possible
  option

PRECEDES NP FOLLOWS NP
In my opinion Objection to
To my mind Awareness of
From my point of view Belief in
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THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS

• Sometimes, noun phrases are both preceded and
  followed by a preposition to form multiword
  clusters.

in noun of on noun of in the noun of on the noun of
In case of On account of In the course of On the advice of
In charge of On behalf of In the habit of On the basis of
In favor of On grounds of In the name of On the strength of
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THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS

• Sometimes, prepositions are employed in
  compounding to deliver an idiomatic or cultural
  meaning LEXICAL COMPOUNDING

out verb over verb under verb down verb
Outdo Overdo Underestimate Downplay
Outrun Overrate Underrate Downgrade
Outlast Overhear Underscore Downshift
Outgrow Overcome Underwrite Downside
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• Deletion of Prepositions
• Can Prepositions be deleted?
• Yes, SOMETIMES!
• Optional instances
• Obligatory instances

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OPTIONAL DELETION OF PREPOSITIONS

• When the preposition for expresses a span of time

We have lived here (for) 12 years.
(For) how long have you owned the house?
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OPTIONAL DELETION OF PREPOSITIONS

• When the preposition on is used before days of
  the week
• When the day is used alone or when the day
  modifies another temporal noun such as morning,
  afternoon, and night.

Brent went cross-country skiing (on) Saturday.
He bought a new pair of skis (on) Friday night.
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OPTIONAL DELETION OF PREPOSITIONS

• In responses to questions that would cue temporal
  use of in, at on, or for

QUESTION RESPONSE
How long have you lived here? (For) two years.
When do you wake up? (At) 6 A.M.
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OBLIGATORY DELETION OF PREPOSITIONS

• When you already used last, next, this, or
• When the NP contains before, after, next, last
  or this.

I was busy on last Friday kasi e.
We will be in Manila on tonight na.
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OBLIGATORY DELETION OF PREPOSITIONS

• When the temporal noun phrase contains a
  universal quantifier like every and all.

We stayed in Davao for all week.
We bake cakes on every Tuesdays
The Sinulog festival celebrated in every January
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OBLIGATORY DELETION OF PREPOSITIONS

• When a locative noun (home, downtown), or
  pro-adverbs (here, there) are used with a verb of
  motion or direction.

We went to home.
Julie walked briskly to downtown.
Roger trains for the marathon to here everyday.
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The Meaning of Prepositions (2 of 3)

• Understanding, Using and Teaching Prepositions

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THE MEANING OF PREPOSITIONS

• Taylor, 1993 says that preps are generally
  polysemous
• the coexistence of many possible meanings for a
  word or phrase

Stephanie is in the room.
The room is in a mess
Seth is in trouble.
In running out of the room, he knocked over a vase.
Hell be back in an hour.
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LOCATING OBJECTS IN SPACE

• Locating space involves two or more entities
• Trajector N / NP
• Landmark goal / objective / area
• Basic Place Prepositions
• At
• On
• In

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LOCATING OBJECTS IN SPACE

• AT
• Denotes place as a point of orientation

Meet me at the corner.
She saw her at the store.
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LOCATING OBJECTS IN SPACE

• ON
• Denotes physical contact between trajector and
  landmark (one/two dimensional space or surface

Dont sit on the desk!
Write on the line.
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LOCATING OBJECTS IN SPACE

• IN
• Denotes enclosure of the trajector

We were in the room last night.
Write in the box.
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Driven, 1993
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LOCATING OBJECTS IN SPACE

• By and with are proximity prepositions which are
  adjacent to at because they locate the trajector
  in relation to the point of orientation.

Doug lives by me.
He walks with me to school.
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LOCATING OBJECTS IN SPACE

• Through and about require a landmark to be seen
  as a surface or a volume and are therefore
  positioned next to in.

The first path is through the woods.
He walked about the room, searching.
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MEANING EXTENSIONS OF SPATIAL PREPOSITIONS

• The extensions of meanings of prepositions from
  physical space via time into more abstract
  domains do not occur in any haphazard way, but
  follow a path of gradually increasing
  abstractions, whereby the link with each prior
  meaning remains obvious and may acount for most,
  if not all, co-occurrence restrictions between
  trajector and landmark. (Driven, 1993)

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MEANING EXTENSIONS OF SPATIAL PREPOSITIONS

• The 7 meanings of at

SAMPLE SENTENCE MEANING / PURPOSE
The paper was lying at my feet. Locating an object in space
He was here at one o clock. Locating an object in time
Im never at ease when taking a test. Indicating state or condition
She wept at the bad news. Indicating cause or source of an action
The man over there is pointing at us. Indicating direction toward a goal
Shes a whiz at poker. Expressing skill in relation to an activity
He stopped playing at 50. (age) Indicating relative amount, degree, etc.
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Lakoff, 1987
Lakoff shows how the central sense of over
combining the elements of above and across can be
depicted in an image schema
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MEANING EXTENSIONS OF SPATIAL PREPOSITIONS

• Central Schema to Prototypical Meanings

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MEANINGS OF NON-SPATIAL PREPOSITIONS

• The meanings of of
• Generally, the preposition of does not denote
  space, but are mostly used for other relevant
  purposes

SAMPLE SENTENCE MEANING / PURPOSE
a story of a princess concerning about
the president of the the United States. derived or coming from
a man of courage having (X of Y)
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The Use of Prepositions (3 of 3)

• Understanding, Using and Teaching Prepositions

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VARIATIONS IN USE
MEANING PREPOSITION
Spatial proximity By the lake
Time / degree approximation Happened around 10pm
Telling time A quarter of/to 10
Location along something linear The towns on / along Rhine
In a time period It happened in / during 1998
Temporal termination Work from 9 to / until / till 5
Location lower than something Below / beneath / under / underneath the bed
Location higher than something Above / over the table
Location in or at something Behind / in the back of the door
Location adjacent Next to / beside the stream
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TEACHING PREPOSITIONS IN THE WORKPLACE
(Explaining a Bill)
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TEACHING PREPOSITIONS IN THE WORKPLACE (Helping
Mrs. Jones)
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Conclusion

• It is critical that teachers analyze preposition
  through a TRIDIMENSIONAL approach focusing on
• FORM
• MEANING
• USE

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Prepositions

• Understanding, Using and Teaching Prepositions
• Prepared by
• By Orly Agawin
• Master of Arts in Education major in English
  Language Teaching
• Philippine Normal University - Manila