Prepositional phrases as complements
172b
The most frequent prepositions used in prepositional complement structures are
to
, of, in, for and with:
Has she forgotten about
her right
to compensation
?
Just don’t lose
your belief
in his talent
, will you.
The relationship
with neighbouring countries
has markedly improved in recent
years.
A noun may take more than one prepositional phrase complement:
Let there be
government |
of the people
|
by the people
|
for the people
| .
The
statement |
by the driver
|
to the police
|
about the incident
| was crucial.
Û
250–257 Prepositions and prepositional phrases
NOUN PHRASES OCCURRING TOGETHER (IN APPOSITION)
173
Noun phrases which refer to the same entity can occur together in a clause. The
feature is called ‘apposition’. The nouns can follow each other in sequence (often
separated by commas in writing).
Apposition states the relationship between the nouns, or indicates the
relationship with a name, or expresses the first noun phrase as an attribute of the
second noun phrase. The second (appositive) noun phrase has the same
grammatical status as the preceding noun phrase and the phrases can normally be
reversed without altering the meaning:
|
The Queen
| , |
the head of the Commonwealth
| , will be accompanied to the
conference by the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary.
|
The head of the Commonwealth
| , |
the Queen
| , will be accompanied to the
conference by the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary.
Other examples of apposition are:
I’m going to see |
my tutor
| , |
Dr Johnson
| , about a change of course.
I saw |
the clerk in charge
| , |
a very dubious-looking individual
| .
|
Seamus Deane’s novel
|
Reading in the Dark
| has been nominated for the
Booker Prize.
In written English, apposition is more likely to occur at the beginning of a clause,
as in several of the above examples. In spoken English, apposition regularly
occurs at the end of a clause but its position within a clause is generally a little
more flexible:
When you went in through the apartment door the first thing you saw was
|
the harbour
| – |
Sydney Harbour
| .
She got me to do |
the job
| for her, |
her fence
| .
(the job = repair her fence)
330 | The noun phrase
Cambridge Grammar of English
Equivalent information in written discourse is normally given by means of
premodifiers:
They’ve bought |
a new jeep
| , |
a new 2.6 litre turbo-diesel
| .
(preferred in written style: They’ve bought a new 2.6 litre turbo-diesel jeep.)
In journalistic styles, a characteristic order of common nouns preceding proper
nouns often occurs:
|
Former Prime Minister and scourge of Europe
| , |
Margaret Thatcher
| spoke
out today.
Û
96 Headers and 97 Tails for apposition-related structures
THE NOUN PHRASE IN SPEECH AND WRITING
174
There are differences in spoken and written uses of modifiers and complements.
Speech
In spoken English, especially in informal contexts, the clauses are sometimes
strung together in a sequence. In narratives, in particular, information is built up
more gradually and in smaller units. In the following examples post-head
elements are in bold and the head is in green:
[spoken]
There’s just so many
things
that we’ve got to tell them about and that they’ve
got to just sit down and listen to and that they’d better do something about.
[spoken narrative]
While we were on one of those Breton holidays she swam so far out that she
met the only other
person
who could swim, who turned out to be an Austrian
and that was only the
beginning
of our link with Austria.
Writing
In some registers of written English, especially those where space is restricted,
complex premodifiers are more common than simple ones and in certain written
varieties pre- and post-head elements are likely to occur together. In many of the
following examples, a lot of information is compressed into the noun phrase, often
because space has to be saved (e.g. in the case of newspaper headlines). In the
following examples, pre- and post-head elements are in bold and the head is in
green:
[advertisement]
Lightweight training
shoes
with dual density midsole.
[menu]
Lightly battered
prawns
with a spicy Thai red curry sauce.
[personal contact advertisement – newspaper]
Attractive, fun-loving
male
of independent means seeks mid-thirties
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: 
