Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

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235f, 235g

Phrasal-prepositional verbs

Sometimes the preposition is preceded by an adverb particle, and the verb +

adverb particle + preposition structure forms a verb with a unitary meaning.

These verbs are called phrasal-prepositional verbs:

I don’t know how she’ll

put up with the noise.

We’re 

looking forward to the match.

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Prepositions and prepositional phrases | 467

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Predicative complements

Prepositional phrases also act as predicative complements, most typically of 

place:

I was 

at the office all day.

Just put it 

on my desk, please.

Postmodifiers and complements

Prepositional phrases act as postmodifiers or as complements in noun phrases (in

green):

That guy 

in the pub last night

was getting on my nerves. 

(postmodifier)

It was in 

the shape

of a triangle

. 

(complement)

They also act as postmodifiers and complements in adjective and adverb phrases

(in green):

She’s 

quite tall 

for a five-year-old

, isn’t she?

(postmodifier)

Both brothers were 

good 

at football

.

(complement)

He performed quite 

well 

on the whole

.

(postmodifier)

Luckily 

for me

there was another train just half an hour later.

(postmodifier)

Premodifiers

Numerals may be premodified by a prepositional phrase:

Children of 

under fourteen

years of age will not be admitted. 

It’ll cost 

just over two hundred

pounds.

Preposition stranding 

257

A preposition is described as stranded when it is separated from its complement:

complement preposition

What was she referring to?

(preposition stranding)

prep + comp 

To what was she referring?

(more formal, without preposition stranding)

In traditional style guides, advice is often given never to end a sentence with a preposition,

meaning that prepositions should not be stranded. However, the situation concerning the

usage of prepositions is rather more complex than such advice suggests.

468 | Prepositions and prepositional phrases

Cambridge Grammar of English

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Preposition stranding occurs in the following main structures:

Who did you talk 

to?

(wh-interrogatives)

I need someone to go 

with.

(relative clauses)

It’s the only garage which we have any confidence 

in.

(relative clauses)

Tell me what they are so afraid 

of.

(indirect wh-interrogatives)

It’s being looked 

into.

(passives)

It’s too slippery to walk 

on.

(infinitive complements)

Preposition stranding is common in informal styles. In formal structures, prepositions tend

to occur with their complements:

He is the officer we’d been talking 

with.

(informal)

He is the officer 

with whom we’d been talking.

(formal)

Which building was the smoke coming 

out of ?

(informal)

Out of which building was the smoke coming?

(formal)

When a prepositional phrase is the complement of a verb (went to the match in the example

below), the stranded preposition may occur before or after the prepositional phrase:

He’s the friend I went 

to the match

with last Wednesday.

(or: He’s the friend I went with

to the match

last Wednesday

.)

If the context allows for ellipsis, a reduced wh-question may consist simply of a wh-word +

stranded preposition:

A: We’re going on holiday next week.

B: Oh, where to?

A: I’ve got to buy a birthday card.

B: Oh yeah. Who for?

When the meaning is obvious from the text, stranded prepositions of place may occasionally

be omitted, especially in informal conversation:

A: Do you like Tokyo?

B: Yes, it’s a very safe place to live.

(understood: Yes, it’s a very safe place to live in.)

A: I’m going out tonight.

B: Oh yeah, where? 

(understood: Where to?)

Some prepositions, including frequent prepositions such as during and since, resist

stranding:

During which of the terms did it happen, spring or autumn?

(preferred to: Which of the terms did it happen during?)

Since when has the train service stopped?

(When has the train service stopped since?)

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also 472–475 Word order and focus; 94 Ellipsis

A–Z

5 About; 6 Above; 7 According to; 10 After, afterwards; 11 Against; 21 At; 

24 Before; 26 Between, among; 32 Down; 33 During; 43 For; 55 Of; 

63 Over; 79 With