|
Complex preposition
|
Frequency in BNC
|
Complex preposition
|
Frequency in BNC
|
in terms of
|
10,060
|
in view of
|
1,507
|
in front of
|
6,118
|
by way of
|
1,419
|
in relation to
|
4,668
|
with respect to
|
1,330
|
in favour of
|
3,528
|
in conjunction with
|
1,267
|
in addition to
|
3,426
|
in line with
|
1,241
|
in respect of
|
2,932
|
in support of
|
1,083
|
on behalf of
|
2,713
|
in search of
|
980
|
in spite of
|
2,703
|
by virtue of
|
953
|
on top of
|
2,516
|
in return for
|
937
|
in accordance with
|
2,032
|
in contrast to
|
877
|
in response to
|
2,004
|
in excess of
|
835
|
with regard to
|
1,656
|
in place of
|
775
|
in charge of
|
1,630
|
in need of
|
774
|
by means of
|
1,617
|
in common with
|
773
|
in connection with
|
1,577
|
by reference to
|
660
|
|
|
|
Total 64,591
|
This table can be considered as reflecting the normative use of complex prepositions. The use of complex prepositions in the scientific register will be compared with these results to test whether the context has any effect on the distribution of these prepositions. Since there is a discrepancy between complex prepositions and free constructions based on the degree of idiomaticity, the difference between complex prepositions and simple prepositions can also be attributed to this fact.
LEXICAL MEANING OF PREPOSITIONS
There are four types of prepositions, including the prepositions of time, the prepositions of place and the prepositions of direction. the prepositions of time are: before, after, during, and until; prepositions of place are those that indicate a position, such as around, between, and against; and the prepositions of direction are prepositions indicating direction, for example, across, up, and down. And prepositions expressing abstract relation (by, with, because of, with a view of, etc 12
The lexical meaning of some prepositions is quite concrete (e.g. in, below, between, before, till, after), while that of some other prepositions may be weakened to a great extent ( e.g. to, by, of).
For instance, the preposition to generally indicate direction or movement toward something:
Every night Sissy went to Rachel`s lodging, and sat with her in her small neat room.(Dickens).
But in some cases the lexical meaning of the preposition to is weakened.
… all the house belongs to me, or will do in a few years (Ch.Bronte).
Some prepositions are polysemantic and may express different relations; e.g. for:
Never once had Erik sensed the struggle for the life. (Wilson) (purpose)
Even when their eyes had met and sisters had approached the bed, Louisa lay for minutes looking at her in silence…( Diskens) (time)
She could scarely move her head for pain and heaviness, her eyes were strained and sore, and she was very weak. (Diskens) (cause) (Kaushanskaya)
Prepositions of Time.
The main examples of time prepositions include at, on, in, before and after. They are used to help indicate when something happened, will happen or will happen. This can be a bit confusing, as many different prepositions can be used. Prepositions of Time provisional examples in the following sentences are shown in bold to facilitate identification. For example:
I was born on July 4th, 1982.
I was born in 1982.
I was born at exactly 2am.
I was born two minutes before my twin brother.
I was born after the Great War ended.
The sentences given above makes quite difficult to indicate when we should use proper prepositions. However, there are a number of rules that can help decide which preposition to use:
For years, months, seasons, centuries and times of day, the preposition "in" is used:
I first met John in 1987.
It’s always cold in January
Easter falls in spring each year.
The Second World War occurred in the 20th century.
We eat breakfast in the morning.
For days, dates and specific holidays, the phrase "on" is used.
We go to school on Mondays, but not on Sunday
Christmas is on December 25th.
Buy me a present on my birthday.
For time, exception indicators and festivals, the phrase "at" is used:
Families often argue at Christmas time.
I work faster at night.
Her shift finished at 7pm.
"Before" and "after" should be much easier to understand than other examples of time prepositions. Both explain when something happened, happened or will happen, but specifically in relation to the other.
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