Introducing English Linguistics

keeping city streets on the move and is even the
object of the best modern designers’ desire. 
(BNC A3M 67)
So we have this idea of 
how well they’re closing and opening. 
(ICE-GB S2A-056 056)
The semantic classes in which prepositions can be classified are quite com-
plex. Two of the more basic meanings that prepositions express are time
and location. In on the hill, on specifies location. In other contexts, however,
it can express time: on time, on my birthday. Other prepositions can likewise
express both time and space: in a moment/in the garden; at noon/at my father’s
house; by tomorrow/by the bookcase. However, while these meanings are easy
to discern, others are more difficult. For instance, the preposition in pre-
ceding  keeping city streets on the move in the above example has no easily
English syntax
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identifiable meaning. Instead, its use is more a consequence of its follow-
ing the head noun role, which purely for reasons of idiom takes the prepo-
sition  in. English contains many idiomatic combinations of prepositions
with nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Table 5.3 contains some examples. Of
course, this is a mere sampling of the various idiomatic combinations
represented in the table. Verb–preposition combinations are so common
in English that they are sometimes referred to as phrasal verbs or prepo-
sitional verbs. One difference between the two constructions is that while
the preposition can be moved in a phrasal verb –
I’ve got to take down all that wallpaper. 
(CIC)
... take all that wallpaper down.
– in a prepositional verb, it cannot:
She looked at Ethel, who had secured a notebook and pencil. 
(BNC AOD 2249)
*She looked Ethel at, ...