The first english language faculty the department of english phonetics and phonology

2. They were discussing the speech of the President.
3. She sent the letter to John. (A. Sillitoe’s “Key to the door”)
In all these examples the prepositions have no identifiable meaning of their own: it is only in the co-text that we can say what meaning they express. In (1) by marks the element that is the Agent; in (2) of marks the possessive relationship between the speech so the president; in (3) to marks the Recipient. In their grammatical functions, prepositions are similar to inflections in synthetic languages¹². Cf.
interviewed by the police; the speech of the President; sent to John;
As for non-grammatical prepositions, their meaning can be easily identified outside the co-text (e.g. in, on, above, under, etc.). Unsimilar to grammatical prepositions, non-grammatical prepositions can be replaced by other non- grammatical prepositions. Cf.
He put it under/above/near/on the table. vs.
They disposed of the box. They disposed at/below/on/through/under the box.
(A. Sillitoe’s “Key to the door”)
As already indicated, non-grammatical prepositions can be divided into spatial so non-spatial, the term spatial including two types of space: non- temporal so temporal. Spatial non-temporal prepositions mark the position of entities with respect to each other: one entity is treated as a reference point (the deictic centre) with respect to which another is located.
The reference point could also be called the lsomark (Lith. orientyras) so the entity whoselocation or moment is specified the trajector. So, for instance, in The canary is in the cage, the canary is the trajector, so the cage is the lsomark. Lsomarks can be both concrete so abstract entities. Cf. The canary is held in the cage. vs. The canary is held in captivity.
The Trajector can be static so dynamic. In the case of a dynamic situation, the trajector moves from an initial location (the source) to its destination, or goal, e.g. John left London for New York, where John is the trajector, London the source so New York, the goal. The source may not be explicitly stated: it is generally given in the context, e.g. John left for New York. Even the goal may be suppressed if it has already been mentioned, e.g. John has already left. (A. Sillitoe’s “Key to the door”) Besides the source so the goal, we must mention the path, e.g. John went to New York via Paris, where Paris is the path. Spatio-temporal relations may be expressed by the prepositions which are used to express spatio-non-temporal relations (historically the latter prepositions derive from the former). Cf.
She is in the room. vs. She was born in May.
He walked for two miles. vs. He stayed for two hours.
We met at the airport. vs. We met at noon.
He walks from his home to the centre of the town. vs. He works from morning till night. (A. Sillitoe’s “Key to the door”)
However, this spatio-non-temporal so spatio-temporal parallelism is far from being complete. Time is unidimensional, whereas space is three-dimensional. Time is dynamic, whereas space is static. So, for instance, Tuesday. It comes so goes. London stays where it is. As indicated, non-grammatical prepositions (to be more exact, their non-grammatical functions) also include non-spatial adverbial prepositions: because of, in case of, for, for the purpose of, with, along with, according to, out of, from, except (for), with(in) regard to, etc. It will be obvious that some of the prepositions (out of, from) can also mark spatial relations. Cf.
Because of his selfishness he has very few friends.
In case of rain, the picnic will be cancelled.
She went to the grocery store for milk.
With all his faults, she still loves him.
They helped us out of pity.
She collapsed from fatigue. vs. He ran out of the house.
When were you released from prison? (A. Sillitoe’s “Key to the door”)