{"id":2571,"date":"2016-08-19T14:36:08","date_gmt":"2016-08-19T21:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/?p=2571"},"modified":"2016-11-03T21:37:04","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T04:37:04","slug":"what-are-complex-prepositions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/what-are-complex-prepositions\/","title":{"rendered":"What are Complex Prepositions?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A complex preposition consists of two words taken together to perform the office of one connective. \u2014\u00a0A Practical Grammar of the English Language<\/em> (1869)\u00a0 by\u00a0 Andrew Burtt<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As the quote illustrates, complex prepositions are a REAL THING and have been around since at least 1869. Having said that, they do create a certain amount of confusion and debate, and modern grammar continues to challenge traditional grammar\u2019s concept of all prepositions. In The Cambridge Grammar of English Language<\/em> (2002), Rodney Huddleston writes, \u201cOne of the main respects in which the present grammar departs from traditional grammar is in its conception of prepositions.\u201d<\/p>\n

We have two basic groups of complex prepositions:<\/h5>\n

1.\u00a0Two-Word Complex Prepositions
\n2.\u00a0Three-Word and Four-Word Complex Prepositions<\/p>\n

And here is a relatively complete list of both types.<\/p>\n

Two-Word Complex Prepositions: 37 Total<\/h3>\n

1) according to,\u00a0 2) adjacent to,\u00a0 3) ahead of,\u00a0 4) along with,\u00a0 5) apart from,\u00a0 6) as for,\u00a0 7) as of,\u00a0 8) as per,\u00a0 9) as regards,\u00a0 10) as to,\u00a0 11) aside from,\u00a0 12) away from,\u00a0 13) because of,\u00a0 14) but for,\u00a0 15) close to,\u00a0 16) contrary to,\u00a0 17) due to,\u00a0 18) except for,\u00a0 19) far from,\u00a0 20) in between,\u00a0 21) inside of,\u00a0 22) instead of,\u00a0 23) irrespective of,\u00a0 24) next to,\u00a0 25) opposite to,\u00a0 26) out of,\u00a0 27) outside of,\u00a0 28) owing to,\u00a0 29) pertaining to,\u00a0 30) prior to,\u00a0 31) pursuant to,\u00a0 32) regardless of,\u00a0 33) subsequent to,\u00a0 34) thanks to,\u00a0 35) together with,\u00a0 36) up against,\u00a0 37) up to.<\/p>\n

Three-Word and Four-Word Complex Prepositions: 45 Total<\/h3>\n

Note:<\/em> The three-word and four-word prepositions are very similar in structure, except that the four-word prepositions contains an article (the<\/em> or a<\/em>).<\/p>\n

1) as a result of,\u00a0 2) at the expense of,\u00a0 3) by means of,\u00a0 4) by virtue of,\u00a0 5) by way of,\u00a0 6) for the sake of,\u00a0 7) in accordance with \/ to,\u00a0 8) in addition to,\u00a0 9) in back of,\u00a0 10) in case of,\u00a0 11) in charge of,\u00a0 12) in comparison with \/ to,\u00a0 13) in common with,\u00a0 14) in connection with \/ to,\u00a0 15) in contact with,\u00a0 16) in contrast with \/ to,\u00a0 17) in exchange for,\u00a0 18) in favor of,\u00a0 19) in front of,\u00a0 20) in lieu of,\u00a0 21) in (the) light of,\u00a0 22) in line with,\u00a0 23) in need of,\u00a0 24) in place of,\u00a0 25) in the process of,\u00a0 26) in reference to,\u00a0 27) in regard to,\u00a0 28) in relation to,\u00a0 29) in respect to,\u00a0 30) in return for,\u00a0 31) in search of,\u00a0 32) in spite of,\u00a0 33) in terms of,\u00a0 34) in view of,\u00a0 35) on account of,\u00a0 36) on behalf of,\u00a0 37) on the matter of,\u00a0 38) on top of,\u00a0 39) to the left of,\u00a0 40) to the right of,\u00a0 41) to the side of,\u00a0 42) with reference to,\u00a0 43) with regard to,\u00a0 44) with respect to,\u00a0 45) with the exception of.<\/p>\n

Valid Complex Prepositions<\/h3>\n

I\u2019ve come across a number of lists of complex prepositions that would be a source of great debate for grammarians, and some lists even contain outright errors. Many questionable prepositions look quite similar to the prepositions listed above, but do not parse as complex prepositions, and don\u2019t appear on most authoritative lists of prepositions.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve chosen to omit words that are debatable. I\u2019ve also omitted rarely used and archaic complex prepositions. For this reason, you may be able to find a few more complex prepositions than the 82 I have listed above. Having said that, I have confirmed that at least one authoritative source has listed each of these 82 complex prepositions as being valid. To some extent, complex prepositions are created through idiomatic use, and I didn\u2019t want to include any complex prepositions that might be debatable or that are just plain wrong.<\/p>\n

What are Complex Prepositions? Answer: Wolf Packs<\/h3>\n

Young student writers want to understand how and why groups of words (phrases, clauses, compound words etc.) can act just like one word. The short answer is this: That\u2019s just how language works. A longer answer would involve a study of syntactic slots.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve found one more technique that makes things quite clear for young grammarians: It\u2019s an analogy and a metaphor from the animal kingdom. I call a group of words that functions as a single unit a Wolf Pack. (Note:<\/em> I never overuse terms like this; this is simply a teaching tool that makes sense to students.) Of course, a teacher can use ants or killer whales or dolphins or lions or birds in flight, but I\u2019ve found that a Wolf Pack is the best metaphor. And if you can find a nice documentary clip of a wolf pack in a chase in the snow, all the better.<\/p>\n

All prepositional phrases are Wolf Packs, and prepositional phrase that contain complex prepositions compound the concept.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Complex Prepositions = Wolf Packs = Function as a single unit, and function as a single part of speech (prepositions).<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Prepositional Phrases = Wolf Packs = Function as a single unit, and function as a single part of speech (primarily adverbs and adjectives).<\/p>\n

Debating and Parsing Complex Prepositions<\/h3>\n

If people wish to debate complex prepositions, it comes down to debating how one should parse a sentence. Parsing involves breaking a sentence into parts based on how the parts connect syntactically. Parsing sentences has a long history in grammar instruction, but plenty of modern research indicates that it\u2019s not an effective use of class time<\/strong><\/a>. Having said that, I do recommend becoming familiar with a few different online parsers: e.g., Stanford, Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon. Please note, all these online parsers are based on modern linguistics and don\u2019t align perfectly with traditional grammar or with school grammar. Furthermore, different parsers deliver different results. Still, they are extremely interesting and useful tools.<\/p>\n

The following parsing example will help you understand what goes on inside a complex preposition. Grammarians do debate and argue about complex prepositions, and parsers do deliver different results. Here are two different parsing results for one very simple sentence.<\/p>\n

The sentences is this: Kim rested prior to the meeting<\/em>. The complex preposition is this: prior to<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t
Parsers<\/strong><\/th><\/td>Adverb<\/strong><\/th>Prepositional Phrase<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
1. Carnegie & Stanford<\/td>Kim rested<\/td>prior.<\/td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2. Stanford<\/td>Kim rested<\/td>prior<\/td>to the meeting.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3. Carnegie<\/td>Kim rested<\/td><\/td>prior to the meeting.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\nBoth parsers agree that by itself \u201cprior\u201d is an adverb. However, the parsers disagree on how to treat \u201cprior to.\u201d By studying this one example and the different interpretations, you understand a great deal about complex prepositions. However, you will understand them even better and be able to spot them and analyze them better once you understand the common complex-preposition patterns.<\/p>\n

Complex Preposition Patterns<\/h3>\n

Complex preposition contain multiple words. But what kinds of words? Individually, most of the words function as prepositions, adjectives (including participle adjectives), adverbs, conjunctions, nouns, and articles. These words usually combine according to specific patterns.<\/p>\n

Two-Word Complex Preposition Pattern: Total 37<\/h3>\n

The two-word prepositions are pretty straightforward. You will notice that I provide a frequency count for the second word. Many of the first words can be used as several different parts of speech, so there is no way to come up with an accurate count.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0 First Word:<\/strong> The first word is usually an adjective (including participle adjective), adverb, or conjunction.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0 Second Word:<\/strong> The second word is usually one of these prepositions: to (16), of (9), from (4), for (3), with (2), misc. (4).<\/p>\n

Three-Word and Four-Word Complex Preposition Pattern: Total 45<\/h3>\n

These complex prepositions create a phrase that can be interpreted as two prepositional phrases in a row. They all contain two prepositions and follow these two patterns:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Preposition + Noun + Preposition<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 (Total: 36)
\n2.\u00a0 Preposition + Article (the, a) + Noun + Preposition<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 (Total: 9)<\/p>\n

Each of these 45 complex preposition uses two prepositions, and 94 prepositions are used in total. Surprisingly, only 8 individual prepositions are used: of<\/em> (28), in<\/em> (27), to<\/em> (15), with<\/em> (10), on<\/em> (10), by<\/em> (3), as<\/em> (1), at<\/em> (1).<\/p>\n

Be sure to read:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 82 Color-Coded Complex Prepositions in Prepositional Phrases \u2013 Example Sentences with Analysis<\/strong><\/a>
\n2.\u00a0 74 Color-Coded Prepositional Phrase Example Sentences with Analysis<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A complex preposition consists of two words taken together to perform the office of one connective. \u2014\u00a0A Practical Grammar of the English Language (1869)\u00a0 by\u00a0 Andrew Burtt As the quote illustrates, complex prepositions are a REAL THING and have been around since at least 1869. Having said that, they do create a certain amount of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[180],"tags":[430,435,434,422,426],"class_list":["post-2571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar-spelling-ideas-tips","tag-complex-prepositions","tag-grammar-instruction","tag-list-of-prepositions","tag-prepositional-phrases","tag-prepositions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2571"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2578,"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571\/revisions\/2578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}