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Understanding, Using and Teaching Prepositions (Murcia and Freeman, 2008)

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Title: Understanding, Using and Teaching Prepositions (Murcia and Freeman, 2008)


1
Prepositions
  • Understanding, Using and Teaching Prepositions
  • Prepared by
  • By Orly Agawin
  • Master of Arts in Education major in English
    Language Teaching
  • Philippine Normal University - Manila

2
General Fact Prepositions are NOTORIOUSLY
DIFFICULT TO LEARN
3
Fact 1
  • Germans, Russians and Latin have their preps
    inflected.

4
Fact 2
  • Preps with spatial meanings do not always match
    up well from one language to another.

5
Fact 3
  • Even native-speakers of English experience
    variable performances with regard to which
    preposition they use for meanings

6
Thus
  • It is critical that teachers analyze preposition
    through a TRIDIMENSIONAL approach focusing on
  • FORM
  • MEANING
  • USE

7
The Form of Prepositions (1 of 3)
  • Understanding, Using and Teaching Prepositions

8
THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS
  • BASIC CHARACTERISTICS
  • Prepositions are free morphemes
  • Prepositions, normally, precede a Noun or Noun
    Phrase
  • PrepP Prep NP (wherein N is the object of the
    preposition)
  • for us / for John
  • Some complex prepositions consist of two or more
    words that function as single prepositions
  • because of / on top of / in front of

9
THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS
  • CO-OCCURRENCE WITH VERBS, ADJECTIVES AND NOUNS
  • Verbs Prep Adj Prep
  • to rely on to be dependent on
  • to detract from to be free from / of
  • to consist of to be sorry for

10
THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS
  • Sometimes, the same verb with two different
    prepositions will have significantly different
    meanings.
  • You should provide for your old age now.
  • The Red Cross provided us with blankets last
    night.
  • I am moving on.
  • I am moving in.

11
THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS
  • However, sometimes, two different prepositions
    can be used with the same verb with little or no
    change of meaning.
  • John competes with his older brother.
  • John competes against his older brother.

12
THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS
  • It is possible for some verbs to be followed by a
    preposition.

I believe that. It wasnt at all what she had planned.
I believe in that. It wasnt at all what she had planned on.
In the samples, however, there are meaning
differences. Also, the prepositions weakens the
transitivity of the verb creating a distance
between the verb and its arguments.
13
THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS
  • If certain noun phrases are precedes or followed
    by a preposition, there may be only one possible
    option

PRECEDES NP FOLLOWS NP
In my opinion Objection to
To my mind Awareness of
From my point of view Belief in
14
THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS
  • Sometimes, noun phrases are both preceded and
    followed by a preposition to form multiword
    clusters.

in noun of on noun of in the noun of on the noun of
In case of On account of In the course of On the advice of
In charge of On behalf of In the habit of On the basis of
In favor of On grounds of In the name of On the strength of
15
THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS
  • Sometimes, prepositions are employed in
    compounding to deliver an idiomatic or cultural
    meaning LEXICAL COMPOUNDING

out verb over verb under verb down verb
Outdo Overdo Underestimate Downplay
Outrun Overrate Underrate Downgrade
Outlast Overhear Underscore Downshift
Outgrow Overcome Underwrite Downside
16
  • Deletion of Prepositions
  • Can Prepositions be deleted?
  • Yes, SOMETIMES!
  • Optional instances
  • Obligatory instances

17
OPTIONAL DELETION OF PREPOSITIONS
  • When the preposition for expresses a span of time

We have lived here (for) 12 years.
(For) how long have you owned the house?
18
OPTIONAL DELETION OF PREPOSITIONS
  • When the preposition on is used before days of
    the week
  • When the day is used alone or when the day
    modifies another temporal noun such as morning,
    afternoon, and night.

Brent went cross-country skiing (on) Saturday.
He bought a new pair of skis (on) Friday night.
19
OPTIONAL DELETION OF PREPOSITIONS
  • In responses to questions that would cue temporal
    use of in, at on, or for

QUESTION RESPONSE
How long have you lived here? (For) two years.
When do you wake up? (At) 6 A.M.
20
OBLIGATORY DELETION OF PREPOSITIONS
  • When you already used last, next, this, or
  • When the NP contains before, after, next, last
    or this.

I was busy on last Friday kasi e.
We will be in Manila on tonight na.
21
OBLIGATORY DELETION OF PREPOSITIONS
  • When the temporal noun phrase contains a
    universal quantifier like every and all.

We stayed in Davao for all week.
We bake cakes on every Tuesdays
The Sinulog festival celebrated in every January
22
OBLIGATORY DELETION OF PREPOSITIONS
  • When a locative noun (home, downtown), or
    pro-adverbs (here, there) are used with a verb of
    motion or direction.

We went to home.
Julie walked briskly to downtown.
Roger trains for the marathon to here everyday.
23
The Meaning of Prepositions (2 of 3)
  • Understanding, Using and Teaching Prepositions

24
THE MEANING OF PREPOSITIONS
  • Taylor, 1993 says that preps are generally
    polysemous
  • the coexistence of many possible meanings for a
    word or phrase

Stephanie is in the room.
The room is in a mess
Seth is in trouble.
In running out of the room, he knocked over a vase.
Hell be back in an hour.
25
LOCATING OBJECTS IN SPACE
  • Locating space involves two or more entities
  • Trajector N / NP
  • Landmark goal / objective / area
  • Basic Place Prepositions
  • At
  • On
  • In

26
LOCATING OBJECTS IN SPACE
  • AT
  • Denotes place as a point of orientation

Meet me at the corner.
She saw her at the store.
27
LOCATING OBJECTS IN SPACE
  • ON
  • Denotes physical contact between trajector and
    landmark (one/two dimensional space or surface

Dont sit on the desk!
Write on the line.
28
LOCATING OBJECTS IN SPACE
  • IN
  • Denotes enclosure of the trajector

We were in the room last night.
Write in the box.
29
Driven, 1993
30
LOCATING OBJECTS IN SPACE
  • By and with are proximity prepositions which are
    adjacent to at because they locate the trajector
    in relation to the point of orientation.

Doug lives by me.
He walks with me to school.
31
LOCATING OBJECTS IN SPACE
  • Through and about require a landmark to be seen
    as a surface or a volume and are therefore
    positioned next to in.

The first path is through the woods.
He walked about the room, searching.
32
MEANING EXTENSIONS OF SPATIAL PREPOSITIONS
  • The extensions of meanings of prepositions from
    physical space via time into more abstract
    domains do not occur in any haphazard way, but
    follow a path of gradually increasing
    abstractions, whereby the link with each prior
    meaning remains obvious and may acount for most,
    if not all, co-occurrence restrictions between
    trajector and landmark. (Driven, 1993)

33
MEANING EXTENSIONS OF SPATIAL PREPOSITIONS
  • The 7 meanings of at

SAMPLE SENTENCE MEANING / PURPOSE
The paper was lying at my feet. Locating an object in space
He was here at one o clock. Locating an object in time
Im never at ease when taking a test. Indicating state or condition
She wept at the bad news. Indicating cause or source of an action
The man over there is pointing at us. Indicating direction toward a goal
Shes a whiz at poker. Expressing skill in relation to an activity
He stopped playing at 50. (age) Indicating relative amount, degree, etc.
34
Lakoff, 1987
Lakoff shows how the central sense of over
combining the elements of above and across can be
depicted in an image schema
35
MEANING EXTENSIONS OF SPATIAL PREPOSITIONS
  • Central Schema to Prototypical Meanings

36
MEANINGS OF NON-SPATIAL PREPOSITIONS
  • The meanings of of
  • Generally, the preposition of does not denote
    space, but are mostly used for other relevant
    purposes

SAMPLE SENTENCE MEANING / PURPOSE
a story of a princess concerning about
the president of the the United States. derived or coming from
a man of courage having (X of Y)
37
The Use of Prepositions (3 of 3)
  • Understanding, Using and Teaching Prepositions

38
VARIATIONS IN USE
MEANING PREPOSITION
Spatial proximity By the lake
Time / degree approximation Happened around 10pm
Telling time A quarter of/to 10
Location along something linear The towns on / along Rhine
In a time period It happened in / during 1998
Temporal termination Work from 9 to / until / till 5
Location lower than something Below / beneath / under / underneath the bed
Location higher than something Above / over the table
Location in or at something Behind / in the back of the door
Location adjacent Next to / beside the stream
39
TEACHING PREPOSITIONS IN THE WORKPLACE
(Explaining a Bill)
40
TEACHING PREPOSITIONS IN THE WORKPLACE (Helping
Mrs. Jones)
41
Conclusion
  • It is critical that teachers analyze preposition
    through a TRIDIMENSIONAL approach focusing on
  • FORM
  • MEANING
  • USE

42
Prepositions
  • Understanding, Using and Teaching Prepositions
  • Prepared by
  • By Orly Agawin
  • Master of Arts in Education major in English
    Language Teaching
  • Philippine Normal University - Manila
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