Title: Understanding, Using and Teaching Prepositions (Murcia and Freeman, 2008)
1Prepositions
- Understanding Using and Teaching Prepositions
- Prepared by
- By Orly Agawin
- Master of Arts in Education major in English
Language Teaching - Philippine Normal University - Manila
2General Fact Prepositions are NOTORIOUSLY
DIFFICULT TO LEARN
3Fact 1
- Germans Russians and Latin have their preps
inflected.
4Fact 2
- Preps with spatial meanings do not always match
up well from one language to another.
5Fact 3
- Even native-speakers of English experience
variable performances with regard to which
preposition they use for meanings
6Thus
- It is critical that teachers analyze preposition
through a TRIDIMENSIONAL approach focusing on - FORM
- MEANING
- USE
7The Form of Prepositions (1 of 3)
- Understanding Using and Teaching Prepositions
8THE 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
9THE 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
10THE 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.
11THE 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.
12THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS
- It is possible for some verbs to be followed by a
preposition.
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.
13THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS
- If certain noun phrases are precedes or followed
by a preposition there may be only one possible
option
14THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS
- Sometimes noun phrases are both preceded and
followed by a preposition to form multiword
clusters.
15THE FORM OF PREPOSITIONS
- Sometimes prepositions are employed in
compounding to deliver an idiomatic or cultural
meaning LEXICAL COMPOUNDING
16- Deletion of Prepositions
- Can Prepositions be deleted
- Yes SOMETIMES!
- Optional instances
- Obligatory instances
17OPTIONAL DELETION OF PREPOSITIONS
- When the preposition for expresses a span of time
18OPTIONAL 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.
19OPTIONAL DELETION OF PREPOSITIONS
- In responses to questions that would cue temporal
use of in at on or for
20OBLIGATORY DELETION OF PREPOSITIONS
- When you already used last next this or
- When the NP contains before after next last
or this.
21OBLIGATORY DELETION OF PREPOSITIONS
- When the temporal noun phrase contains a
universal quantifier like every and all.
22OBLIGATORY DELETION OF PREPOSITIONS
- When a locative noun (home downtown) or
pro-adverbs (here there) are used with a verb of
motion or direction.
23The Meaning of Prepositions (2 of 3)
- Understanding Using and Teaching Prepositions
24THE MEANING OF PREPOSITIONS
- Taylor 1993 says that preps are generally
polysemous - the coexistence of many possible meanings for a
word or phrase
25LOCATING OBJECTS IN SPACE
- Locating space involves two or more entities
- Trajector N / NP
- Landmark goal / objective / area
- Basic Place Prepositions
- At
- On
- In
26LOCATING OBJECTS IN SPACE
- AT
- Denotes place as a point of orientation
27LOCATING OBJECTS IN SPACE
- ON
- Denotes physical contact between trajector and
landmark (one/two dimensional space or surface
28LOCATING OBJECTS IN SPACE
- IN
- Denotes enclosure of the trajector
29Driven 1993
30LOCATING 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.
31LOCATING 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.
32MEANING 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)
33MEANING EXTENSIONS OF SPATIAL PREPOSITIONS
34Lakoff 1987
Lakoff shows how the central sense of over
combining the elements of above and across can be
depicted in an image schema
35MEANING EXTENSIONS OF SPATIAL PREPOSITIONS
- Central Schema to Prototypical Meanings
36MEANINGS OF NON-SPATIAL PREPOSITIONS
- The meanings of of
- Generally the preposition of does not denote
space but are mostly used for other relevant
purposes
37The Use of Prepositions (3 of 3)
- Understanding Using and Teaching Prepositions
38VARIATIONS IN USE
39TEACHING PREPOSITIONS IN THE WORKPLACE
(Explaining a Bill)
40TEACHING PREPOSITIONS IN THE WORKPLACE (Helping
Mrs. Jones)
41Conclusion
- It is critical that teachers analyze preposition
through a TRIDIMENSIONAL approach focusing on - FORM
- MEANING
- USE
42Prepositions
- Understanding Using and Teaching Prepositions
- Prepared by
- By Orly Agawin
- Master of Arts in Education major in English
Language Teaching - Philippine Normal University - Manila
