preposition
noun/ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/
Etymology From Middle English preposicioun, from Old French preposicion, from Latin praepositio, praepositionem, from praepono (“to place before”), equivalent to pre- + position. Compare French préposition. So called because it is placed before the word with which it is phrased, as in a bridge of iron, he comes from town, it is good for food, he escaped by running.
Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences Strict sense Any of a class of non-inflecting words and multiword terms typically employed to connect a following noun or a pronoun, in an adjectival or adverbial sense, with some other word: a particle used with a noun or pronoun (in English always in the objective case) to make a phrase limiting some other word.
- 322. The parts of speech which are neither declined nor conjugated, are called by the general name of particles. 323. They are adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.1844, E. A. Andrews, First Lessions in Latin; or Introduction to Andrews and Stoddard's Latin Grammar, 6th edition, Boston, page 91:
- And in (121) below, we see that when a wh-NP is used as the Object of a Preposition, the whole Prepositional Phrase can undergo WH MOVEMENT: (121) (a) [To whom] can I send this letter —? (121) (b) [About what] are they quarrelling —? (121) (c) [In which book] did you read about it —?1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 9, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 495:
1 more example
- I love this girl. “On which I can get my hands” — even in her darkest moment, she cannot bring herself to end a sentence with a preposition.2014 June 1, “Net Neutrality”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 1, episode 5, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:
Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences Broadly An adposition.
Obsolete A proposition; an exposition; a discourse.
- […] he made a longe preposicion & oracion cōcernynge yͤ allegiaūce which he exortyd his lordes to owe1811 [1516], Robert Fabyan, edited by Sir Henry Ellis, The New Chronicles of England and France, page 116:
- Derived terms
- intransitive preposition, phrasal preposition, prepositional, prepositionally, prepositional phrase, prepositionhood, prepositionless, preposition of place, preposition of time
- Related terms
- prepose, prepositive, preverb
- Hypernyms
- adposition, part of speech, term, word
- Coordinate terms
- circumposition, postposition