About Prof Munawar Ali Malik

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Mianwali, Punjab, Pakistan
Qualifications M.A English, B.ED Teaching experience: School Level: 11 years ----College Level: 25 years

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Preposition is the Spice of Language

Of course the Preposition is the spice of the language in the sense that it makes the language smart, effective, impressive and witty. It lends grace to simplicity, and makes the language easy to speak and write.
        Look at the following example, for instance:
A)   The police will investigate the case.
B)   The police will look into the case.
 Both these sentences have the same meaning. The word investigate in the first sentence is a pretty tough word to speak and write as compared with look into in the second sentence.
Here is another interesting example.
A)   I cannot comprehend what you say.
B)   I cannot make out what you say       
  Look into and make out are known as Phrasal Verbs. You see how a Preposition added to a simple Verb can make it easy for us to speak and write English. Moreover, the use of Phrasal Verbs is the smart way to speak and write. In modern English Phrasal Verbs are the first choice in speech and writing.
                In many cases a simple Preposition is preferred to a long phrase. For instance nobody says
        I went to the shop for the purpose of buying a book
                Instead we say
        I went to the shop to buy a book
        The simple Preposition to has the same meaning as the phrase
                for the purpose of
        Sometimes a single Preposition can express the meaning of a Phrase e.g.instead of ‘ I don’t know much about music ‘ we can say ‘I am not into music.’
        So we see how Prepositions beautify and smarten up the language. It is therefore right to say that Preposition is the spice of language.
        Let us now study the Preposition in detail, starting with definition of the Preposition.
THE PREPOSITION
        Literally the word Preposition means something placed before another thing.
        In grammar, the word Preposition is known as a Part of Speech (Single or compound word) placed before a Noun or a Pronoun to show its relation to something else. For example
on the desk
                        in the desk
                        under the desk
                        beside the desk
                        over the desk
        Each of the Prepositions in the above sentences shows a different-relation between the desk and something else e.g.
The book is on the desk
The book is in the desk
The book is under the desk
The book is beside the desk
The book is over the desk
        The Noun or Pronoun used with the Preposition is called the Object of the Preposition.
        In the above examples the Prepositions on , in , under and over are single words.
        They are known as Simple Prepositions. Some Prepositions are made of two Prepositions or with a Noun, Adjective or Adverb as a Prefix as given below
        into     = in + to
        across = a + cross
        around = a + round
        within  = with + in
        without= with + out
        herewith= here + with
        Such Prepositions are known as Compound Prepositions
        Some Prepositions come in groups of words making Phrases that have the force of a Preposition e.g.
                according to
                in accordance with
                in front of
         In such a case the Preposition is called a Phrase Composition
        A Preposition sometimes acts as an Adverb. Look at the following examples:-
Preposition                                               Abverb
1. I was in my room.                            I came in at 3 O’clock
2. I know about this case                     he was wandering about
        We see that the words in and about are Prepositions when they modify the Nouns, and these same words in and about are Adverbs when they modify the Verbs. Note that with Nouns these words come before the Nouns and with Verbs they come after the Verbs.  
Functions of the Preposition
        The main function of the Preposition is to express relations of various types as given below:
A)   Place : e.g
1.    He sat beside me.
2.    The boy fell into the river.
3.    I was in my office
B)   Time : e.g
1.    He went in before me
2.    the train arrived at 7 am
C)   Means or instruments : e.g
1.    I got the news through a friend.
2.    Write with this pen
D)   Cause or Reason: e.g.
1.    He died of Cholera.
2.    He trembled with fear
E)    Possession: e.g.
1.    Name of the writer
2.    The girl with blue eyes.
F)    Measure or standard :e.g.
1.    I bought the cloth at Rs. 7- per meter.
2.    Eggs are sold by the dozen.
In the same way Prepositions serve a number of other purposes. New uses of Preposition are coming up everyday. Therefore it is impossible to make a complete list of all the functions of the Preposition.

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