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Preposition stranding. Preposition stranding or p-stranding is the syntactic construction in which a so-called stranded, hanging or dangling preposition occurs somewhere other than immediately before its corresponding object; for example, at the end of a sentence. The term preposition stranding was coined in 1964, predated by stranded ...
In these flexible cases, preposition phrases can be constructed with a continuous structure (pied-piping) or an alternative discontinuous structure (preposition stranding). [ 9 ] [ 10 ] When pied-piping occurs, the preposition phrase is continuous, because the preposition follows the focused expression to a new position.
English grammar. English prepositions are words – such as of, in, on, at, from, etc. – that function as the head of a prepositional phrase, and most characteristically license a noun phrase object (e.g., in the water). [1] Semantically, they most typically denote relations in space and time. [2] Morphologically, they are usually simple and ...
the preposition on has what as its complement, but what is moved to the start of the sentence, because it is an interrogative word. This sentence is much more common and natural than the equivalent sentence without stranding: "On what did you sit?" Preposition stranding is commonly found in English, [10] as well as North Germanic languages such ...
Topicalization. Topicalization is a mechanism of syntax that establishes an expression as the sentence or clause topic by having it appear at the front of the sentence or clause (as opposed to in a canonical position later in the sentence). This involves a phrasal movement of determiners, prepositions, and verbs to sentence-initial position. [1]
For instance, preposition stranding is largely absent from many of the other Germanic languages, and it may be completely absent from the Romance languages. Prescriptive grammars often claim that preposition stranding should be avoided in English as well, although it may feel artificial or stilted to a native speaker to move the preposition.
His 1978 dissertation on the syntax of prepositional phrases led to a better understanding of the internal structure of prepositional phrases and the phenomenon of preposition stranding. In later work he showed that, just like nominal and verbal projections, the adpositional projection can contain functional material, specifically so-called ...
Archaic, dialectal, or specialized. The following prepositions are not widely used in Present-Day English. Some, such as bating and forby, are archaic and typically only used to convey the tone of a bygone era. Others, such as ayond and side, are generally used only by speakers of a particular variety of English.