2020-12-05
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด P – Prepositions
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Dictionary.com
ออกเสียง Preposition = ‘prep-uh-ZISH-uhn’
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree
Preposition =
a word governing and usually precedinga noun or pronoun and
expressing a relation to another word or element;
examples of prepositions
are in, on, by, to, from, since, for, of:
Where did you come from? What shelf did you put it on? That’s what it’s for.
Not to be confused with:
proposition = a proposal; a suggestion
of something to be considered, adopted, etc.:
a proposition of marriage or sexual relations
Dictionary.com
GRAMMAR NOTES FOR PREPOSITION
The often heard but misleading “rule”that
a sentence should not end with a preposition is transferred from Latin,
where it is an accurate description of practice.
But English grammar is different from Latin grammar,
and the rule does not fit English.
In speech, the final preposition is normal and idiomatic, especially in questions:
What are we waiting for? Where did he come from?
You didn't tell me which floor you worked on.
In writing, the problem of placing the preposition
arises most when a sentence ends with a relative clause
in which the relative pronoun (that; whom; which; whomever; whichever; whomsoever)
is the object of a preposition.
In edited writing, especially more formal writing,
when a pronoun other than that
introduces a final relative clause, the prepositionusually precedes its object:
He abandoned the project to which he had devoted his whole life.
I finally telephoned the representative with whom I had been corresponding.
If the pronoun is that,
which cannot be preceded by a preposition,
or if the pronoun is omitted,
then the preposition must occur at the end:
The librarian found the books that the child had scribbled in.
There is the woman he spoke of.
Common Errors In English Usage Dictionary
Prepositions (repeated)
In the sentence
“Alex liked Nancy, with whom he shared his Snickers bar with”
only one “with” is needed
—eliminate either one.
Look out for similarly duplicated prepositions.
Incidentally,
an often-cited example of this pattern is from Paul McCartney’s Live and Let Die:
“In this ever-changing world in which we live in”;
but if you listen closely, you’ll hear instead a quite correct
“In this ever-changing world in which we’re livin’.”
Americans have a hard time hearing the soft British “R” in “we’re.”
Prepositions (wrong)
One of the clearest indications that a person reads little
and doesn’t hear much formal English
is a failure to use the right preposition in a common expression.
You aren’t ignorant to a fact; you’re ignorantof it.
Things don’t happen on accident,
but by accident (though they do happen “on purpose”).
There are no simple rules governing preposition usage:
you just have to immerse yourself in goodEnglish in order to write it naturally.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Frequently Asked Questions About preposition
Can you end a sentence with a preposition?
There is nothing wrong with ending a sentence in a preposition
like to, with, for, or at.
English speakers have been doing so since the days of Old English.
The people who claim that a terminal preposition is wrong
are clinging to an idea born in the 17th century
and largely abandoned by grammar and usage experts in the early 20th.
What exactly is a preposition?
A preposition is a word
—and almost always a very small, very commonword
—that shows direction (to in"a letter to you"),
location (at in "at the door"), or
time (by in "by noon"), or
that introduces an object (of in "a basket of apples").
Prepositions are typically followed byan object,
which can be a noun (noon), a noun phrase(the door), or a pronoun (you).
What is an example of a preposition?
The most common prepositions
are at, by, for, from, in, of, on, to, and with.
Other common prepositions are
about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around,
because of, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between,
close to,
down, during,
except, inside, instead of, into,
like, near, off, on top of, onto, out of, outside , over,
past, since, through, toward, under, until, up, upon, within, without.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Writing Rules You Can Break
(No Matter What Your English Teacher Taught You)
When it comes to writing, there are rulesgalore.
We start learning them in grammar school,
when we’re first taught that sentences should end with periods
and questions with question marks.
Then, through the years,
we’re introduced to preposition prohibitions,
the dangers of dangling participles,
the sins of split infinitives (oh my!), and more.
Soon, writing
—which at its essence is a creative process
—feels laden with strict land mines and may startto become formulaic and stuffy.
As they say though, rules are made to be broken,
and that’s especially true when it comes tothe English language.
Yep, some of those rules
your high school English teacher taught you are outdated,
without basis, and unnecessary.
And, unless you’re writing in a traditional, strict environment
(that high school English paper comes to mind), you can ignore them.
(Any guesses as to which rule we just broke there?
Hint: see number five below.)
Here are five writing rules you may want to consider breaking …
Five writing rules you can break
1. Never end a sentence with a preposition
While you should still avoid ending a sentence witha preposition,
if you must do linguistic gymnasticsin order to do it, it’s not worth it.
In the English language,
we use prepositions at the end of the sentence all the time
—it’s a perfectly natural construction.
In fact, efforts to move that pesky preposition
can sometimes leave said sentence soundingstiff, awkward, and overly formal.
For example, “Who is he going to the dance with?”
sounds much more natural than “With whom is he going to the dance?”
You don’t want to add unnecessaryprepositions,
such as “Where are you going to?”
when “Where are you going?” will do just fine.
But ending with one on occasion is perfectly acceptable
and even preferred in some cases.
2. “They” is not a singular pronoun
They is actually both a singular and plural pronoun,
and it has been for centuries.
Lexicographers have determined that as far back as the 1300s,
they and its related forms havebeen used to refer to an indefinite referent
—that is, an unspecified, unknown person.
Using they acknowledges the gender or sex identity of a person or people isn’t known.
Today, they is breaking ground as the preferred choice
to refer to a specific person whois nonbinary
—or doesn’t identify with the binary genders of female and male to describe themselves
—because they is not explicitly gendered.
For example, you may say, “My child won the race. They make me so proud.”
Our entry for they now devotes a separate definition for each of the distinct uses
as part of our biggest dictionary update ever at Dictionary.com.
3. Only write in full sentences
While full sentences should make up the majority of your writing,
you don’t always need a subject and a verb to get a point across.
Yes to fragments!
Fragments can add a powerful punch or help the cadence of a piece flow.
Worried about breaking this rule? No problem.
If you’re only using a fragment or two foreffect and emphasis,
it’s a perfectly acceptable writing technique.
4. Don’t split infinitives
Split infinitives aren’t nearly as scary as they’re made out to be.
In most cases,
you want to keep to and the accompanyingverb together
instead of placing an adverb between them.
In some cases
splitting them can change the meaningof your sentences.
For example, if you say, “I really want to dance”
it means you want to dance.
Whereas if you say, “I want to really dance,”
it implies you want to dance more intensely. (Don’t we all, don’t we all … )
A lot of these rules that we’re taught about writing
—such as this one, and the rule against prepositionsat the end of sentences
—date back to a few centuries ago, when some stuffy grammarians decreed English should be more like the Latin, which they thought was a perfect language.
As a result, they imposed rules that are native to Latin on English,
but they aren’t native to English.
For example,
in Latin, an infinitive is one word (e.g., saltāre, “to dance”);
in English it’s two (to dance),
so it’s natural that we’d insert a word between them from time to time.
5. Don’t start sentences with conjunctions
Starting a sentence with a conjunction,
such as and, or, nor, so, or but,
is often the most natural-sounding way to go.
Doing so can add emphasis and can help you avoid run-on sentences.
But, what about what your English teacher told you?
Don’t worry too much about that.
Many grammarians call this rule a superstition.
According to the Chicago Manual of Style:
“There is a widespread belief—one with no historical or grammatical foundation
—that it is an error to begin a sentence with a conjunction such as and, but or so.
In fact, a substantial percentage
(often as many as 10 percent)
of the sentences in first-rate writing begin withconjunctions.
It has been so for centuries, and even the most conservative grammarians have followed this practice.”
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Usage Notes
'Rather Than': Is It a Conjunction orPreposition?
It's both, and we'll tell you why.
In English, it's often hard to tell whetherphrases,
such as as well as or other than,
are working as prepositions or conjunctions,
or just as combinations ofindividual words.
This slipperiness also occurs with rather than,
which is found in grammatically balanced compound sentences
as well as sentences with subordinate clauses.
(If any of this is confusing, read on. We'll lay it all out.)
Basically, the role of rather than
depends on the type of sentence in which it's being used.
The word rather,itself, is commonly used in English
as an adverb to indicate preference, degree, or accuracy.
I would rather not go.
It's getting rather late.
She sings rather well.
He's got a rather nice voice.
She is a doctor, or rather, a surgeon.
It took some time, but eventually grammarians and lexicographers got the message
and recognized that rather than had meaning as a distinct grammatical unit.
The key to telling whether rather than isa conjunction or preposition
is to look at the words that precede and follow it
.
As a conjunction,
parallel grammatical constructions appear on each side of rather than.
When used to coordinate verbs,
it indicates that something is done in place of something else
—and the verbs are inflected in the same way.
Typically, the base forms of the verbs are used
(often with to omitted before the verb following rather than).
For exercise,
I walk rather than run.
He decided to call rather than text.
Rather than repair the car, I prefer to buy a new one.
Additionally,
conjunctive rather than joins nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions that have parallel forms.
In such instances, rather than indicates choice or negation.
I drink coffee rather than tea.
He bought red rather than green peppers.
She eats slowly rather than quickly.
Can we come over on Saturday rather than (on) Sunday?
As a preposition,
rather than is synonymous with instead of
and begins subordinate clauses (clauses that can't stand alone as a sentence)
that have a present participle (the -ing form) of a verb serving as a noun
(in other words, a gerund).
When rather than functions as a preposition,
the verbs in the sentence are not parallel.
Rather than driving, he rode his bike to work.
Rather than using dried herbs, he picked fresh ones from the garden.
She took the blame rather than blaming everyone else.
In sum: when rather than has parallel elements before and after it,
like walk/run from the above example,
it's wearing its conjunction hat.
You'll know its preposition hat is nearby when you see dissimilarity
