Contents introduction chapter I prepositional phrases and their use

The theoretical value of the course paper is that the theoretical position of the work can be used in teaching different texts. Besides that, they may be used in delivering lectures of teaching theoretical English Grammar. The course paper is considered to be a base to continue scientific researches.
The practical value of the given course paper is considered to be a task for using during practical lessons.
The material includes:

1. 
   The theoretical books of English, Russian and Uzbek authors
   
2. 
   The information from the internet sources;
   

The structure of work the given Course Paper consists of Introduction, two chapters and a conclusion which are followed by the lists of Literature used in the course of the Research.
Introduction tells about the aim of the Research, methods used in the course of it, explains its actuality, novelty, practical and scientific value.
Chapter I deals with phrases and prepositional phrases theories and their investigations.
Chapter II deals with the analysis of prepositional phrases in English.
Conclusion presents the results of the investigation produced in the Course paper. The list of used literature names all the books used in the course of this research.

CHAPTER I Prepositional phrases and their use
I.1 The theoretical background of investigating prepositional phrases
The class of prepositions with its basic characteristics has been discussed in
various grammars. It is, however, interesting to note that not all grammarians have treated prepositions as a separate word class. As Weber observes, “there are several grammars of the most recent decades which did not devote a single chapter to the study of prepositions, and do not provide us with their definitions neither”². Indeed, in his “The Philosophy of Grammar”, Jespersen treats prepositions together with adverbs, conjunctions and interjections under the common term „particles‟.
Preposition usage is one of the most difficult aspects of English grammar for non-native speakers to master. ‘It is difficult to learn to use prepositions correctly in a foreign language”. Prepositions have been called the biggest little words in English. There usually quite short and insignificant looking but they have very important functions. A preposition is a word that shows the relationship between two words in a sentence³.
In those grammars in which prepositions are treated as a separate word class,
different definitions of prepositions can be found. For instance, the definition proposed by Carter and McCarthy says that “prepositions express a relation in space between two or more entities or a relation in time between two events, or various other abstract relations”⁴. Furthermore, some grammarians provide a list of properties by which they distinguish the class of prepositions from other word classes.
The term of the preposition comes from Latin “pre” meaning “before” and “positus” meaning “placed”. Etymologically it is a word that joins nouns to other words in a sentence, to show certain relations that exist between them.
According to Carter and McCarthy, “there are over 100 prepositions in English, including complex and marginal prepositions”⁵. Though most prepositions are simple, consisting of single words, there are other prepositions which are complex, consisting of many words⁶.
(1) simple prepositions: e.g. about, at, before, for, in, into, on, out, over,
through, to, under, with
(2) complex prepositions: e.g. (two-word) because of, due to, instead of,
(three-word) as far as, in accordance with, on behalf of.
Another way of dividing prepositions into groups is the classification according
to the type of relation they express. It should be noted that prepositions usually have more than one meaning and, therefore, can be used to show several types of relations depending on the context. Quirk offers the following categorization⁷:

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  prepositions denoting spatial relations, such as position (at, on, in),
  

destination (to, in(to), out of), passage (across, through) or orientation
(beyond, across)

• 
  prepositions denoting time relations, such as time position (at, on, in),
  

duration (for, until, up to) or measurement into the future (in)

• 
  prepositions denoting relations of the cause/purpose spectrum, such as
  

cause (because of), reason (for), motive (out of), purpose (for),
destination (for) or target (at)

• 
  prepositions denoting relations of the means/agentive spectrum, such as
  

manner (with), means (by), instrument (with), agentive (by) or stimulus
(at)

• 
  prepositions denoting relations of accompaniment (with)
  
• 
  prepositions denoting relations of support and opposition (for, against)
  
• 
  prepositions denoting other relations, such as concession (in spite of) or
  

respect (with regard to)
One of the functions of prepositions that were mentioned in the previous
subchapter is that they can serve as heads of prepositional phrases. Although
nouns are the most common objects of prepositions, other word classes can follow
prepositions as well. Chalker gives the following list of possible objects of
prepositional phrases⁸.
a) nouns (at night, in the shop)
b) pronouns (for us, to me)
c) wh-clauses (They argued about how to do it.)
d) -ing clauses (by working hard)
e) (unusually) adverbs (before now) and adjectives (in short)
The analysis that will be presented will deal only with prepositional phrases in which the object is a noun or, less frequently, a pronoun.
Prepositional phrases are groups of words containing prepositions. Remember that prepositions are words that indicate the relationships between various elements within a sentence, and we will never have difficulty identifying prepositional phrases. A prepositional phrase is a group of words that lacks either a verb or a subject, and that functions as a unified part of speech. It normally consists of a preposition and a noun or a preposition and a pronoun.
Remember the following rules for prepositional phrases and you will find that using them becomes much easier.

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  Prepositional phrases always consist of two basic parts at minimum: the object and the preposition.
  
• 
  In formal English, prepositions are almost always followed by objects.
  
• 
  Adjectives can be placed between the prepositions and objects in prepositional phrases.
  
• 
  Prepositional phrases can act as adverbs or adjectives. When they are used as adjectives, they modify nouns and pronouns in the same way single-word adjectives do.
  
• 
  When prepositional phrases are used as adverbs, they at the same way single-word adverbs and adverb clauses do, modifying adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs.
  

Just like bread and cheese are the minimum ingredients for making a cheese sandwich, a preposition and the object of a preposition are the minimum requirements for forming a prepositional phrase. The object of a preposition is the name for the noun or pronoun following the preposition.
Examples of Prepositional Phrases
The following sentences contain examples of prepositional phrases; the prepositional phrase in each sentence is italicized for easy identification.
The cupcake with sprinkles is yours.
The cupcake with colorful sprinkles is yours.
We climbed up the hill.
We climbed up the very steep hill.
The rabbits hopped through the garden.
The rabbits hopped through the perfectly manicured garden.