Prepositions

PREPOSITIONS
Plan:

1. 
   History of the concept in English
   
2. 
   Preposition vs other lexical categories
   
3. 
   The syntax of prepositions
   
4. 
   Types of prepositions
   

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). Semantically, they most typically denote relations in space and time. Morphologically, they are usually simple and do not inflect. They form a closed lexical category.

English grammar writing can be seen as one of relative stagnation, only exceptionally interrupted by certain more influential authors... It was only in the second half of the twentieth century that the situation radically changed and since then, grammarians have introduced scientifically precise definitions and developed detailed and elaborate frameworks for their description.
The word preposition is from "Latin praepositionem (nominative praepositio) 'a putting before, a prefixing,' noun of action from past-participle stem of praeponere 'put before'," the basic idea being that it is a word that comes before a noun.
William Bullokar wrote the earliest grammar of English, published in 1586. It includes a chapter on prepositions. His definition follows:
A part of speech properly used prepositively, that is governing an accusative case set next after it (except sometime in verse it is set after his casual word) as, I go to the church: and is sometime postpositively used, that is, when it governeth the relative, that, or which, coming before a verb, whose governing preposition is set after such verb: as, this is the man whom we spoke of, or of whom we spoke; and is some time used in composition after a verb, but being severed from the verb by the adverb, not, or by an accusative case, may be said to be set in apposition adverbially.
Some grammarians, though, noted problems. In 1746, John Kirkby complains: "we have several instances of the same word being used at one time as a conjunction and at another time as a preposition."
argued in much more detail, in a paper presented to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in its first year, that neither conjunctions nor adverbs were in all cases usefully distinguished from prepositions in English (or in Latin and Greek). He stressed that classifications were being based on the "merely accidental" differences in what constituent (if any) happened to follow the word. The rational analysis is to treat after as simply a preposition governing (optionally) a complement that can be either a noun phrase or a clause.
In 1924, Otto Jespersen developed these ideas, pointing out that prepositions were the only lexical category defined by the type of complement. In other words, prepositions were defined as words that take a noun phrase (NP) complement. Verbs, though, take various complements, including object, goal complement, predicative complement, and no complement at all, in the case of an intransitive verb. Similarly, an adjective phrase may consist of an adjective alone or with a complement (e.g., I'm happy; I'm happy to be here). Jespersen also noted that many words, such as before in I came before, which were categorized as adverbs, were very similar in meaning and syntax to prepositions (e.g., I came before you.). And the same held for many words categorized as subordinating conjunctions (e.g., I came before you did.). He therefore proposed that all these words are prepositions, and that the requirement that they be followed by a noun phrase be dropped. This is the position taken in many modern grammars, such as The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. On the other hand, dictionaries and ESL grammars have not adopted these ideas. For example, Merriam-Webster's Dictionary has before as an adverb, preposition, and conjunction
"What case should the comparative degree be construed with because of its degree? With an ablative case of either number without a preposition."
The meaning was essentially the same as the general idea today: a simple word preceding a noun expressing a relation between it and another word.
William Bullokar wrote the earliest grammar of English, published in 1586. It includes a chapter on prepositions. His definition follows:
A part of speech properly used prepositively, that is governing an accusative case set next after it (except sometime in verse it is set after his casual word) as, I go to the church: and is sometime postpositively used, that is, when it governeth the relative, that, or which, coming before a verb, whose governing preposition is set after such verb: as, this is the man whom we spoke of, or of whom we spoke; and is some time used in composition after a verb, but being severed from the verb by the adverb, not, or by an accusative case, may be said to be set in apposition adverbially.
Some grammarians, though, noted problems. In 1746, John Kirkby complains: "we have several instances of the same word being used at one time as a conjunction and at another time as a preposition."
argued in much more detail, in a paper presented to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in its first year, that neither conjunctions nor adverbs were in all cases usefully distinguished from prepositions in English (or in Latin and Greek). He stressed that classifications were being based on the "merely accidental" differences in what constituent (if any) happened to follow the word. The rational analysis is to treat after as simply a preposition governing (optionally) a complement that can be either a noun phrase or a clause.
In 1924, Otto Jespersen developed these ideas, pointing out that prepositions were the only lexical category defined by the type of complement. In other words, prepositions were defined as words that take a noun phrase (NP) complement. Verbs, though, take various complements, including object, goal complement, predicative complement, and no complement at all, in the case of an intransitive verb. Similarly, an adjective phrase may consist of an adjective alone or with a complement (e.g., I'm happy; I'm happy to be here). Jespersen also noted that many words, such as before in I came before, which were categorized as adverbs, were very similar in meaning and syntax to prepositions (e.g., I came before you.). And the same held for many words categorized as subordinating conjunctions (e.g., I came before you did.). He therefore proposed that all these words are prepositions, and that the requirement that they be followed by a noun phrase be dropped. This is the position taken in many modern grammars, such as The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language: On the other hand, dictionaries and ESL grammars have not adopted these ideas. For example, Merriam-Webster's Dictionary has before as an adverb, preposition, and conjunction.
When the preposition governs an argument of a larger phrase, such as a noun phrase, the object of the preposition is sometimes called a prepositional or oblique argument. For example, convert the energy of ocean waves into electricity becomes the conversion [of the energy of ocean waves] into electricity, where the underlined NP – which is the object in the PP headed by of – is the oblique argument of conversion.
Postpositions
A very small number of prepositions (see List of English prepositions § Postpositions) may occur after their object, for example, notwithstanding, which can appear either before the object (e.g., notwithstanding the fact) or after (e.g., the contrary notwithstanding).
Complements of prepositions
Traditional grammars of English characterize prepositions as words that take objects in the form of noun phrases. Though the prototypical prepositional phrase consists of a noun phrase complement following a preposition, prepositions can take a wider variety of complements than just noun phrases.[14]: 603–606 English prepositions can also take clauses, adjective phrases, adverb phrases, and other prepositional phrases as complements, though they occur less frequently than noun phrase complements.
Noun phrase complements
Prepositions typically take noun phrases as complements.[17]: 74–80 For example, the prepositional phrase on the table consists of the head on and the complement the table, and the prepositional phrase in the area consists of the head in and the complement the area. By analogy with noun phrase complements of verbs, noun phrase complements of prepositions are occasionally called objects in grammars of English.
Like objects of verbs, objects of preposition typically carry accusative case. Thus, we expect to see prepositional phrases like near me and at her rather than near I and at she because me and her are accusative case pronouns while I and she are nominative case pronouns. Indeed, some grammars treat the inability of prepositions to have nominative case pronouns as a defining characteristic of prepositions. An exception to this rule about case seems to occur when the preposition takes a coordinated pair of objects, such as someone and I. In these cases, usage varies, and the pronoun can carry either nominative or accusative case. For example, users of English might say "between you and I" or "between you and me". Some commentators have called the former "illiterate" and a sign that the English language is deteriorating, according to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, nominative case pronouns as part of a coordinated pair of prepositional objects have occurred in respected works of literature and are actually more characteristic of educated varieties of English than of less educated varieties.
In some cases, the object NP in the PP is atypical in that it lacks a determiner. For example, I'm at school is grammatical, even though an NP headed by the singular noun school usually requires a determiner; *They're building new school is not grammatical because it is lacking a determiner. Other examples are in hospital and to bed. Typically the meaning here implies a purpose. For example, going to the bed does not suggest sleeping in the way that going to bed does.
Clause complements
Prepositions that take a clause as a complement are called conjunctive prepositions or subordinating prepositions. Conjunctive prepositions can take a variety of kinds of clauses as complements. Most often, they take finite clauses as complements.These finite clause complements can be declarative (this happened after Stacy left) or interrogative (they ignored the question of whether it was ethical). They can also be subjunctive clauses (lest there be any doubt).

Less commonly, conjunctive prepositions take non-finite clauses as complements. These non-finite clause complements include infinitive clauses (we can't agree on how much to charge) and present participle clauses (you can't just put it on without them knowing). These clauses may occur with or without subjects, and subjects that do occur can be in accusative case (without them knowing) or genitive case (without their knowing). Though various usage commentators have called both cases incorrect in such clauses, many writers use both constructions, and the choice of case often depends on the context. For example, the accusative case is more likely when the subject is emphasized, a phrase intervenes between the subject and the verb, or the subject is plural.

Other complements of prepositions
In more limited cases, prepositions can take other kinds of complements. The preposition as can take an adjective phrase complement to form a prepositional phrase that functions as an object complement (you described them as jealous Prepositions also take adjective phrase complements in certain fixed phrases, such as at last and in brief.
As with adjective phrase complements, prepositions can take adverb phase complements in fixed phrases, such as by far and since when.[19]: 657–658 Further, certain prepositions (namely, before/ere, for, and till/until) can take temporal adverbs (such as later, long, one, and recently) as complements, forming prepositional phrases such as for later, until recently, for once, and before long.
Prepositions can also take prepositional phrases as complements. These prepositional phrase complements can be specified by the preposition or not. In the prepositional phrase apart from Jill, for example, the preposition apart requires that the complement include the preposition from. In the prepositional phrase since before the war, however, the preposition since does not require the preposition before and could have instead been something else, such as since after the war.
Modifiers of prepositions
Prepositions may optionally be modified by other phrasal categories. Adverb phrases, noun phrases, and prepositional phrases can function as pre-head modifiers of prepositions (that is, modify prepositions that follow them), and prepositional phases can also function as post-head modifiers (that is, modify prepositions that precede them).
Adverb phrases can function as pre-head modifiers in prepositional phrases. For example, the prepositional phrase after midnight can be modified by adverb phrases such as shortly (shortly after midnight) or quite obviously (quite obviously after midnight). A subset of adverb phrase modifiers of prepositions express degree and occur within prepositional phrases but not other phrasal categories. These degree adverbs include clear, flat, plumb, right, smack, and straight. Examples of prepositional phrases modified in this way include clear up the tree, straight out the door, and right out of the park.
Noun phrases indicating spatial or temporal extent can occur before a preposition that expresses spatial or temporal meaning in order to modify it. For example, the prepositional phrase beyond the post office can be modified by the noun phrase two miles (two miles beyond the post office) or a few minutes' walk (a few minutes' walk beyond the post office).
Certain prepositions with directional meanings can function as pre-head modifiers in prepositional phrases. The prepositions down, out, over, and up frequently occur in this role. For example, the preposition down can modify the prepositional phrases by the beach (down by the beach) and by the sea (down by the sea). We can tell that these directional prepositions are modifying other proportional phrases rather than taking prepositional phrases as complements because the other preposition determines whether the whole phrase is grammatical. Thus, "I placed it up on the shelf" is grammatical because "I placed it on the shelf" is also grammatical, but "I placed it up to the attic" is not grammatical because "I placed it to the attic" is not grammatical.
Prepositional phrases can also modify prepositions that precede them. In the clause they go out in the cold, for example, the preposition out is modified by the prepositional phrase in the cold. Though it may appear that in the cold could be modifying the verb go rather than the preposition out, movement of the elements to different parts of the clause suggests that in the cold is actually linked with the preposition out: the prepositional phrase in the cold cannot move to the start of the clause by itself (*in the cold they go out) but it can move to the start of the clause as part of the larger prepositional phrase out in the cold (out in the cold they go).
In linguistics, subcategorization is the "assignment of a lexical item to a subclass of its part of speech, especially with respect to the syntactic elements with which it can combine.". Prepositions can be subcategorized based on complement type. The list of English prepositions is categorized this way.