Semantic characteristics

Most prepositions are polysemantic, and they can have different meanings, e.g. in, to, for, at, fro. Others are monosemantic and have the same meaning in all situations, e.g. down, over, across, off, till, until, save, near, along, among, despite, during, etc. This also applies to prepositions borrowed from Latin: versus, via, plus, minus.

Some prepositions are synonymous with others, e.g. notwithstanding = despite; instead of = in lieu of

Relations expressed by prepositions may be of various types:

• agentive (showing the doer of the action), e.g. The letter was sent by a friend of mine.

• attributive, e.g. The drawing was done in crayon, The people in question were absent. (люди, о которых идет речь);

• possessive and partial relations, e.g. One of my friends lives in Bristol. The roof of the house was leaking. He gave her a glass of brandy. There is a decline in waste. There was a noticeable rise in production.

• relation indicating origin, material, or source, e.g. The presentation was made by a girl from Brighton. Is your ring made of gold?

• objective relation, e.g. Don't be angry with me. Don’t worry, I'll look into the matter. What book are you working at/on now? Let’s speak on/about/of this matter later.

• relation indicating to whom the action is directed, e.g. Don’t show it to him. I enjoy giving lessons to these children.

• instrumental relation, e.g. My sister likes writing with a pencil. Cut the twig off with a knife;

• relation of subordination, e.g. Horace is a secretary to a Minister.

• relation defining the sphere or field of activity, e.g. The country depends on exports for its food. Mike is good at football.

• relation of involvement or association, e.g. I wish to cooperate with somebody in this matter. I like coffee with cream. Let’s compare the prices in ‘Harrods’ with those in ‘Tesco’. Don’t get involved in this discussion.

• respective relation, e.g. This boy is too big for a youngster. I did not know I had a blackguard for a son.

• relation of resemblance, e.g. He is like his father.

• relation of dissociation and differentiation, e.g. If you disburden yourself of one's past, you’ll feel much better. His face was devoid of any warmth or humour. It's very difficult to disentangle fact from fiction in what she's saying. At what age do children start to know right from wrong? What did Darwin deduce from the presence of these species?

There also can be various adverbial relations:

• of manner, means, style and language, e.g. They worked with diligence all the morning. They were informed about the tragedy by telegram. In the company of adults, the kids preferred to communicate in slang. The paper is written in such a bad print that I can’t understand it. Please, copy your work in a neat hand and give it in on Monday. Sampras won the title in fine style, not losing a single game. Here again are today's headlines in brief.

• of purpose or aim, e.g. Don’t forget to send for the doctor. Don’t punish him; he did it for fun. The police were after the criminal.

• temporal relations, which may be subdivided into those denoting precedence, sequence, duration, etc. You will be given an answer in good time. The attack will start before the dawn.

• of cause or reason, e.g. I did it out of fear. The mistake was made through his negligence. I despise you for this.

• spatial relation, including directional relation, e.g. There are parking spaces over there, just past (=a little further than) the garage. She stood by the window. We gazed across the river, There are two tall trees at the gate.

• concessive relation, e.g. In spite of the bad weather, we went for a walk. Despite our protests, the chemical plant was built. For all his attempts to control the inflation, it has risen. She did that work with all her diligence.

The relations enumerated above do not exhaust all the possible meanings expressed by prepositions. Sometimes the relation indicated by a preposition is too abstract to be defined in words, as its use is often figurative or metaphorical, e.g. He broke away from them on some vague pretext.