English prepositions

English prepositions are always represented by Universal Relations or by Universal Relations and Universal Attributes.

For

The preposition "for" may have, in English, several values, as follows:

Value	UNL	Examples
		English	UNL
Aim or purpose	pur	trained for the ministry, put the house up for sale	pur(trained, ministry)
Destination	to	headed off for town	to(headed off, town)
Object of a desire, intention or perception	obj	eager for success	obj(eager, success)
Recipient (direction, addressee) of an action	gol	prepared lunch for us	gol(prepared, us)
Beneficiary of an action	ben	He did it for us	ben(did, us)
Duration	dur	stood in line for an hour	dur(stood, hour)
On behalf of, in favor of, in place of	man	spoke for all members	man(spoke, members.@for)
Amount, extent	man	a bill for five dollars; walked for miles;	man(bill, dollars.@for)
As being	man	mistook me for the librarian	man(mistook, librarian.@for)

In

The preposition "in" may have, in English, several values, as follows:

Value	UNL	Examples
		English	UNL
complement (necessary argument)	obj	interested in Math	obj(interested, Math)
time (when?)	tim	work in 1973	tim(work, 1973)
physical place (where?)	plc	work in Switzerland	plc(work, Switzerland)
logical place (in what?)	scn	work in the project	scn(work, project)
affected place	opl	hit in the face	opl(hit, face)
manner (how)	man	split in two	man(split, 2.@in)
attribute (which)	mod	a man in overcoat	mod(man, overcoat.@in)
final state (= into)	gol	throw in the basket	gol(throw, basket)

Attribute @in

The attribute @in is the default for the relations "tim", "plc" and "scn" and may be omitted in these cases. It may also be omitted in "obj" relations, whose government is stated in the dictionary. For the other relations, its use is mandatory:

• work in Switzerland = plc(work, Switzerland) = plc(work, Switzerland.@in)
• work in 1973 = tim(work, 1973) = tim(work, 1973.@in)
• split in two = man(split, 2.@in) ≠ man(split,2) = split as two
• man in overcoat = mod(man, overcoat.@in) ≠ mod(man, overcoat) = man of overcoat

Of

The preposition "of" may have, in English, several values, as follows:

Value	UNL	Examples
		English	UNL
Part of	pof	day of the week	pof(day, week)
By	agt	beloved of the family	agt(beloved, family)
Caused by; resulting from:	rsn	a death of tuberculosis	agt(death, tuberculosis)
Produced by	agt	products of the vine	agt(products, vine)
Derived or coming from; originating at or from	src	customs of the South	src(customs, South)
So as to be separated or relieved from	src	cured of distemper	src(cured, distemper)
issuing from	src	products of the vine	src(products, vine)
Away from; at a distance from	plf	a mile east of here	plf(east, here)
Composed or made from	mat	a dress of silk	mat(dress, silk)
named or called	nam	the Garden of Eden	nam(Garden, Eden)
With reference to; about	cnt	will speak of it later	cnt(speak, it)
Centering on; directed toward	obj	a love of horses	obj(love, horses)
From the total or group comprising	qua	group of friends	qua(friends, group)
Quantified as	qua	a depth of ten feet	qua(depth, feet)
During or on a specified time	tim	problems of recent years	tim(problems, years)
Set aside for	pur	a day of rest	pur(day, rest)
Belonging or connected to	mod	the rungs of a ladder	mod(rungs, ladder)
Possessing; having	mod	a person of honor	mod(person, honor)
Containing or carrying	mod	a basket of groceries	mod(basket, groceries)
Associated with or adhering to	mod	people of your religion	mod(people, religion)
On one's part	mod	very nice of you	mod(nice, you)
Characterized or identified by	cnt	a year of famine	cnt(year, famine)
In respect to	cnt	slow of speech	cnt(slow, speech)

Observations

Types

The expressions "a type of", "a kind of" and "a sort of", if not modified, are to be replaced by the relation icl (inclusion):

• X is a type of energy = icl(X, energy)
• X is a kind of behaviour = icl(X, behavior)
• X is a sort of decision = icl(X, decision)

In case of modification, "type", "kind" and "sort" must be represented as UWs, according to the general case for specifiers indicated below:

• X is a specific type of energy = aoj(energy.@entry, X) mod(type.@spec, energy.@entry) mod(type.@spec, specific)
• X is a special kind of behaviour = aoj(behaviour.@entry, X) mod(kind.@spec, behaviour.@entry) mod(kind.@spec, special)
• X is a new sort of decision = aoj(decision.@entry, X) mod(sort.@spec, decision.@entry) mod(sort.@spec, new)

Parts

The expression "a part of", if not modified, is to be replaced by the relation pof (part-of)

• X is a part of the table = pof(X, table)

In case of modification, "part" must be represented as a UW, according to the general case for specifiers indicated below:

• X is the front part of the table = aoj(table.@entry, X) mod(part.@spec, table.@entry) mod(part.@spec, front)

Units

Units of measurement are always to be indicated by the relation qua (quantifier):

• a group of students = qua(students, group)
• a drop of water = qua(water, drop)
• a piece of fruit = qua(fruit, piece)
• an article of clothing = qua(clothing, article)
• a bowl of cereal = qua(cereal, bowl)
• a grain of sand = qua(sand, grain)
• a loaf of bread = qua(bread, loaf)
• a crowd of spectators = qua(spectators, crowd)
• a set of instructions = qua(instructions, set)
• a flock of sheep = qua(sheep, flock)
• a herd of cattle = qua(cattle, herd)
• a pack of wolves = qua(wolves, pack)
• a pride of lions = qua(lions, pride)
• a gaggle of geese = qua(geese, gaggle)
• a bolt of lightning = qua(lightning, bolt)
• a game of tennis = qua(tennis, game)
• a clap of thunder = qua(thunder, clap)

Spec

The preposition "of" is often used to introduce a specifier to the head of the noun phrase. If the specifier is to be represented as the source node of the relation (as in the case of "mod"), it should receive the attribute @spec, as follows:

• a form of love = mod(form.@spec, love)
• a symbol of love = mod(symbol.@spec, love)
• a brand of shampoo = mod(brand.@spec, shampoo)
• an act of kindness = mod(act.@spec, kindness)
• the quality of being disloyal = mod(quality.@spec, 00)
• etc.

Apposition

The preposition "of" may also be used to indicate an apposition. In such cases, the attribute @spec should also be used.

• that idiot of a driver = mod(idiot.@spec, driver)

To

The preposition "to" may have, in English, several values, as follows:

Value	UNL	Examples
		English	UNL
complement (necessary argument)	obj	refer to a dictionary	obj(refer, dictionary)
direction (towards)	to	go to the city	to(go, city)
final place	plt	go to the bottom	plt(go, bottom)
purpose	pur	go to discuss	pur(go, discuss)
addressee	gol	answer to John	gol(answer, John)
final state	gol	nursed her back to health	gol(nurse, health)
final time	tmt	worked from nine to five	tmt(work, 5)
comparison	bas	superior to the others	bas(superior, others)
degree or extent	man	smooth to the touch	man(smooth, touch.@to)
manner	man	parallel to the road	man(parallel, road.@to)

Observations

The preposition "to" must be replaced by its equivalents in the following situations:

to = against

Their faces pressed to the windows = Their faces pressed against the windows

to = of

looked for the top to the jar = looked for the top of the jar

to = before

ten to five = ten before five

@to

The preposition "to" is the default for the relations "to", "plt", "gol", "pur", "tmt" and "bas" and may be omitted in these cases. It may also be omitted in case of the relation "obj", whose government is defined in the dictionary. For "man", the preposition should be explicitly indicated by the attribute "@to":

• answer to John = gol(answer, John) = gol(answer, John.@to)
• smooth to the touch = man(smooth, touch.@to) ≠ man(smooth, touch) = smooth as touch