Re: CHAT: New Member With Questions

In a message dated 3/15/01 10:34:42 PM, zsau@YAHOO.COM.AU writes:

<< What is the difference between prepositions and particles?
And are they really prepositions in English, given that they sometimes go
after what they modify (like in 'where do you come from?')? >>

Particles are things that aren't anything else, like "to" in the infinitive.
However, I don't think "particles" is a good term to use.  There are
articles, like "the", "a", "an", "this", "that", etc., also called
determiners.  Anyway, I'm not sure about particles.

However, prepositions are prepositions in English.  For instance, in that
sentence "Where do you come from?", it should read "From where do you
come?"--we just don't talk that way much anymore.  Remember how teachers
always said never to end a sentence with a preposition?  The reason that
"rule" came to be is because, way back when they were writing grammar for
students in American/British schools, they decided that since you can't end a
sentence with a preposition in Latin, you shouldn't be able to in English
(makes no sense, but, nevertheless, that's where the rule came from.  They
give the same reason for not allowing split infinitives, e.g., "to boldly go
where no one has gone before" [I'm watching Voyager right now :)]).

To make a little more sense, I think there are two things called
"prepositions" in English: true prepositions and locative adverbs.  For
instance, the "in" in "I am in the house" is different from "I walk in the
room".  The first is a true preposition, and you can't end a sentence with it
(Note: Relative clause formation and transformations are exceptions, e.g.
"The house I'm in is big", or "This is the house I'm in").  However, locative
adverbs you can end a sentence with, because they're a throwback to German,
which have verbs with two parts: a locative adverb and the verb.  For
instance, take the word "zuruckkommen", meaning, roughly, "to come back"
(zuruck is back, kommen is come).  When using it in a sentence, you say, "Ich
komme nach Hause zuruck": I come to my house back.  The system sort of
evolved, so that we say "I come back to my house", but the principle still
stands: "back" isn't a preposition; the verb is "to come back".

And, of course, there are countless variations and exceptions.  So, that's my
say.

-David

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