243. As adverbs modify words of different classes, they accordingly occupy different positions in the sentence. In comparison with other words, adverbs may be considered as the most movable words. However, adverbs are not identical in their ability to be moved to another position in the structure. Thus, adverbs of manner and degree are very closely attached to the word they modify and cannot be moved away from it. He sings well is the only possible arrangement of the three words, unless the change of position is caused by inversion and a general shift of the communicative focus: Only well does he sing ( ). If such an adverb is put in other positions this may result in a change of meaning in which case it is no longer an adverb (it has already been mentioned that adverbs are often defined by position rather than form): well, he sings when nobody is in.
If the predicate is an analytical form adverbs of frequency and indefinite time are usually placed between its parts:
Have you ever seen him?
You are always laughing at me.
Adverbs of degree usually premodify adjectives or verbs:
awfully painful, terribly unjust, really pretty, so nice, to thoroughly understand, etc.
The most mobile are adverbs of time and place, which can occupy several positions without any change in their meaning, as in:
Usually he sings well.
He usually sings well.
He sings well usually.
The initial position of the adverb of manner always makes it emphatic.
Proudly he showed his diploma to his parents.
Carefully he signed his name.
In these sentences, despite the detachment of the adverbial modifier, its connection with the verb is evident (showed proudly, signed carefully).
Note:
Care should be taken not to confuse adverbs of manner and modal words, which may have the same word-form and occur in the same position. The only guide in these cases is punctuation and the relation between the words:
Naturally I wanted him to answer - modal word.
I wanted him to answer naturally - adverb.
They wanted to live naturally - adverb.
They wanted to live, naturally - modal word.
MODAL WORDS
244. Modal words express the speaker's attitude to what his utterance denotes. The speakers judgement may be of different kinds, that is, the speaker may express various modal meanings.
Modal words are an invariable part of speech. They may refer to a word, a phrase, a clause, or a sentence. Their syntactical function is that of a parenthesis, they may also be a sentence in themselves, in which case they are used to answer a general question:
Will you help me? Certainly.
Precisely this.
Except this man, of course.
Semantically modal words fall into three groups, denoting:
1. Certainty/doubt (certainly, of course, indeed, surely, decidedly, really, definitely, naturally, no doubt,
etc.).
Certainly, it was astonishing that she should be preoccupied with her schemes for the welfare of
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Constance.
Of course, it would have been different if they had married.
In answers the meaning of these words is weakened.
2. Supposition (perhaps, maybe, probably, obviously, possibly, evidently, apparently, etc.).
Mansons nature was extraordinarily intense. Probably he derived this from his mother.
You have come quickly to a resolution. But perhaps you have been considering this question for a long
time?
Obviously you didnt read it.
3. Estimate proper (good/bad) (luckily, fortunately, happily, unfortunately, unluckily, etc.).
Fortunately there were few people at the morning surgery.
Unhappily a terrible storm broke out before the travellers had reached their destination.
THE PREPOSITION
245. A preposition is a function word indicating a relation between two notional words. Its semantic significance becomes evident when different prepositions are used with one and the same word, as in:
to go to the park, to go across the park, to go round the park, to go out of the park, to go through the
park, etc.
A preposition may altogether change the meaning of the verb:
he shot the officer (he aimed at him and hit him),
he shot at the officer (he aimed at him but probably missed).
Although the tradition of differentiating prepositions from other word classes (conjunctions, and in some cases adverbs) is well established, it is not always easy to draw the border-line; nearly all one-word prepositions can also function as adverbs or as conjunctions, their status being determined only syntactically. A few words - after, before, since, for (with the change of meaning), behind - may function not only as adverbs, adverbial postpositions, or conjunctions, but also as prepositions. Compare the following groups of sentences:
They sailed up (postposition).
They sailed up the river (preposition).
Everybody was up at the sound of the bell (adverb).
The milk boiled over (postposition).
He presided over the meeting (preposition).
I cant tolerate such men as him (preposition).
As he was passing the door he turned back (conjunction).
No one saw him but me (preposition).
But no one saw him (conjunction).
He is stronger than me (preposition).
He is stronger than I am (conjunction).
Morphological composition
246. Most of the common English prepositions are simple in structure:
out, in, for, on, about, but ( , ), against.
Derived prepositions are formed from other words, mainly participles:
excepting, concerning, considering, following, including, during, depending, granted, past, except.
There are also many compound prepositions:
within, outside, upon, onto, throughout, alongside, wherewith, whereof, whereupon, herein, hereafter, withall.
Composite or phrasal prepositions include a word of another class and one or two prepositions, as in by virtue of, but for, because of, by means of, instead of, in lieu of, prior to, on account of, abreast of, thanks to, with reference to, opposite to, in front of, for the sake of, in view of, in spite of, in preference to, in unison with, for the sake of, except for, due to, in addition to, with regard to, on behalf of, in line with, at variance with.
A composite preposition is indivisible both syntactically and semantically, that is, no element of it can be varied, abbreviated, or extended according to the normal rules of syntax. Thus in the composite preposition for the sake of neither the definite article nor the preposition can be replaced by words of similar meaning.
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Semantic characteristics
247. Semantically prepositions form a varied group of words. Most of them are polysemantic (in, to, for, at, from), their original meaning having become vague, others have retained their full meaning and are accordingly monosemantic (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.
Relations expressed by prepositions may be of various types:
1) agentive - the letter was sent by a friend of mine;
2) attributive - a drawing in crayon, the people in question (, );
3) possessive and partial relations - one of my friends, the roof of the house, a glass of brandy, a decline in
waste, a rise in production;
4) relation indicating origin, material, or source - a girl from Brighton, made of gold:
5) objective relation dont be angry with me, I'II look into the matter, to work at a book, to speak on the
matter (about the matter, of the matter);
6) relation indicating to whom the action is directed - to show it to him, to give lessons to the children;
7) instrumental relation - to write with a pencil, to cut with a knife;
8) relation of subordination - to be secretary to a Minister;
9) relation defining the sphere or field of activity - the country depends on exports for its food; Tom is good
at football;
10) relation of involvement or association - to cooperate with somebody; coffee with cream, to compare this
with that, to get involved in a discussion;
11) respective relation - he is big for a youngster, I did not know I had a blackguard for a son;
12) relation of resemblance - he is like his father;
13) relation of dissociation and differentiation - to disburden oneself of ones past; to be devoid of
something, to disentangle oneself from something; to know something from something, to deduce from
something;
14) various adverbial relations:
a) of manner, means, style and language - with diligence, by telegram, in slang, in bad print, in a neat
hand.
in good style, in brief;
b) of purpose or aim - to send for the doctor, he did it for fun, the police were after the criminal;
c) temporal relations. These may be subdivided into those denoting precedence, sequence, duration, etc. -
in good time, at 5 oclock, before the dawn;
d) of cause or reason - I did it out of fear, through his negligence, I despise you for this;
e) spacial relation, including directional relation - past the gate, by the window, across the river, at the
gate;
f ) concessive relation - in spite of the bad weather, despite our protests, for all his attempts, with all her
diligence.
The relations enumerated above to a great degree depend on the meaning of the words connected 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, as in:
He broke away from them on some vague pretext.
The role of the preposition is difficult to define when it introduces predicatives, when its meaning is
in the capasity of, in the role of, having the quality of.
As a friend he was admirable, but one cannot praise him as a husband.
His career as a lawyer was short.
We regard him as a fool.
She went to the ball with her aunt as chaperone.
When a preposition is used figuratively, the concept expressed by the preposition may be so blurred or weak that one preposition may be replaced by another without any essential alteration to the relation between the words. Thus the following words may be used with different prepositions without change of meaning:
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aversion from, to
disgust against, at, towards
repugnance against, for, to
along, down, over the centuries
Words of the same root can be used with different prepositions:
to pride oneself on, to be proud of, pride in;
to confide in, confidence in, to be confident of.
