Substitution of English predicative prepositional phrases by other structures

Abstract

This paper is aimed at analyzing the different units which can replace predicative prepositional phrases (henceforth, PPPs) in English, a group of structures which have received little attention so far since neither their relevance nor their frequency are supposed to be enough. They can be defined as those phrases which are headed by a preposition whose Complement (C) is a Noun Phrase (NP) and which perform the function of Subject Complement (Cs) at clause level. Such is the case of “under arrest” in [1]: [1] The vessel remained under arrest from September the twenty-sixth until October the nineteenth (ICE-GB:S2A-065 #18:1:A). Therefore, there is an intensive relationship between the subject and this unit since the latter predicates something of the subject, thus expressing a quality, condition, state, or feature which is attached to the subject. However, this does not imply that they should always be substituted by adjectives. Depending on the nature of the meaning they convey, the examples in italics in the following sentences can be replaced by the adjective phrases, verb phrases and clauses included between square brackets: [2] Again, supplier's catalogues will be of help [helpful] when determining distances and pinouts (BNC:C91 1000). [3] My Lord <,,> as far as his credit and the importance of his credit is concerned it also [sic] is of relevance [relevant] when considering the evidence given by Mr Holt <,> because there is a clear conflict between the two of them (ICE-GB:S2A-068 #40:1:A). [4] Mary then came to see me and was at this point in tears [crying] over the incident and her treatment by Mr Smith (ICE-GB:W1B-021 #72:5). [5] When officers arrived he had climbed into the back yard and the Volvo was seen to be on fire [burning] (BNC:K47 313). [6] But before my brain got into gear [started working in an efficient way] after finding you'd cleared the wardrobe in the lobby of your belongings and I realised you'd gone, I went through half a dozen possibilities before I rang Reception (BNC:JYF 2472). [7] He was a little out of breath [breathing fast and with difficulty], having hurried to the town meeting (BNC:CFJ 311). Many more examples will be included and they will also be classified according to other morphological, syntactic and semantic criteria which will be underlined. These examples will be obtained from the BNC and the ICE-GB as well as from different monolingual dictionaries whose descriptions of the structures under study will also provide us with more information for further research. Finally different conclusions will be drawn on the previous analysis. Some of them are closely related to the economy principle, that is to say, certain examples prove that PPPs are chosen by speakers because they allow them to convey a given idea by means of a more reduced number of words.