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LeGion12359 Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Who says Preposition is always followed by a noun or noun phrase?

Martin persuaded Lucy that there was nothing to be frightened of.
What did you step on?
I have heard from so many people in this forum that prepositions are always followed by a noun,pronoun or noun phrase, but the following sentences negate their statement on this.
Please comment?
  

Top answer

The complements of prepositions are repositioned to the front in clauses and questions. They "follow" their prepositions semantically, but not syntactically. Martin persuaded Lucy that there was nothing to be frightened of.

— AlpheccaStars

  • The complements of prepositions are repositioned to the front in clauses and questions.
  • They "follow" their prepositions semantically, but not syntactically.
  • Martin persuaded Lucy that there was nothing to be frightened of.
  • Martin was frightened of nothing .
  • What did you step on?
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7 Answers
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The complements of prepositions are repositioned to the front in clauses and questions.
They "follow" their prepositions semantically, but not syntactically.

Martin persuaded Lucy that there was nothing to be frightened of.
Martin was frightened of nothing.

What did you step on? (On what did you step?)
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AlpheccaStarsThe complements of prepositions are repositioned to the front in clauses and questions.They "follow" their prepositions semantically, but not syntactically.
Oh, I see.
AlpheccaStarsMartin persuaded Lucy that there was nothing to be frightened of.Martin was frightened of nothing.
This one is better:
Martin pe
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LeGion12359This one is better: Martin persuaded Lucy that there was nothing of which to be frightened.
No, it's not!

CJ
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CalifJimNo, it's not!
Why Teacher?
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LeGion12359 CalifJimNo, it's not!Why Teacher?
The forms with stranding (prepositions at the end) are more idiomatic than those with 'of which', 'for which', 'to which', 'on which', and all the other whiches.

CJ
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AlpheccaStarsMartin persuaded Lucy that there was nothing to be frightened of.Martin was frightened of nothing.
Teacher,You changed the whole sentence by the way.
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LeGion12359Teacher,You changed the whole sentence by the way.
Yes, to illustrate that the object of the preposition "of" in your sentence was "nothing."
That is nothing to be surprised about, since the original could not be so changed and still be a natural sentence.
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