Introducción al Turismo Cultural

Prepositions are connecting words that link a noun or pronoun to another word in a sen- tence. They are often used to show a relationship of space or time.

Examples

The boxonyour desk is your birthday present.

The holiday that follows immediately afteryour birthday is Valentine’s Day.

The first sentence uses the preposition onto describe the spatial relationship between the boxand the desk.The second sentence uses the preposition afterto describe the time relationship between holidayand birthday. On your deskand after your birthdayare prepo- sitional phrases.

Common Prepositions

aboard about above after among around at before

behind below beneath beside between by except for

from in inside into like of off on

outside over to under up upon until with

The two most common problems with prepositions are: 1. Using them unnecessarily

Because it is so important in your essay to get to the point concisely, unnecessary prepositions should be avoided. Remember that when two or more prepositions are used together, chances are at least one is unnecessary.

Poor form:I cleaned up underthe kitchen cabinets. Good form:I cleaned underthe kitchen cabinets.

Poor form:She likes all sports except forsoccer. Good form:She likes all sports except soccer.

Poor form:They looked outside ofthe house for the lost cat. Good form:They looked outsidethe house for the lost cat.

2. Confusing prepositional phrases

Certain words must always be followed by certain prepositions. These necessary prepositions are always used in combination with their respective supported words. Below are two examples of required prepositions—the preposition is in italics and the supported word is underlined. It is important to remember that they must always be used together:

You must accountforevery item in your club’s budget. The meal consistsofeight separate courses.

Common prepositional phrases:

account for agree upon angry with argue about

compare to correspond with differ from different than

identical to independent of interested in speak with

Alternate Endings

Of all the rules governing prepositions, none is more famous than:Never end a sentence with a preposition!While this rule holds true for many situations, it is not an absolute. It is per- fectly acceptable to end a sentence with a preposition, especially in your essay, if it makes the sentence flow better. For example, in popular speech, it sounds much more natural to say “That’s all I can think of ” than “That’s all of which I can think.”

The best technique for deciding to keep or remove prepositions at the end of sentences is to use your ear. What would the statement sound like if you kept—or dropped—the prepo- sition? Does it sound like you, or does it sound like a college professor? Prepositions should not be used in an attempt to add importance or weight to your writing.

Mechanics CHAPTER 4 HOW TO WRITE GREAT ESSAYS 43

Many times short questions are ended in prepositions. Here are some acceptable and unacceptable examples. Note that the unacceptable sentences could be improved simply by dropping the preposition at the end.

Good Form

Does he have anything to worry about?

What did you use to make it with?

What is the report comprised of ? Poor Form

Is the extra-credit project over with?

Where is the stadium at?

Where do you want to go to?

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Dangling participles and misplaced modifiers, though sometimes difficult to recognize, are easily fixed by rearranging word order. A dangling participleis a phrase or clause with a verb ending in -ingthat does not refer to the subject of the sentence it modifies. Since it is so critical that your reader understand your point easily and exactly, dangling modifiers (and indeed any ambiguous language) must be avoided.

Incorrect:While working on his English assignment, Tony’s computer crashed. (Was the computer working on the assignment?)

Correct:While Tony was working on his English assignment, his computer crashed.

Note that correcting a dangling participle involves adding and/or rearranging the words in a sentence to make the meaning clear.

Incorrect: While practicing outside with the soccer team, the noisy construc- tion job distracted Jim.

Correct:While Jim was practicing outside with the soccer team, he was dis- tracted by the noisy construction job.

OR

The noisy construction job distracted Jim while he was practicing outside with the soccer team.

A misplaced modifieris a word or phrase that describes something, but is in the wrong place in the sentence. It isn’t dangling; no extra words are needed; the modifier is just in the wrong place. The danger of misplaced modifiers, as with dangling modifiers, is that they confuse meaning.

Incorrect:I had to have the cafeteria unlocked meeting with student govern- ment this morning.

Did the cafeteria meet with student government? To say exactly what is meant, the mod- ifying phrase “meeting with student government” should be moved to the beginning of the sentence.

Correct:Meeting with student government this morning, I had to have the cafeteria unlocked.