Phrasal prepositions

abreast of abreast with according to agreeably to ahead of alongside of antecedent to anterior to apart from apropos of as against as between as compared with as distinct from as distinguished from as far as as far back as as for as opposed to as to as touching aside from as the cost of at the hands of at the instance of at the peril of at the point of at the risk of back of because of beyond the reach of by dint of	for fear of for lack of for the benefit of for the ends of for the purpose of for the sake of for want of from above from among from behind from below from beneath from between from beyond from in front of from lack of from off from out from out of from over from under hand in hand with	in opposition to in order that in place of in point of in preference to in process of in proportion to in pursuit of in quest of in re (concerning) in recognition of in reference to in regard to in relation to in respect to in respect of in reply to in return for in search of insofar as in spite of instead of
in according with in support of
in addition to in advance of in agreement with inasmuch as in back of in behalf of in the interest of in between in care of	in that in the case of in the event of in the matter of in the middle of in the midst of in the name of in the presence of in the room of

by (the) help of by means of by order of by reason of by the aid of by virtue of by way of care of concurrently with conditionally on comfortably to contrary to counter to differently from down to due to east of eastward from exclusive of face to face with farther than for example on the point of on the pretense of on the score of on the side of on the strength of on (the) top of opposite to out of out of regard for out of respect for over against over and above owing to preferably to preliminary to preparatory to previous to previously to

in case of in common with in company with in comparison with in comparison to in compliance with in conflict with in conformity with in consequence of in consideration of in contrast with in contrast to in course of in default of in defiance of in disregard of in (the) face of in favour of in front of in fulfillment of in lieu of in obedience to prior to pursuant to regardless of relative to short of side by side with so far as so far from south of southward from subject to subsequent to subsequently to suitably to thanks to through lack of to and fro to the order of

in the place of in the teeth of in the way of in taken if in under (colloquial) in view of inclusive of inconsistently with independently of inside of irrespective of next door to next to north of northward from on account of on behalf of on board (of) on pain of on the face of on the occasion of on the part of under cover of under pain of up against up and down west of westward from with a view to with an eye to with reference to with respect to with regard to with the exception of with the intention of with the object of with the purpose of with the view of within reach of with regard to

LEARNING HINT #2: One of the most common mistakes that non-native speakers make with articles is using a or an with plural or uncountable nouns (a students and a research would be incorrect). But consider that the articles a and an are derived from the word one. Thus, it is illogical to use a or an with a plural noun, isn't it? It is also illogical to use a or an with an uncountable noun--After all, how can you have one of something that is uncountable?

An easy way to eliminate a lot of mistakes is to look through your writing for every occurrence of a and an. Then examine the noun that follows each a or an. If the noun is either plural or uncountable, then you have made a mistake, and you should refer to Table 3 to determine whether to use the or 0 instead.

LEARNING HINT #3: Often mistakes occur not because a writer has used the wrong article (e.g., a or an instead of the), but because the writer has used no article at all for a singular noun. Notice in Table 3 that every singular noun must have an article in front of it.

LEARNING HINT #4: Notice that every definite noun takes the article the, regardless of whether it is singular, plural, or uncountable. Therefore, if you cannot decide whether a noun is singular, plural, or uncountable, go on to the next step and ask yourself whether it is definite (known to both the writer/speaker and the reader/listener) or not. If it is definite, then use the.

Using Articles with Proper Nouns
So far, we have been talking only about using articles with common nouns. The rules for proper nouns are more complex.

Proper nouns are names of particular people, places, and things (John F. Kennedy, New York City, Notre Dame Cathedral), and for that reason they are inherently definite. Nevertheless, the definite article is not used with most singular proper nouns. For example, if you are referring to your friend George, you wouldn't say " The George and I went to a movie last night." The only times "the" is used with a name like this are: a) when you want to be emphatic, as in " the Elizabeth Taylor" (to emphasize that you are talking about the famous actress, and not about another woman with the same name), and b) when you are actually using the name as a common noun, as in " the George that I introduced you to last night" (the real meaning of this phrase is " the man named George..."). Plural names, on the other hand, are always preceded by the: the Johnsons, the Bahamas, etc.

Singular geographical names are very irregular with respect to article usage. For example, singular names of continents (Asia, Africa), mountains (Mount Fuji), and bays (San Francisco Bay) do not take the article the, but regions (the Crimea), deserts (the Sahara), and other geographical entities do.

Indeed, the use of articles with singular proper nouns is complex and hence difficult to learn, as indicated by the examples below. For this reason, the best thing to do is to memorize whether the proper nouns that you use frequently are used with or without the.

Examples:

State Street
the Empire State Building
Delaware County
Great Britain
the Soviet Union
the University of Virginia
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
the United Nations (the U.N.)
the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(but "OPEC," not "the OPEC")

"A" Versus "An"
This last topic is undoubtedly the easiest, because most non-native speakers already know about the difference between a and an. They are simply two variations of the indefinite article. A is used before words that begin with consonant sounds (a rock, a large park) and an is used before vowel sounds (an interesting subject, an apple).

However, note that the choice of a or an depends on pronunciation, not spelling. Many words that begin with the vowel - u - are preceded by a instead of an because the - u - spelling is often pronounce - yu -, as in useful (" a useful idea"), and uranium (" a uranium isotope"). In addition, in a few words borrowed from French, the initial consonant - h - is not pronounced: an heir to the throne, an hour -long lecture, an honorable agreement, etc.

A Strategy for Success
Keep in mind that native speakers of English seldom use articles incorrectly; therefore, any errors that you make are very noticeable and distracting to them. That is why you should make an effort to use articles correctly.

Study this handout--particularly Five Sources of Definiteness, Table 3, and the Learning Hints. Memorize the definition of definiteness ("known to both the writer/speaker and the reader/listener"). Then try the Exercise toward the end of this handout; the correct answers are provided on the following page so you can check your work.

In the future, whenever you write in English, you will need to proofread your writing carefully and to apply the rules for article usage very deliberately. Then come to the Writing Center and ask a tutor specifically to correct any remaining errors in your article usage. With practice, you can learn to use articles correctly--not only in writing, but also in speech!

Exercise
Instructions: Fill in each blank with the appropriate article. If no article is required, put a "0" in the blank. The nouns that the articles go with are in italics.

1. _______(a) Decline and Fall of ______(b) Roman Empire

2. ________(a) complexity of _______(b) problem of ______(c) decline and fall of the Roman Empire is made evident by _______(d) wide variety of causes that are emphasized in varying degrees by _______ (e) different authors.

3. Fortunately, ________(a) concise formulation of Edward Gibbon serves as _________(b) widely accepted basis for _______(c) modern discussion of _________(d) problem.

4. According to Gibbon, _________(a) empire reached its peak during _______(b) administration of ________(c) two Antonines.

5. After that, however, ________(a) extent of ________(b) Roman conquest became too great to be managed by _______(c) Roman government, and _______(d) decline began.

6. ______(a) military government was weakened and finally dissolved as ______(b) barbarians were allowed to constitute ______(c) ever-growing percentage of ______(d) Roman legions.

7. ______(a) victorious legions began to dominate and corrupt _______(b) government, weakening it at ______(c) time when it most needed ______(d) strength to overcome _______(e) other problems.

Answers and Explanations to the Exercises
NOTE: The explanations refer to reasons given in the section on "Five Sources of Definiteness."

1. a) The -- singular; definite because of reason 4 (following modification: of the Roman Empire).
b) the -- singular; definite because of the preceding adjective: Roman. This is not one of the five principal sources of definiteness, but in this case, "Roman empire" is very specific (especially since "Roman" is derived from the proper noun, "Rome"), and the reader would be expected to know that there was only one empire that is known as the Roman empire in English.

2. a) The -- singular; definite because of reason 4 (following modification: of the problem...).
b) the -- singular; definite because of reason 4 (following modification: of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire).
c) the -- singular; definite because of reason 4 (following modfication: of the Roman Empire).
d) the or a -- singular; could be either definite or indefinite. Even though a long string of modifiers follows the noun, the reader still might not be familiar with the variety of causes that the writer is referring to.
e) 0 -- plural; indefinite because the reader has no way of knowing which different authors the writer is referring to.

3. a) the -- singular; definite because of reason 4 (following modification: of Edward Gibbon).
b) a -- singular; indefinite because there could be more than one widely accepted basis for modern discussion of the problem (the modification is not sufficient to make the noun unique).
c) 0 -- uncountable; indefinite. can be either countable or uncountable; here it is being used in the abstract, uncountable sense. It is indefinite because there could be more than one modern discussion of the problem (the modification is not sufficient to make the noun unique).
d) the -- singular; definite because of reason 1 (previously mentioned).

4. a) the -- singular; definite because of reason 1 (previously mentioned).
b) the -- singular; definite because of reason 4 (following modification: of the two Antonines).
c) the or 0 -- plural; could be either definite or indefinite. The writer's use of the indicates that there were two and only two Antonine emperors. Use of 0 would indicate that there were more than two Antonine emperors.

5. a) the -- singular; definite because of reason 4 (following modification: of the Roman conquest).
b) the -- Conquest in this context is uncountable, meaning "the area or territory which was conquered." Because the preceding adjective, Roman, is derived from a proper name (Rome), it makes the following noun unique in this context.
c) the -- singular; definite. As in 5b, the preceding adjective, Roman, makes it clear which government is referred to in this context. However, note that in another context, it might be necessary to add a following modification in order to make the noun definite (e.g., "the Roman government of the third century A.D. ")
d) the -- singular; definite because of reason 1 (previously mentioned).

6. a) The -- singular; definite because of reasons 1 and 5 (Roman government was previously mentioned, and it is clear from the context that military government is also referring to the Roman government).
b) 0 -- plural; indefinite (not previously mentioned, nor is there any other source of definiteness).
c) an -- singular; indefinite. There could be more than one group, other than the barbarians, who constituted ever-growing percentages of the Roman legions; thus, modification is not sufficient to make the noun definite.
d) the -- plural; definite. As in 5b and 5c, the preceding adjective, Roman, is sufficient to make it clear which legions are being referred to in this context. In another context, additional modification might be required to make the noun definite (e.g., "the Roman legions that invaded Britian in 6 B.C. ")

7. a) 0 -- plural; probably indefinite. The author is not necessarily referring to any particular group of victorious legions; moreover, even though legions have been mentioned before, victorious legions have not; thus, the criterion of previous mention does not apply.
b) the -- singular; definite because of reason 1 (previously mentioned).
c) a or the -- singular; If we interpret when it most needed... as modifying time, then time is definite because of reason 4. However, most native speakers interpret both at a time and when it most needed... as adverbial modifiers modifying weakening, so the the noun would be interpreted as being indefinite.
d) the or 0 -- Strength can be either uncountable (the abstract quality of strength) or singular (a particular instance of that abstract quality). So it is either singular and definite because of reason 4 (following modification: to overcome other problems), or uncountable and indefinite. Both would be equally acceptable, so it just depends on how the writer is thinking.
e) 0 -- plural; indefinite (other problems have not been mentioned previously, and there is no other source of definiteness)

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