Purge the Pesky Prepositions

Purge the Pesky Prepositions
by Mary McWilliams Johnson

Here are three situations that are ripe for purging:

When the preposition is part of a prepositional phrase that could be replaced with a simple modifier
When the preposition ends a sentence
When the preposition is not needed to clarify the meaning of the statement

I'll explain those situations later, but first, you probably need to know what prepositions are before you start zapping them.

Prepositions are words that show a relationship between other words in the sentence, They're often used in phrases, such as "on the table" or "behind the curtain." But they can be used alone as in "during dinner" or "through error." These are some of the most popular prepositions:

above	at	by	into	toward
about	before	down	like	through
across	behind	during	near	under
after	below	except	of	until
against	beneath	for	off	up
among	between	in	since	with
around	but (except)	inside	to	within

Is that prepositional phrase really necessary?

A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition and a noun (the object of the preposition), which sometimes has one or more modifiers. Example: at the red schoolhouse....behind the old oak tree. A prepositional phrase is always used as a modifier itself--that is, it is used in place of an adjective or an adverb.

Now the kinds of phrases that I hope you will purge are adjectival prepositional phrases; and this will all become clear in a minute.

Adverbial prepositional phrases (ones that tell when, where or how something happened) are very useful: without thought...at the grocery store...on target...among many others...behind schedule...along a line, etc.

But adjectival prepositional phrases tend to produce clumsy construction and add unnecessary words. Such phrases are usually best replaced with a simple modifier. Take this atrocious sentence, for example:

The researchers are of the opinion that this test produces biased results a great number of times owing to the fact that subjects exhibit a tendency to misinterpret the questions.

Thank goodness an editor pared that sentence down to this:

The researchers believe the test often produces biased results because subjects tend to misinterpret the questions.

Great edit! The streamlined, easier-to-read sentence has 17 fewer words and no prepositional phrases. (Note: The phrase to misinterpret is not a prepositional phrase; it is an infinitive--a preposition followed by a verb form--but we'll have to discuss infinitives in another article.)

Never use a preposition to end a sentence with

Remember that old pun? It's still good advice. The captioned sentence could be written, Never end a sentence with a preposition. (Note This version also eliminates the infinitive to end.)

Although we all use final prepositions in everyday speech, they're still taboo in business writing. You yell at the kids, "Clean that room UP!" You know the up is superfluous, but wow, what a punch it gives to the command! Of course in a businesslike document you would say, "You must first clean the surface," not "...clean the surface up."

If you don't need it, zap it

A preposition should always be omitted unless the sentence would be unclear without it. These sentences contain surplus prepositions: Put the vase DOWN on the table...They placed him UP on a pedestal.

However, a preposition is legitimate when you really need it to indicate direction, as in Roll the film away from the edge...Pull the sleeve down over the cylinder...Push the lever up until it clicks.

			copyright 1993-2007 Mary McWilliams Johnson

Is that prepositional phrase really necessary?

Never use a preposition to end a sentence with

If you don't need it, zap it

Purge your own prepositions