complex prepositions – English Grammar Profiler

Firstly, complex prepositions are phrases, which means there are two or more words to them.

B2 example:

In addition to imitation,  there are a number of other procedures designed to give the therapist some degree of control over the child‘s language production.

• The Louvain EAP dictionary: ‘in addition to’ is used to add new information and introduces the point to which you want to add something new.

C1 example:

In those few weeks, our lives had reverted back to what they‘d been prior to the murder of Sean Nokes.

listen

• before a particular time or event

Prepositional complexity is found at different levels on the English Grammar Profile and English Vocabulary Profile.

Point 15 C1 in PREPOSITIONS is defined as:

less frequent complex prepositions, often in a more formal, literary or business context.

The two examples given are in the EGP as a guide:

ahead_II21 of_II22
on_II31 account_II32 of_II33

They both contain what ‘text inspector’ defines as B1 within them.

Next, it’s worth noting that this is the only C1 entry for prepositions and that there are no higher C2 entries for this category. In other words, this is the most complexity for prepositions listed on the English Grammar Profile.  Yet there are ‘multi’ part ones listed on the EVP at various levels, which makes grammar a hard way to choose which level each belongs to.

Point 13 B2 in the category of PREPOSITIONS is defined as:

wide range of complex prepositions.

• (except|apart|as)  (for|from)
  (in)  (addition|spite)  (to|of)

Point 10 B1 in PREPOSITIONS is defined as:

an increasing range of complex prepositions.

The examples listed include:

(instead|out|outside|due)_II21 (of|to)_II22
(up|thanks) to

Point 5 A2 in Prepositions is defined:

a limited range of complex prepositions.

And the example sentences when coded are:

(in)_II31 (front)_II32 (of)_II33 (and)_RR31 (so)_RR32 (on)_RR33 (such)_II21 (as)_II22 (each)_PPX221 (other)_PPX222

(near)_II21 (to)_II22

An iWeb search for _ii2 _ii2 gives us the following:

1 OUT OF 6044503 (there are many pages of levels associated with this in the EVP)

  Forbes

2 SUCH AS 5449751 

  Fabry Disease News Creating a Treatment Plan for Fabry Disease Be sure to include personal information, such as your name, address, and current information for an emergency contact in your treatment plan.

3 ACCORDING TO 2869261 4 DUE TO 2391407 5 BECAUSE OF 2052897

6 UP TO

1826998

I wouldn’t leave something like that up to chance.

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Do you feel up to that? 
Yeah. I guess so.

listen

7 ALONG WITH 1692520

8 INSTEAD OF 1611729

  Malay Mail Next time you buy from a hawker, it could be with a card instead of cash.

9 AWAY FROM 1320079 10 RATHER THAN 1299115 11 PRIOR TO 1110670 12 DEPENDING ON 1054573

13 OTHER THAN 734178

I’m glad they’re not dead, 

14 SUBJECT TO 680458 15 OUTSIDE OF 647355 16 AS TO 612286

17 NEXT TO 605685

18 AHEAD OF 517797 (EGP example C1 but EVP B1)

1 TO STAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE 1528

  The Straits Times Samsung aims to stay ahead of the curve with Note20, Z Fold2.

2 TO STAY AHEAD OF THE COMPETITION 979 3 TO STAY AHEAD OF THE GAME 953 4 ONE STEP AHEAD OF THE COMPETITION 479

5 TO GET AHEAD OF THE GAME 430

19 AS OF 432508 20 AS FOR 430830 21 BUT FOR 421069 22 ON TO 330792

23 OFF OF 325384

24 APART FROM

  DMARGE No one quite understands the job apart from other escorts.

25 EXCEPT FOR

  Energy Matters IKEA operates 10 of its massive stores in Australia in every state and territory except for the Northern Territory and Tasmania.

26 THANKS TO 213464
27 ASIDE FROM 204325

Aside from the heated comments of a very vocal minority, it‘s been an overwhelmingly positive experience.

listen

28 RELATIVE TO 161384 29 PURSUANT TO 157081 30 CONTRARY TO 115613 31 UP UNTIL 102868 32 ADJACENT TO 87658 33 PERTAINING TO 71935 34 LET ALONE 70787 35 OWING TO 49551 36 IN BETWEEN 45311 37 NEAR TO 39562 38 IRRESPECTIVE OF 37121 39 SAVE FOR 27295 40 A LA 25571 41 ON BOARD 22224 42 AS REGARDS 20047 43 SUBSEQUENT TO 13599 44 AS FROM 12542 45 NEARER TO 8944 46 NEAREST TO 7024 47 AS AGAINST 6214 48 AS BETWEEN 5393 49 THAN PURSUANT 223

50 EXCEPTING FOR 164

Sadly ‘text inspestor’ does not do 3 token level…

_ii3 _ii3 _ii3

Finally, here are frequent three-part complex prepositions:

1 AS WELL AS 3749141
2 IN ADDITION TO 1012311 3 IN TERMS OF 828847 4 IN FRONT OF 732209 5 ON TOP OF 552937 6 IN ACCORDANCE WITH 289060 7 ON BEHALF OF 263886 8 IN RELATION TO 228883 9 AS OPPOSED TO 223942 10 WITH RESPECT TO 216982 11 IN RESPONSE TO 215278 12 IN CONJUNCTION WITH 183187 13 IN CONNECTION WITH 156662 14 IN TOUCH WITH 136900 15 IN NEED OF 133469 16 IN LINE WITH 130925 17 IN FAVOR OF 130257 18 IN CHARGE OF 129601 19 IN SUPPORT OF 122139

20 IN SPITE OF 111242

21 WITH REGARD TO 106633 22 IN CASE OF 106112 23 IN SEARCH OF 94130 24 IN CONTACT WITH 90433 25 IN LIGHT OF 86087 26 IN EXCESS OF 84002 27 IN PLACE OF 83464 28 BY WAY OF 81453 29 IN RESPECT OF 79895 30 BY MEANS OF 79247 31 IN FAVOUR OF 77885 32 IN LIEU OF 54881 33 IN REGARD TO 47577 34 IN KEEPING WITH 44435

35 ON ACCOUNT OF 44159 EGP example.

36 IN RETURN FOR 38047 37 IN COMMON WITH 29020 38 IN VIEW OF 28082 39 IN POSSESSION OF 27987 40 FOR FEAR OF 26794 41 IN ASSOCIATION WITH 26381 42 BY REASON OF 25034 43 IN PURSUIT OF 24671 44 IN CONSULTATION WITH 23484 45 IN COOPERATION WITH 18693 46 IN COMPARISON WITH 17514 47 WITH REFERENCE TO 16921 48 IN REPLY TO 16044 49 IN PROPORTION TO 14841

50 IN ANSWER TO 10220

4 part =

1 ON THE PART OF 74232 2 IN THE LIGHT OF 27959 3 WITH A VIEW TO 25534 4 OUT OF TOUCH WITH 7136

5 OUT OF LINE WITH 1981

*there’s no 5 part prepositions.

We have many posts to do with prepositions on this website, but you can also read more about them on other websites too.