Prepositions with no complement
§6.2 Modification 141Although most PPs contain a complement, there are some prepositions that take no
complement: they can occur on their own. We discussed some of these above: She
went aboard ([8ib]), The spare chairs are downstairs ([13ib]), and so on.
The exceptional preposition ago
There is one preposition that is strikingly exceptional in that it invariably FOLLOWS
its complement. This is ago, as in She arrived two weeks ago, where two weeks is
complement of ago. The order here reflects the historical origin of ago: it derives
from the form agone, containing the past participle of go. Originally two weeks ago
meant something like "two weeks gone", i.e., located at a point in time that is now
two weeks gone by into the past.
Dictionaries classify ago as an adverb, but there is compelling evidence that it is
a preposition, exceptional only in its position relative to its complement. Consider
the following data:
[29] a. I spent two weeks in Pa ris.
H a. *She arrived two weeks.
1lI a. I recall his behaviour two weeks ago.b. *1 spent two weeks ago in Pa ris.
b. She arrived two weeks ago.
b. That was two weeks ago.Examples [i-ii] show that ago is head of the phrase two weeks ago: the distribution
of the whole phrase is quite different from that of two weeks alone.
In [iii] we see that ago phrases readily modify nouns or function as predicative
complement to verbs like be: these functions are characteristic of PPs, not
AdvPs, as we noted in §2.2.6.2 Modification
Some of the main types of modification in the structure of PPs are illus
trated in [30], where the modifiers are underlined:
[30] We had to leave [a fe w minutes befo re the end].
ii It landed [wav behind us].
III We went [straight home].
IV It all seemed [completely out of this world].
NPs measuring extent commonly occur with temporal and spatial prepositions,
as in [i].
Measurement of extent can also be expressed, as in [ii], by adverbs like just,
directly, soon, shortly, way, etc.
The words straight and right occur as adjectives, but they can also occur as
adverbs in modifier function. But they only modify prepositions: we find It flew
right under the bridge, but in Standard English we don't have *It was right large
or *We drove right slowly.