Question

The distinction between "lexical prepositions" and "grammaticalized (functional) prepositions" is central to modern syntactic theory. Compare the following uses: 1. She is waiting for the bus. 2. The book is on the desk. According to the criteria of Huddleston and Pullum regarding the status of prepositions as heads of phrases, it is correct to conclude that:

Accepted Answer

A) In (1), "for" is a licensed functional preposition (grammaticalized) determined by the verb, while in (2), "on" is a lexical head that contributes its own spatial meaning to the phrase.

Answer

B) In both cases, the prepositions are mere "case markers" and cannot be considered heads of their respective phrases.

Answer

C) In (1), the preposition is a clitic, whereas in (2) it is a free morpheme with no syntactic relation to the noun phrase.

Answer

D) The preposition in (2) is an obligatory complement of the verb "to be", making it as grammaticalized as the "for" in (1).

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