English prepositions

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For

The preposition "for" may have, in English, several values, as follows:

Value UNL Examples
English UNL
Aim or purpose pur trained for the ministry, put the house up for sale pur(trained, ministry)
Destination to headed off for town to(headed off, town)
Object of a desire, intention or perception obj eager for success obj(eager, success)
Recipient (direction, addressee) of an action gol prepared lunch for us gol(prepared, us)
Beneficiary of an action ben He did it for us ben(did, us)
Duration dur stood in line for an hour dur(stood, hour)
On behalf of, in favor of, in place of man spoke for all members man(spoke, members.@for)
Amount, extent man a bill for five dollars; walked for miles; man(bill, dollars.@for)
As being man mistook me for the librarian man(mistook, librarian.@for)

In

The preposition "in" may have, in English, several values, as follows:

Value UNL Examples
English UNL
complement (necessary argument) obj interested in Math obj(interested, Math)
time (when?) tim work in 1973 tim(work, 1973)
physical place (where?) plc work in Switzerland plc(work, Switzerland)
logical place (in what?) scn work in the project scn(work, project)
affected place opl hit in the face opl(hit, face)
manner (how) man split in two man(split, 2.@in)
attribute (which) mod a man in overcoat mod(man, overcoat.@in)
final state (= into) gol throw in the basket gol(throw, basket)
@in

The attribute @in is the default for the relations "tim", "plc" and "scn" and may be omitted in these cases. It may also be omitted in "obj" relations, whose government is stated in the dictionary. For the other relations, its use is mandatory:

  • work in Switzerland = plc(work, Switzerland) = plc(work, Switzerland.@in)
  • work in 1973 = tim(work, 1973) = tim(work, 1973.@in)
  • split in two = man(split, 2.@in) man(split,2) = split as two
  • man in overcoat = mod(man, overcoat.@in) mod(man, overcoat) = man of overcoat

Of

To

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