PREPOSITIONAL VERBS AND THE PREPOSITIONAL COMPLEMENT (PC) or OBJECT(PO)
Many common verbs in English take a specific preposition. They are called prepositional verbs. The preposition + the following NG are often analyzed as the Prepositional Complement (PC). Alternatively, the verb and preposition are seen as a whole and the following NG as the Object mediated by a preposition (PO). Examples are:
I looked after their cat.
You can rely on Jane in an emergency.
These examples have in common the following characteristics:
• The NG following the preposition encodes a participant which may function in the clause structure.
• The preposition is associated with a particular verb, often called a prepositional verb. Idiomatic prepositional verbs have separate lexical entries in dictionaries.
• Without the preposition, the clause would either be ungrammatical (*look their cat, *count Jane) or, in some cases, have a different meaning altogether, as in see to the baggage (attend to it) as opposed to see the baggage.
• The preposition can’t be replaced by another preposition without changing the meaning (look after the cat, look for the cat, look at the cat).
