Good morning my name is..... I have chosen to deal with unit number 18.

La localización
en el tiempo: relaciones temporales, frequencia. In order to explain it, I have divided it in
several points.

1. Introduction
2. The expression of temporal relationship: an introduction
3. Time position: at, on, in , by
4. Measurement into the future: in
5. Expression of duration: “from…to” “until” “up to”
6. Expression of duration: for, during, over, (all) through, throughout.
7. The elements: before, after, since, till, until.
8. The elements “between…and” “by”
9. Absence of preposition in “point in time” expressions
10. Absence of preposition in frequency expressions
11. Absence of preposition in duration expressions
12. Conclusion
13. Bibliography.

1. INTRODUCTION

The preposition expresses the relation between two entities. The prepositional phrases have
the following syntactic functions:

1- postmodifier in a noun phrase. Eg. The birds in the cage were singing

2- adverbial. It can be adjunct, subjunct, disjunct or conjunct.

3- Complementation of a verb or of an adjective.

Eg. We were looking for the keys

Eg. I´m sorry for his parents

-definition of a preposition:
the preposition in English can be defined negatively with three criteria; they can not have as
a complement:

- a “that” clause

- an “infinitive” clause

- a “subjective” case of a personal pronoun.

There are some alternations about the absence and presence of a preposition in English, for
instance:

- he was surprised that she noticed him (that clause)

Further examples of verbs and adjectives that can have prepositions or that clauses are:

-ask for - inform of -be bad at

-be sorry about -decide on -tell of/about

-be aware of -be interested in

The omission of the preposition is impossible in a “noun phrase”, “-ing clause” and “wh-
clause”.

The function of the prepositions and of the conjunctions is that of connecting, relating. In
such cases a preposition can be misunderstood with an adverb, its distinction is so difficult.

When a preposition is not followed by its complement they are called “deferred
preposition”. In the following 3 cases the deferment of the preposition is obligatory:

1. passive construction. Eg. Has Tom paid for the room?

2. infinitive clauses. Eg. He´s hard to work with
3. –ing clauses. Eg. He´s worth listening to

1. THE EXPRESSION OF TEMPORAL RELATIONSHIPS: AN INTRODUCTION

Temporal relations are typically realised by means of Prepositional Phrases which may
function as:

-adjunct: he came on Friday

-post-modifier of a noun phrase: the party on Friday

-predicative complement: that was on Friday

2.TIME POSITION: AT, ON, IN, BY

In the time sphere there are only two dimension types:

-point of time

period of time

AT

It´s used for:

-point of time (clock-time) eg. At 11.00 o’clock

-holyday periods eg. At Easter

Also used with periods when conceived as points of time:

-breakfast time

-tea time

-lunch time and so on…

ON

It´s used for days and periods. Eg. On Monday / on the following day

But we have an exception: bus goes on the hour.

IN

Less commonly “during” is used for periods longer or shorter than a day:

Evening month year

Season century during Holy Week

In the late afternoon

An exceptional use of it is in the following expressions:

On Monday morning

On the morning of 1st of June

BY

It´s used for periods ; and in expressions such as “by day” and “by night”.

We can use “during” when we refer to activities such as “travelling”.

4. MEASUREMENT INTO THE FUTURE: IN

To denote measure in the present time, we use the following expressions:

PAST PRESENT FUTURE

(AGO) (IN)

5. EXPRESSION OF DURATION: FOR, DURING, OVER, ALL THROUGH,

THROUGHT.

Phrases of duration answer the question “how long”. Duration is usually expressed by “for”

FOR is used for

- from the beginning to the end

- stretch of time (for 50 years)

IN and DURING are used at some time. Eg. When did you camp in Scotland?

We camp there in the summer.

In this example we don´t know exactly at what time did they camp.

FOR is used for idiomatic phrases like : “forever”, “for good” and “for years”

It has different meanings in the following sentences:

-I’ve done it for years

-I’ve not done that for years

OVER normally accompanies noun phrases denoting “special occasions”, and generally
refers to periods shorter than “throughout”. Eg. Over Sunday (a special day compared with
the days of the week)
6.EXPRESSION OF DURATION: “FROM…TO, UNTIL, UP TO”

From…to

From…till

From…through (AmE)

They avoid ambiguity as to whether the period mentioned second is included in the total
span of time.

Eg. We camped there from June to September.

But with “from” absent, we can use:

-untill

-till

(for durative verbs)

-up to

-through

“From”, and “up…to” are starting and ending points. “up …to” normally doesn’t include
the period named in the prepositional complement.

BY denotes an “end point”. Eg. She arrived by Christmas.

UNTILL / TILL are used in durative verbs (work-live…) It also implies a period of time.

Eg. She worked there till summer.

In a negative context, is used for momentary periods.

Eg. She didn´t arrive there till midnight.

POSITIVE: it means terminal point (up to)

Eg. He worked till 12.00 pm

NEGATIVE: it means starting point (before)

Eg. We didn´t dance until 12.00 pm

7. THE ELEMENTS “BEFORE, AFTER, SINCE, TILL, UNTIL”

These words are conjunctions as well as prepositions. As prepositions they occur almost as
prepositions of time, and are followed by:

-temporal noun phrase : after next day

-subjectless –ing clause: since leaving home

-noun phrase: before the war…

till the birth of…

since electricity…

before and after have opposite meanings. And in legal style we use “pending” instead of
“during”.

8.THE ELEMENTS “BETWEEN …AND”, “BY”.

“between…and” is identified by starting and ending point; in contrast to “from…to”, does

not refer to the whole time span.

Eg. I’ll ring between Monday and Saturday

“between …and” here means “about”, at some time. And may be Monday and Saturday are
excluded.

“Between “ is also used for events or actions that occur repeatedly, for example:

Between meals/ classes…etc.

“BY” refers to:

-the time at which the result of an event is in existence.

Eg. The papers should be handed by next week

-an end point.

Eg. By the time we got to the concert, I was very thirsty.

-momentary verbs.

Eg.We sang in the festival by half an hour.

9. ABSENCE OF PREPOSITION IN “POINT IN TIME” EXPRESSIONS.

In many cases the preposition of time is absent, so the time adverbial takes the form of a
noun phrase .

- Prepositions of time-when are always absent in words like “last, next, this, that” and
before “some, every”

Eg. I saw him last Monday

- Nouns which have the implied meaning of “last, next, this”.

Eg. I saw her today

- The prepositions restricted in time expressions are “at, on, in, before, since”

Eg. I’ll see you on Monday = I’ll see you Monday

The preposition is optional :

- with deictic phrases, referring to times at more than one remove from present. Eg. (on )
Monday week

- with a time before or after a given time in the past or future. Eg. (on) the next day

Sentences without preposition tend to be more informal and more usual . But the
preposition is obligatory in the following cases:

- sentences without postmodification

- when the word order is inverted. Eg, on saturday next

10. ABSENCE OF PREPOSITION IN FREQUENCY EXPRESSIONS.

We don´t need prepositions in the following cases:

- frequency phrases. Eg. Every sunday

- in informal style. Eg. Sundays we go the cinema

But other frequency expressions require prepositions:

With + adj. + frequency with normal frequency

At + adj. + intervals at regular intervals

On + adj. + occasions on special occasions

From time to time we visit her from time to time

At a / the rate of + noun at the rate of $20 an hour

Between/at + each + singular

Noun, or all + plural noun he has given up the habit of smoking between each lecture

11. ABSENCE OF PREPOSITION IN DURATION EXPRESSIONS

The preposition FOR refers to:

- a stretch of time

- it´s used with stative meaning (stay, last, lay)

- is obligatory absent in phrases beginning with “all” (all the week, all the year)

However, is obligatory with:

- dynamic verbs (live, teach)

- in initial position ( for 600 years)

- for-phrases ( for years, for good)

12. CONCLUSION

We have studied the resources to express temporal relationships. And we have also talked
about the most general exceptions and particular features that show difficulty for foreign
learners of English.

13. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Downing, A. Locke, P (1992) A University Course in English Grammar. Prentice Hall

Huddleston, R. (1984) An Introduction to the Grammar of English. CUP