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varied, abbreviated, or extended according to the normal rules of syntax. Thus in the composite preposition for
the sake of neither the definite article nor the preposition can be replaced by words of similar meaning.
Semantic characteristics
§ 247. Semantically prepositions form a varied group of words. Most of them are polysemantic (in, to, for,
at, from), their original meaning having become vague, others have retained their full meaning and are
accordingly monosemantic (down, over, across, off, till, until, save, near, along, among, despite, during, etc.).
This also applies to prepositions borrowed from Latin: versus, via, plus, minus.
Relations expressed by prepositions may be of various types:
1) agentive - the letter was sent by a friend of mine;
2) attributive - a drawing in crayon, the people in question (люди, о которых идет речь);
3) possessive and partial relations - one of my friends, the roof of the house, a glass of brandy, a decline in
waste, a rise in production;
4) relation indicating origin, material, or source - a girl from Brighton, made of gold:
5) objective relation – don’t be angry with me, I'II look into the matter, to work at a book, to speak on the
matter (about the matter, of the matter);
6) relation indicating to whom the action is directed - to show it to him, to give lessons to the children;
7) instrumental relation - to write with a pencil, to cut with a knife;
8) relation of subordination - to be secretary to a Minister;
9) relation defining the sphere or field of activity - the country depends on exports for its food; Tom is good
at football;
10) relation of involvement or association - to cooperate with somebody; coffee with cream, to compare this
with that, to get involved in a discussion;
11) respective relation - he is big for a youngster, I did not know I had a blackguard for a son;
12) relation of resemblance - he is like his father;
13) relation of dissociation and differentiation - to disburden oneself of one’s past; to be devoid of
something, to disentangle oneself from something; to know something from something, to deduce from
something;
14) various adverbial relations:
a) of manner, means, style and language - with diligence, by telegram, in slang, in bad print, in a neat
hand.
in good style, in brief;
b) of purpose or aim - to send for the doctor, he did it for fun, the police were after the criminal;
c) temporal relations. These may be subdivided into those denoting precedence, sequence, duration, etc. -
in good time, at 5 o’clock, before the dawn;
d) of cause or reason - I did it out of fear, through his negligence, I despise you for this;