Collins Cobuild English Grammar (61 page)

2.278
  
Personal pronouns
are not usually placed after
of
. For example, you cannot say
Joyce was the daughter of him
or
the pages of it
.
Possessive determiners
are used instead to show possession. These are explained in paragraphs
1.194
to
1.210
.

2.279
  Prepositional phrases beginning with
of
can be used to show what something consists of.

…a letter
of confirmation
.
…strong feelings
of jealousy
.

They can also be used to show what the subject matter of something is.

…a picture
of a house
.
…Gretchen’s account
of her interview with Nichols
.
…the idea
of death
.

2.280
  Prepositional phrases beginning with
of
can be used to say that something belongs to or is associated with someone or something.

Cental is a trademark
of Monotore Ltd
.
No.28 was the town house
of Sir Winston Churchill
.
James is the son
of a Methodist minister
.
The acting ability
of the pupils
is admirable.
…the beauty
of the Welsh landscape
.
Four boys sat on the floor
of the living room
.
Ellen aimlessly turned the pages
of her magazine
.

Note that apostrophe
s
(’s) structures are much more frequently used to say that something belongs to someone or something.
Apostrophe
s
(’s)
is explained in paragraphs
1.211
to
1.222
.

2.281
  Prepositional phrases beginning with
of
can be used to say that someone or something has a particular quality.

…a woman
of energy and ambition
.
…problems
of varying complexity
.
…a flower
of monstrous proportions
.
A household
of this size
inevitably has problems.

Of
can also be used in front of a number to indicate someone’s age.

…a woman
of twenty-two
.
…a child
of six
.

Other ways of talking about age are explained in paragraphs
2.258
to
2.263
.

2.282
  Prepositional phrases beginning with
of
can be used with nouns referring to an action to show who or what is performing the action.

…the arrival
of the police
.
…the growth
of modern industry
.

They are also used to show who or what someone does something to. For example, if you are talking about people who support a scheme, you can call them
the supporters of the scheme
.

…supporters
of the hunger strike
.
…critics
of the Trade Union Movement
.
…the creator
of the universe
.
…a student
of English
.
…the cause
of the tragedy
.

Of
structures are also used to indicate the thing affected by an action.

…the destruction
of their city
.
…the dismissal
of hundreds of workers
.

2.283
  Prepositional phrases beginning with
of
and containing measurement are used to show how great an area, speed, distance, or temperature is.

There were fires burning over a total area
of about 600 square miles
.
It can barely maintain a speed
of 25 kilometres an hour
.
…an average annual temperature
of 20°
.

Ways of measuring things are explained in paragraphs
2.250
to
2.257
.

with

2.284
  Prepositional phrases beginning with
with
can be used to say that someone or something has a particular characteristic, feature, or possession.

…a girl
with red hair
.
…a girl
with a foreign accent
.
…a big car
with reclining seats
.
…a man
with a violent temper
.
…the man
with the gun
.
…those
with large families
.

They are also used to indicate what something has on or in it.

…a sheet of paper
with writing on it
.
…a round box
with some buttons in it
.
…a white, plain envelope
with her name printed on it
.
…fragments of wrapping paper
with bits of sticky tape still adhering to them
.

in

2.285
  Prepositional phrases beginning with
in
can be used to say what someone is wearing.

…a grey-haired man
in a raincoat
.
…the man
in the dark glasses
.
…little groups of people
in black
.

by

2.286
  Prepositional phrases beginning with
by
can be used after a noun referring to an action to say who or what is performing it.

…his appointment
by the King
.
…the compression of air
by the piston
.

with prepositional phrases

2.287
  Some nouns, especially abstract nouns, need to be followed by a prepositional phrase to show what they relate to. There is often little or no choice about which preposition to use after a particular noun.

He has an allergy
to peanuts
.
…his authority
over them
.
…the solution
to our energy problem
.
…the bond
between mother and child
.

2.288
  Here is a list of nouns that usually or often have
to
after them:

access

addiction

adherence

affront

allegiance

allergy

allusion

alternative

answer

antidote

approach

attachment

aversion

contribution

damage

devotion

disloyalty

exception

fidelity

incitement

introduction

preface

prelude

recourse

reference

relevance

reply

resistance

return

sequel

solution

susceptibility

testimony

threat

vulnerability

witness

Here is a list of nouns that usually or often have
for
after them:

admiration

appetite

aptitude

bid

craving

credit

cure

demand

desire

disdain

dislike

disregard

disrespect

hunger

love

need

provision

quest

recipe

regard

remedy

respect

responsibility

room

search

substitute

sympathy

synonym

taste

thirst

Here is a list of nouns that usually or often have
on
after them:

assault

attack

ban

claim

comment

concentration

constraint

crackdown

curb

dependence

effect

embargo

hold

insistence

reflection

reliance

restriction

stance

tax

Here is a list of nouns that usually or often have
with
after them:

affinity

collision

collusion

connection