A Syntactic and Semantic Study of English Prepositions in the Minimalist Program

(1)介词不仅可以带NP，还可以带AP、AdvP、PP和CP，因此介词必须像动词一样指定范畴选择。(2)PP既可以出现在句首、VP和句末，也可以出现在中位或助位。(3)介词短语的语义解释可以从以下几个方面进行：（1）介词可以假定有少量的原型意义;（2）名词的语义属性可以用质构结构来规定，特别是用构成质构和Telic质构。

(1) Prepositions can be found to take not only NPs but also APs, AdvPs, PPs and CPs ; so categorial selections must be specified for prepositions just like verbs.(2) PPs can appear not only in sentence-initial position, VP-final position and sentence-final position but also in mid-position or auxiliary position, depending on their meanings.(3) The semantic interpretation of PPs can be suggested to be made in the following way : (i) A small number of Proto-meanings can be assumed for prepositions ; (ii) The semantic properties of nouns can be specified in terms of Qualia structure, especially by Constitutive and Telic Qualia.