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An Adventure in English Language Space: A Key to the Mysteries of Prepositions

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Among language learners and teachers there are those who are more interested in how language operates and those more interested in why it operates as it does. This book will be of more interest to the second group. This group is more apt to be interested in questions such as, "Is `off' the opposite of `on'?," "Why do people say `in the morning' but `at night'?," "Why `up' north but `down' south?," or, "Why do we say `back east', but `out west'?" Much of the book consists of answers to these and many other questions. To say that this book offers new perspectives in answering these questions as well as many other points of grammar is by no means an understatement. In fact readers should be prepared for a great many perspectives. Starting out with the basic concepts of point line, and plane of geometry, the author explains the meaning of "at", "to", and "on". He uses a three-dimensional body (a sphere or cube) to define the meaning of "in". These concepts from geometry are useful in describing the the static or stationary meanings of those prepositions, but to explain more advanced use of prepositions he uses the concepts of "reduction" and "extension" and perspectives from time, motion, thoughts, states, relating movements of the planets, magnetic field and even psychophysiological or gravitational forces, as well as many others. This book should be of special interest to those involved in teaching or learning English as a second language; and, to a lesser degree, teachers or learners of Japanese. Appendix A consists of an article on how postpositions function in Japanese. On the negative side, the book does not have an index which makes it difficult to look up precisely where descriptions of usage or contrasted pairs occur. Many of the prepositions are treated in more than one section of the book. For example "in front of" and "in back of" are described on both p. 93 and pp. 271-272. The book goes a long way toward answering those questions asked by both elementary and advanced learners of English as a second language. The numerous lists and a fair number of sketches give convincing illustrations of contrasts in the meanings of prepositions. Finally, as a long-time learner of Japanese and as a teacher of English in Japan at the university level for more than twenty years, I was solidly among that group that was more interested in HOW the languages functioned. This book moved me a considerable distance toward an understanding of the other group, those interested in WHY

George Takahashi has poured a life-time of linguistic experience into his book on English prepositions. Those of us who have grown up with English use prepositions without a second thought. For those learning the language, however, this book explains as much as you would ever want to know on prepositions. Linguists will find Takahashi's book a treasure of insights.