It was a phone conversation, in which my friend said she wanted to make a preposition.
Because I can’t resist, I asked her if she meant proposition.
So was born a word confusion, preposition vs proposition.
A preposition is strictly within the field of grammar — there’s a list of prepositions you can explore, if you like. While classified as nouns, prepositions modify adjectives, nouns, and verbs creating phrases that tell where something is located, define the time, and express relationships.
As for proposition, it has a wide range from government and business proposals to lewd proposals, usually to the opposite sex.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Preposition | Proposition |
|---|---|
Cute Cat Hiding Under Blanket is in the public domain, via RawPixel. — She is “under” the blanket, all right. |
Proposition 8 by Leo Karchesky is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Flickr. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Noun
Plural: prepositions |
Noun; Verb, transitive
Plural for the noun: propositions Third person present verb: propositions |
| [Grammar] A word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element in the clause | Noun: A statement or assertion that expresses a judgment or opinion
A suggested program or plan of action, especially in a business context
[With adjective] A project, task, or idea considered in terms of its likely success or difficulty, especially in a commercial context
Verb, transitive:
|
| Examples: | |
| Watch for the man on the platform.
She arrived after dinner. What did you do it for? That’s what it’s for. Are you in the mood, baby? What about Mary? I’ll take a coffee with full-fat cream, please. She’s on top of the world. |
Noun: What about the proposition that all men are created equal? “If a proposition is true, then we say it has a truth value of true; if a proposition is false, its truth value is false” (Proposition). “Although theorems can be written in a completely symbolic form, e.g., as propositions in propositional calculus, they are often expressed informally in a natural language such as English for better readability” (Theorem). They had put together a detailed investment proposition. Californian voters rejected by a two-to-one majority proposition 128. Needless to say, she refused his frank sexual proposition. A paper that has lost half its readers is unlikely to be an attractive proposition. As a potential manager, Sandy is a better proposition than Dave. Verb, transitive: I was propositioned by the editor about becoming film critic of the paper. He had allegedly tried to proposition Miss Hawes. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: prepositional Adverb: prepositionally |
Adjective: propositional Adverb: propositionally Noun: underproposition |
| History of the Word: | |
| Late Middle English from the Latin praepositio(n-), from the verb praeponere, from prae (before) + ponere (to place). | Middle English from the Old French, which is from the Latin propositio(n-), from the verb proponere. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Preposition versus Proposition
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Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: proposition
The Free Dictionary: proposition
“Proposition.” Propositional Logic. Computer Science. Departments. College of Sciences. Old Dominion University. n.d. Web. 12 Mar 2023. <https://www.cs.odu.edu/~toida/nerzic/content/logic/prop_logic/proposition/proposition.html>.
“Theorem.” Wikipedia. 12 Feb 2023. Web. 12 Mar 2023. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theorem>.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
A Quick Peek is under the CC0 license, via Rawpixel.
