Prepositions after objects

Question

I live in the house next to/close to the cinema.

I live in the house that is next to/close to the cinema.

I go to the school in front of/behind my house.

I go to the school that is in front of/behind my house.

I work at a supermarket far from my place.

I work at a supermarket that is far away from my place.

My friend lives in the apartment block opposite mine.

My friend lives in the apartment block that is opposite mine.

Which ones are correct and make sense? Are there any rules or guidelines for this kind of structure?

Though the relative clauses there are reduced from say 'the garage that is standing behind my house' to participial clauses 'the garage standing behind my house' rather than to postnominal prepositional phrases 'the garage behind my house'. — Edwin Ashworth, Nov 16 '13 at 13:18
In none of these eight sentences is there a preposition after the subject. Please edit your question accordingly. — RegDwigнt, Nov 16 '13 at 13:22
These are not "after subjects"; the subject is *I* in each sentence. These are simply examples of relative clauses with and without optional Whiz-deletion. — John Lawler, Nov 16 '13 at 14:46
Here is a nice summary of various possible 'deleted structures' (Reduced Relative Clauses). — Edwin Ashworth, Nov 16 '13 at 15:08

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 16 '13 at 13:55

1

All eight are perfectly grammatica, and idiomatic, except that I wouldn't use far or far away in that context in ordinary speech; I'd probably say a long way.

answered Nov 16 '13 at 13:55

Colin Fine

77,173

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 16 '13 at 13:57

Although the Question is framed in a somewhat misleading way by the title, what you have are examples involving compound prepositions, e.g. "next to".

To take the first example, "next to the cinema" is an adjectival prepositional phrase modifying the noun "house", telling us which house. In the alternative version the meaning is expressed differently, through a dependent clause starting with "that is" modifying "house". Here the prepositional phrase "next to the cinema" acts as an adverb modifying "is", telling where the house is.

Neither of these uses is wrong.

Prepositions after objects

2 Answers2