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Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009be warned of
The following sentence appears on a local newspaper in Hong Kong today. "Several parents said that police had followed them closely in the past few days and warned of possible reprisals if they insisted on going ahead with their protests." I am interested in finding out the role that the preposition 'of' plays in the above sentence, and in other examples such as 'know of'. Thanks > The following sentence appears on a local newspaper in Hong Kong > today. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > I am interested in finding out the role that the preposition 'of' > plays in the above sentence, and in other examples such as 'know of'. The word OF links the verb WARNED with its indirect object REPRISALS. Another way to link these ideas would be: "police warned that there would be reprisals." This use of OF is common in English.  SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) > > The following sentence appears on a local newspaper in Hong Kong > > today. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > "police warned that there would be reprisals." This use of > OF is common in English. If "reprisals" is any sort of object, I'd argue that it's a *direct* object.[1] An indirect object would be "them" immediately following "warned." [1] Structurally, it's the object of a preposition, or course. -- Bob Lieblich Innit? >>> The following sentence appears on a local newspaper in Hong Kong >>> today. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] >> "police warned that there would be reprisals." This use of >> OF is common in English. More simply, "of" is often a synonym of "about". That's not quite what it is here, but probably close enough to show what the sentence is doing. > If "reprisals" is any sort of object, I'd argue that it's a *direct* > object.[1] An indirect object would be "them" immediately following > "warned." Or even the other way about, as Don implies. I don't think reprisals can usefully be warned of anything. > [1] Structurally, it's the object of a preposition, or course. SignatureMike. >The following sentence appears on a local newspaper in Hong Kong >today. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >I am interested in finding out the role that the preposition 'of' >plays in the above sentence, and in other examples such as 'know of'. The meaning is this from AHD3: 15.a. With reference to; about: think highly of her proposals; will speak of it later. Structurally, "of ... reprisals ..." is a prepositional phrase affecting "warned". The interesting thing to me is the attachment of "...if they insisted on going ahead...", whose meaning applies to "reprisals", not to "warned". So what was warned of would be: "reprisals [that would ensue] if they insisted..." SignatureJohn |
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