language resources, translation

All languages spatialize, that is, use time expressions with reference to space. More,

orientation in space precedes that in time as for developing humans – children first

learn where objects are, knowing when things happen comes later. Hence the daring

idea to try to explain grammar using prepositions (only four) and time planes, another

spatial concept.

‘Whoa’, you might say. ‘OK, I can see that I say BEFORE here or there and I say BEFORE

this or that hour. I can use the same word, BEFORE , to refer to time and space. And OK,

I may believe that as a kid I first learned where objects were in space, only then

I gathered what came after what. Yet, just four prepositions, ON, IN, TO, and AT –

that’s not enough to make the picture of American English. Ya ever see a grammar book?’

(How about a few pages here, http://travelingrammar.com).

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