A Corpus Study of Prepositions in English – With A Focus On “Above” and “Over”

Senad Arifi

Session

Education and Development

Description

This research project focuses on investigating the use of prepositions in general and with a narrow focus on over and above in the Corpus of Contemporary American English, respectively the frequency and collocations of these two prepositions in the mentioned corpus. It also deals with the issue of whether students of Bachelor and Master Level of University of Prishtina are aware of the differences and similarities between these two prepositions. Charts and tables with results from the corpus and the test delivered to students were presented in order to get a clearer view of what has been investigated. The text types in which these two prepositions are most frequently used were presented in charts, and also the most frequent collocations of both prepositions were analyzed in order to come to conclusion whether these two prepositions may be interchangeable in some sentences without losing their meaning. Also, the answers of students presented in charts show that some students are not aware regarding the correct use of these prepositions and a great number of them are not aware of cases when they may be interchangeable. Considering the importance of corpora nowadays, the outcomes of this research will allow English teachers and students to be aware of the use of these two prepositions, cases when they can and cannot be interchangeable.

Keywords:

corpus analysis, COCA, prepositions, over, above, frequency, collocations, students, interchangeable

Proceedings Editor

Edmond Hajrizi

ISBN

978-9951-982-41-2

Location

UBT Lipjan, Kosovo

Start Date

25-10-2025 9:00 AM

End Date

26-10-2025 6:00 PM

DOI

10.33107/ubt-ic.2025.144

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Oct 25th, 9:00 AM Oct 26th, 6:00 PM

A Corpus Study of Prepositions in English – With A Focus On “Above” and “Over”

UBT Lipjan, Kosovo

This research project focuses on investigating the use of prepositions in general and with a narrow focus on over and above in the Corpus of Contemporary American English, respectively the frequency and collocations of these two prepositions in the mentioned corpus. It also deals with the issue of whether students of Bachelor and Master Level of University of Prishtina are aware of the differences and similarities between these two prepositions. Charts and tables with results from the corpus and the test delivered to students were presented in order to get a clearer view of what has been investigated. The text types in which these two prepositions are most frequently used were presented in charts, and also the most frequent collocations of both prepositions were analyzed in order to come to conclusion whether these two prepositions may be interchangeable in some sentences without losing their meaning. Also, the answers of students presented in charts show that some students are not aware regarding the correct use of these prepositions and a great number of them are not aware of cases when they may be interchangeable. Considering the importance of corpora nowadays, the outcomes of this research will allow English teachers and students to be aware of the use of these two prepositions, cases when they can and cannot be interchangeable.