Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/10299
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Since we don't have the sample text that was analyzed, it's hard to answer this question in any specific sense. But I'd guess that this overuse of prepositions is actually the overuse of prepositional phrases. You can't eliminate prepositions, since English depends on them so heavily, but you can minimize them.

### Background

Let's back up here: What's a preposition? What's a prepositional phrase? What's the difference?

You can [go as deeply into the grammatical rabbit hole as you like](http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/phrases.htm#preposition), but in brief, prepositions are words like _of_, _to_, and _with_. There's a more comprehensive list [here](http://www.dailygrammar.com/Lesson-177-Prepositional-Phrases.htm), along with a fairly accessible definition:

> A preposition is a word that begins a prepositional phrase and shows the relationship between its object and another word in the sentence.

That's... unhelpful by itself, but the examples from the [Wikipedia article on prepositional phrases](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adpositional_phrase#Prepositional_phrases) are helpful here. Prepositional phrases in italics, prepositions bolded:

> a. She walked **_around_** _his desk_.  
> b. Ryan could see her **_in_** _the room_.  
> c. David walked **_on_** _top of the building_.

Prepositional phrases can pile up and get complicated. (That third Wiki example phrase has a preposition inside it, after the main preposition.) Now, let's have a look at the University of Wisconsin's [Writer's Handbook](http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/CCS_prepphrases.html):

> Sometimes prepositional phrases aren't really necessary, especially when you use them (instead of an apostrophe + s) to denote possession of an object.

### Examples:

This example, from the same University of Wisconsin page, probably illustrates the point best. Try to pick out the prepositional phrases:

> **Unnecessary phrase:** It is a matter _of_ the gravest possible importance _to_ the health _of_ anyone _with_ a history _of_ a problem _with_ disease _of_ the heart that he or she should avoid the sort _of_ foods _with_ a high percentage _of_ saturated fats.

Holy freaking recursiveness! It's tough to isolate specific phrases here. The structure is very muddy.

Looking for prepositions and cutting them out won't help, but looking for prepositional phrases will let you simplify the structure of your writing. In other words, sentences with simpler structure (and more easily identified prepositional phrases) are easier to read.

The University of Wisconsin also gives us a better version of the above sentence:

> **Correction:** Anyone with a history of heart disease should avoid saturated fats.

Original score: 11