The thesis consists of two parts. The first one is connected
with the establishment of Preposition as a word class, and with that class of Prepositions whose association with the governing word is accounted for in a transformational generative grammar (TGG) either by a lexical redundancy rule or by a transformation, e. g. the prepositions
associating with the active and the passive participles deriving from transitive verbs. The second part on the other hand is interested in Verb-Preposition-Noun combinations: it tries to differentiate between
those whose verbal elements are in close construction with the Preposition-Noun Components, i. e. are prepositional verbs (PV), and those whose verbal elements are not, i. e. are non-PVs: true intransitive or intransitively used transitive verbs.
To make an accurate comparison between these two classes of Verb-Preposition-Noun combinations the discussion is confined to the clauses embracing them and nothing but the subjects of their verbal elements. However, the structural peculiarities of the Preposition-Noun components of the Verb-Preposition-Noun combinations embraced by other clauses
are discussed as long as they are identical with those of the Verb-Preposition-Noun combinations in the former clauses.
The thesis is that setting up an Arabic PV has nothing to do with the constituency break of the Verb-Preposition-Noun combinations: both classes of these combinations break into Verb/Preposition-Noun components; and in this respect Arabic Verb-Preposition-Noun combinations are different from their English counterparts.
A number of criteria including the co-occurrence restrictions related to the two classes of Verb-Preposition-Noun combinations are used to justify this thesis. With reference to the last criterion an attempt is made to incorporate into a TGG the co-occurrence restrictions
associated with Verb-Preposition-Noun combinations. Part of this attempt is connected with the Verb-Preposition-Noun combinations whose verbal elements are non-PVs, and the other with the Verb-Preposition-Noun combinations whose verbal elements are PVs.
In relation to both the first and the second part of this attempt an introductory evaluative examination is made of some previous transformational works on Verb-Preposition-Noun combinations and the restrictions related to them.
The thesis ends with a chapter about the characteristics of the prepositional object of PV, i. e. of the Preposition-Noun component with which PV associates. Such characteristics are proved to be the appropriate bases for recognizing PV and differefttiating it from its counterpart, i. e. the verbal element of the Veib-Preposition-Noun combination whose P-N component functions as Adjunct.