Labels [ss Possession], [ss PartPortion], and its subtype [ss Stuff], [ss OrgMember], and [ss QuantityValue] and its subtype [ss Approximator] are defined for some important subclasses.
[ss Characteristic] applies directly to:
###1. A property value:
- Adnominal: [ss Characteristic--Identity]
- [ex 001 "a car [p en/of Characteristic--Identity] high quality"]
- [ex 002 "a man [p en/of Characteristic--Identity] honor"]
- [ex 003 "a business [p en/of Characteristic--Identity] that sort [contrast with [ss Species], [ss Species]]"]
- Secondary predicate adjective: [ss Characteristic--Identity]
- [ex 004 "She described him [p en/as Characteristic--Identity] sad."]
- [ex 005 "He strikes me [p en/as Characteristic--Identity] sad."]
###2. Role of a complex framal [ss Gestalt] that has no obvious decomposition into parts:
- [ex 006 "the restaurant [p en/with Characteristic] <u>a convenient location</u>/<u>an extensive menu</u>"]
- [ex 007 "a party [p en/with Characteristic] great music"]
###3. That which is located in a container denoted by the governor:
- [ex 008 "a room [p en/with Characteristic] 2 beds [beds are among the things in the room]"]
- [ss Characteristic--Stuff] where the object of the preposition is construed as describing the contents in their entirety:
- [ex 009 "a shelf [p en/of Characteristic--Stuff] rare books"]
- [ex 010 "a cardboard box [p en/of Characteristic--Stuff] snacks"]
###4. With a transitive verb like <i>search</i>, <i>examine</i>, or <i>test</i>, the attribute of the [ss Theme] that is being examined:
- [ex 012 "He examined the vase [p en/for Characteristic] damage."]
- [ex 013 "He searched the room [p en/for Characteristic] his laser pistol. [contrast intransitive [ss Theme], [exref 010 Theme]]"]
- [ex 014 "He was tested [p en/for Characteristic] low blood sugar."]
###5. The scale or dimension by which items are compared:
- [ex 015 "The children are <u>sorted</u>/<u>screened</u> [p en/by Characteristic] height"]
- [ex 016 "She exceeds him [p en/in Characteristic] height"]
- [ex 017 "There is no difference [p en/in Characteristic] height"]
###6. The **form or shape** that an entity takes, or in which elements are arranged. This includes language of communication within an information source, and unit of measure (only the unit, not a full measurement) in relation to the attribute measured:
- [ss Characteristic--Locus]:
- [ex 019 "The ribbon is (tied) [p en/in Characteristic--Locus] a bow."]
- [ex 020 "The sand is [p en/in Characteristic--Locus] a pyramid shape."]
- [ex 021 "I skipped lunch for<sub>[ss Frequency]</sub> <u>three days</u>/<u>the third day</u> [p en/in Characteristic--Locus] a row. [see [exref 007 Frequency]]"]
- [ex 022 "The book is [p en/in Characteristic--Locus] French."]
- [ex 023 "music [p en/in Characteristic--Locus] C major"]
- [ex 045 "the desk's height (measured) [p en/in Characteristic--Locus] inches"]
###7. An adverbial **depictive** characterizing a participant of an event:
- [ex 024 "She entered the room <u>[p en/in Characteristic--Locus] a stupor</u>/<u>drunk</u>. (= she was in a stupor when she entered) ([ss Characteristic--Locus]) [repeated for contrast: [exref 007 Manner]]"]
###8. Anything that is borderline between the [ss Possession] and [ss PartPortion] subcategories
###9. The **state or condition** that something is in
The PP or intransitive preposition is used (especially predicatively) to describe a qualitative state or condition of an entity that is not simply a relation of location, time, possession, quantity, causation, etc. between governor and object.
For example:
1. With the noun <i>state</i>, <i>condition</i>, etc.:
- [ss Characteristic--Locus]:
- [ex 025 "The chairs are [p en/in Characteristic--Locus] excellent shape."]
- [ex 026 "I’m [p en/in Characteristic--Locus] no condition to go outside."]
2. Bodily/medical conditions presented as applying to the governor:
- [ex 027 "John is <u>[p en/on Characteristic--Locus] his back</u>/<u>[p en/on Characteristic--Locus] antibiotics</u>/<u>[p en/on Characteristic--Locus] the ventilator</u>/<u>[p en/in Characteristic--Locus] pain</u>/<u>[p en/in Characteristic--Locus] a coma</u>. ([ss Characteristic--Locus])"]
3. Miscellaneous qualitative senses of specific prepositions used statively:
- [ex 028 "John is <u>[p en/for Characteristic--Beneficiary]</u>/<u>[p en/against Characteristic--Beneficiary]</u> the war. [opinion] ([ss Characteristic--Beneficiary])"]
- [ex 029 "John is [p en/into Characteristic--Goal] sports. [hobbies/interests] ([ss Characteristic--Goal])"]
4. Idiomatic PPs expressing states, for example:[^2]
- [ex 030 "<i>[p en/on Characteristic--Locus] fire</i> (contrast <i>[p en/in] the fire</i>), <i>[p en/on Characteristic--Locus] time</i> (contrast <i>[p en/at Time] the time</i>), <i>[p en/in Characteristic--Locus] trouble</i>, <i>[p en/in Characteristic--Locus] love</i>, <i>[p en/in Characteristic--Locus] tune</i>, <i>[p en/in Characteristic--Locus] a hurry</i>, <i>[p en/at Characteristic--Locus] odds</i>, <i>[p en/out_of Characteristic--Locus] business</i>, <i>[p en/out_of Characteristic--Locus] control</i> ([ss Characteristic--Locus])"]
5. Intransitive prepositions expressing a qualitative state (not location, time, etc.):
- [ss Characteristic--Locus]:
- [ex 031 "The lights are <u>[p en/on Characteristic--Locus]</u>/<u>[p en/off Characteristic--Locus]</u>/<u>[p en/out Characteristic--Locus]</u>. [also [exref 015 Source] for contrast]"]
- [ex 032 "Political TV shows are [p en/in Characteristic--Locus]. [in fashion]"]
Contrast intransitive predicative prepositions describing an *event*:
- [ex 043 "The party tomorrow is [p en/on Temporal--Locus]. ([ss Temporal--Locus]) [see: [exref 003 Temporal]]"]
A few observations about these state PPs are in order.
1. In a reversal of the usual asymmetry between governor and adpositional object, semantically, the PP defines the kind of scene that the governor participates in.
To an extent, this may be true of all predicative PPs, but the state PPs are often such that the object of the preposition is neither an event nor a referential entity.
I.e., <i>John is [p en/in] a hurry</i> does not exactly express a relation between the entities <i>John</i> and <i>a hurry</i>; rather, it expresses something qualitative about the entity <i>John</i>’s condition.
2. The most idiomatic of the state PPs seem to resist questions of the form <i>What?</i>+NP-supercategory with a stranded preposition:
- More productive prepositional usages:
- [ex 033 "The party is [p en/in Time] January. → What month is the party [p en/in Time]? [Or: When is the party?] ([ss Time])"]
- [ex 034 "John is [p en/on Characteristic--Locus] aspirin. → What medication is John [p en/on Characteristic--Locus]?[^3] ([ss Characteristic--Locus])"]
- Less productive/more idiomatic preposition + NP combinations:
- [ex 035 "John is [p en/in Characteristic--Locus] <u>a hurry</u>/<u>a coma</u>. ↛ What \_ is John [p en/in Characteristic--Locus]?[^4] ([ss Characteristic--Locus])"]
- [ex 036 "John is [p en/on Characteristic--Locus] fire. ↛ What \_ is John [p en/on Characteristic--Locus]? ([ss Characteristic--Locus])"]
3. Typically these states are binary: something is either <i>[p en/on] fire</i>/<i>[p en/on] time</i>, or not.
For some, the negation may be expressed by substituting a contrasting preposition: an orchestra that is not <i>[p en/in] tune</i> is <i>[p en/out_of] tune</i>.
**State PPs with complements.**
The [ss Characteristic--Locus] construal is also used when there is effectively a preposition+NP+preposition combination that links two arguments:
- [ss Characteristic--Locus]:
- [ex 037 "John is [p en/in Characteristic--Locus] love (with<sub>[ss Stimulus--Topic]</sub> Mary). [cf. [exref 012 Stimulus]]"]
- [ex 038 "That is [p en/at Characteristic--Locus] odds with<sub>[ss ComparisonRef--Topic]</sub> our agreement."]
**Change-of-state PPs.**
Note that [ss Characteristic] does not apply to an initial or result state, where [ss Source] and [ss Goal] are the respective scene roles (collapsing the usual state/location distinction):
- [ex 039 "John came [p en/out_of Source] a coma. ([ss Source])"]
- [ex 040 "John slipped [p en/into Goal] a coma. ([ss Goal])"]
- [ex 041 "The drugs put John [p en/in Goal--Locus] a coma. ([ss Goal--Locus])"]
- [ex 042 "They chopped the wood [p en/in Goal--Locus] pieces. ([ss Goal--Locus])"]
For some usages but not all, one of “[ss Gestalt] {HAS, CONTAINS} [ss Characteristic]” is entailed.
This does not help to distinguish subtypes.
## Versus [ss Circumstance]
State PPs like <i>[p en/at] odds</i> and <i>[p en/on] medication</i>, which receive the construal [ss Characteristic--Locus], are similar to situating events like <i>[p en/at] the party</i> and <i>[p en/on] vacation</i>, which are analyzed as [ss Circumstance--Locus]. What matters for the scene role is whether the object of the preposition is an event or not.
## Versus [ss Manner]
If a property pertains to an entity—whether that entity is the syntactic governor or not—then [ss Characteristic]. [ss Manner] is limited to descriptors of events.
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The v1 label <i>Attribute</i> was intended to apply to features of something, but was vaguely defined. With the overhaul of the [ss Configuration] subhierarchy, <i>Attribute</i> has primarily been replaced by [ss Characteristic] and its subtypes and [ss Identity].
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[^2]: Often the object of the preposition is determinerless (<i>[p en/in] business</i>) ([Baldwin et al., 2006](/bib/baldwin_et_al_2006/)) or has a fixed determiner (<i>[p en/in] a hurry</i>).
[^3]: Or, colloquially, with a suspected mind-altering substance: <i>What is John <i>[p en/on]</i>?!</i>
[^4]: <i>What condition/state is John [p en/in]?</i> does work, but is quite vague.