Prepositions - Can somebody help?

[evaho88]

Not sure if the following preposition subclassification has been identified correctly:

On (simple prep) comparing (derived) your remarks regarding (derived) the football game with (simple) your general disinterest I am not in favour of (phrasal) clemency.

Thanks

[Casiopea]

'on' and 'with' are simple prepositions; 'in favor of' is complex or phrasal.

(Sorry. I am not familiar with the term 'derived'. )

[evaho88]

Thanks for your prompt response.

So, can "on comparing" be phrasal?

[Casiopea]

Hmm. In what sense?

Additionally, wouldn't in comparing work better?

[evaho88]

In this same case:

On (simple prep) comparing (derived) your remarks regarding (derived) the football game with (simple) your general disinterest I am not in favour of (phrasal) clemency.

According to the text book, the structure of 'derived prepositions' is:
present participle verb + -ing

and they are derived from verbs (e.g. during, concerning,regarding, respecting).

So, is the structural analysis of the above sentence acceptable?

[Casiopea]

According to the text book, the structure of 'derived prepositions' is: present participle verb + -ing

Thanks.

I've one comment and two questions for you.

[1] given the definition above I'm not sure if on comparing would be 'derived'. You see, the definition doesn't state whether the preposition is overt, covert or both. Furthermore, 'on' + 'comparing' is a rather odd pair. 'on' doesn't work with 'comparing'. Try, upon or in.

[2] How is regarding a 'derived' preposition? Is it, remarks are with/in regards to? If so, then how is [2] different from [1]? Can derived forms be phrasal;i.e., on comparing?

[3] The example sentence is hard to parse; it's somewhat of a run-on,

On comparing your remarks regarding the football game / with your general disinterest I am not in favour of clemency.

[evaho88]

Hmm...maybe only 'on' is a simple preposition and 'comparing' is another class of word???

'Regarding' is derived preposition because:
'regard'(present participle verb) + 'ing' (+ing)

So, according to my book, derived cannot be phrasal, they are two different sub-class.

I have searched the whole book, but couldn't find an example regarding "on" + "comparing" combination, so not sure my answer of this sentence is correct...

[Casiopea]

More clearly, regarding is a "derived preposition" because it comes from the prepositional phrase in regard to,

ex: remarks regarding > remarks in regard to