I asked my work-study student to file a dozen papers "IN THE FRONT" of each student's file.

[Ms. Worth]

I'm a teacher, but not of English.
I'd love to get some analysis of the grammar in this instance.

I asked my work-study student to file a dozen papers "IN THE FRONT" of each student's file.
I was surprised when I saw that he had filed them "IN FRONT OF" each separate file.

I was unable to make a grammatical analysis of the difference between
> In the front of each file
(First comes the cardboard cover of a file, then the paper I was filing inside the file, then the rest of the papers for that file folder)
- vs -
> In front of each file
(First comes the paper I was filing, then the cardboard cover of the file folder, then the contents of the folder)

 

[5jj]

You can think of 'in front of' as a multi-word preposition. Its meaning can be contrasted with that of 'behind'.

'Front' in 'in the front of' is a noun, meaning 'the part at the beginning'. Its meaning can be contrasted with that of 'middle'. ot 'back'.

 

[Ms. Worth]

Thanks. Yes, I see that.
I didn't think of "in front of" as a kind of preposition.
Excellent.

The addition of that one little word ("the") changed the meaning very much.

Does every native English speaker make the same distinction that I did between "in front of" and "in the front of"?
My work-study kid (not a native speaker) seemed baffled.

 

[Barque]

I asked my work-study student to file a dozen papers "IN THE FRONT" of each student's file.

I'd normally have just asked the student to file the papers, and assumed that he'd file them at the top (as the most recent ones), so they'd be the first you'd see when you opened the file.

I haven't heard "in the front" or "in front" used for this situation (though that might well be the usual way of saying it in the US, of course). If I wanted to specify that, I'd have used "top". Could you file these please? Put them right on top/Put them at the top.

 

[5jj]

Does every native English speaker make the same distinction that I did between "in front of" and "in the front of"?

Yes - as far as I know.

I'd normally have just asked the student to file the papers, and assumed that he'd file them at the top (as the most recent ones), so they'd be the first you'd see when you opened the file.

I haven't heard "in the front" or "in front" used for this situation (though that might well be the usual way of saying it in the US, of course). If I wanted to specify that, I'd have used "top". Could you file these please? Put them right on top/Put them at the top.

I understand by 'file' one of these. I'd use only 'in/at the front', never 'at the top'.

 

[Skrej]

Does every native English speaker make the same distinction that I did between "in front of" and "in the front of"?

I do anyway.