Plus, conjuction or prep?

[alkaspeltzar]

If you don't know or are not a teacher, please do not respond. Thanks

I am just confused, becuase according to MerriamWebster it can be both, American Heritage dictionary calls it a conjunction and other sites say it can only be a preposition.

What is the right way?

Seems to me like a conjunction since when hearing people talk and using it, they alwasy use it like 'and'. Same as in math, 2 and 3 is five, or 2 plus 3 is five.

please explain, I am not an english major, so simple is good.

THanks

 

[corum]

The three criteria for central prepositions are:

They cannot have as a complement:
(i) a that-clause
(ii) an infinitive clause
(iii) a subjective case form of a personal pronoun

There will be five people: two adults running plus/and three children walking.

Prepositions have no capacity for conjoining predications. This 'plus' in the example sentence above has.


I think originally he wanted two things: to support his family plus/and to answer the burning question about Indian origins.

Central prepositions cannot have as a complement:
(ii) an infinitive clause
-----

Two and two is five.
Five pounds is not enough.

The grammatical concord will not support those in favor of the prep. reading.

 

[alkaspeltzar]

Ummm, that is over my head? Did anyone look at the examples given by different dictionaries?

Here you go. This is what I am asking. Which way is plus? Conjunction or Preposition?

This site says it can be both:
Plus - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

This site says it can only be a conjunction:
plus - Dictionary definition and pronunciation - Yahoo! Education

Thankyou

 

[Johnson_F]

Try: What are prepositions? How is Plus a preposition?

 

[alkaspeltzar]

Corum, is what you are saying that 'plus' is a conjunction. The more I read your response, I think I get it.

What you are saying is that in your example, the word 'plus' breaks the traditional rules for a central preposition. Like you said:

"There will be five people: two adults running plus/and three children walking.
Prepositions have no capacity for conjoining predications. This 'plus' in the example sentence above has."


Since it is like that, that makes it not a preposition but a conjunction, correct?

 

[corum]

Yes. '(P)lus' does not satisfy the grammatical criteria for a (central) preposition in certain structures.

Quirk et. al., 1985, p.667:

9.8.Marginal prepositions

Less, minus, plus, times, and over form a special group in their use with
numerals (cf 6.68), eg:
6 + 2 is read as 'six plus two'.
In informal style, minus and plus can also occur in nonnumerical contexts:

I hope he comes minus his wife. ['without'] -- preposition
She's had mumpsplus measles. ['and'] -- conjunction

Plus can even be used as a conjunction:
You can get what you want, plus you can save money.

It says it can be both depending on the meaning, thus the term "marginal" in "marginal preposition".

Plus is a marginal preposition. Sometimes it is a prep.; sometimes it is a linker; but never both. :up:


I am not motivated to adopt the Quirkian way of thinking. Quirk is not a mathematician; I am not a linguist.

 

[corum]

I think the status of 'plus' is indeterminate in

Two plus two equals four.
Two and two is four -- conj
Two with/added to two is four. -- prep

However, the status of 'plus' is obvious here:

You can get what you want, plus you can save money.

'(P)lus' here conjoins two independent clauses, which makes it a coordinator.

 

[alkaspeltzar]

Corum, thanks for the info. I agree, seems like from looking at different sources that 'plus' can be sometimes a conjunction, and sometimes a preposition.

But at the same time, you and I both know, math is different, and it many times goes by a different set of rules. So I am not going to read into this too much. I am going to accept that two plus two is four well means (two and two together makes four) and it is a way of implicity stating the number four.

And in the end, that is what matters, that i understand that, and I can do it. So for what is worth, I willl just accept that 'plus' can be both a conjunction and preposition. Just like other parts of speech can be more than one type.

So Thankyou, i get it now