The previous sections dealt with the question as to whether clauses can be complements of prepositions. There is no definite answer at the moment. Much depends on whether one is willing to abandon the traditional idea that sequences of the type P + dat are complex complementizers in favor of the idea that we are dealing with prepositions that take a finite clause or a free relative construction. Conclusive arguments in favor of either of these analyses do not seem to be available at present.