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33.5. Absolute PPs
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This section is concerned with absolute prepositional phrases, i.e. constructions in which the complement of the preposition consists of two parts having a predicative relation: in (73), for instance, the locational PP in het doelin the goal is predicated of the located object een goede keeper. The difference between met and zonder in (73a&b) is that the first makes a positive statement about the predicative relation, whereas the latter makes a negative statement.

73
a. Met een goede keeper in het doel kunnen we niet verliezen.
  with a good goalkeeper in the goal can we not lose
  'With a good goalkeeper in the goal we cannot lose.'
b. Zonder een goede keeper in het doel kunnen we niet winnen.
  without a good goalkeeper in the goal can we not win
  'Without a good goalkeeper in the goal we cannot win.'

A note on the terminology may be in order. The constructions in (73) are called absolute because they seem to behave like the modern Indo-European counterparts of the old Indo-European absolute constructions that made use of absolute case forms: Dutch still has some fossilized relics of absolute case, such as blootshoofdsbareheaded with the old genitive -s.

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