Noun Phrase Displacement Types of Syntactic Deviations in the Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
“The Weary Blues”, the writer figures out not only noun phrase displacement but also preposition displacement. The writer categorizes those two sentences as
preposition phrases because the place where preposition phrases are found is commonly after the main clause within the main verb. However, in those
sentences, PP comes before the main clause, and change S-V-PP configuration becoming PP-S-V configuration. This PP displacement occurs in many other
configurations in poetic texts Thoms, G., 2010. The co
rrect order of the first sentence is “He made that poor piano moan with melody, with his ebony hands on each ivory key
”. Here, the persona explains that someone is playing piano beautifully, by tickling the piano toots. On the other
hand, the second senten ce‟s correct order is “I heard that Negro sing, that old
piano moan, in a deep song voice with a melancholy tone ”. The persona does not
only hear the sound of piano but also the voice of someone‟s singing. The
preposition phrases are put at the back to give further description on the situation and also the way the melody is playing to strengthen the image drawn by the
persona. The last example of preposition phrase displacement is explained as follows.
With silver rain, Preposition Phrase ln 2
One almost
ln 3 could be good again . ln 4
Main Clause Datum No.22
As presented in this datum, the preposition phrase displacement is found in the poem entitled
“When Young Spring Comes”. It tells about the beginning of year as a chance to be a better man, but when summer comes, some distractions
will also come to wobble. The persona describes the spring as the beginning of a year that decorated with the silver rain which symbolize a good start of something
good. On the other hand, summer is described as the old time that filled up with bees, puppies and any other creatures which express the feeling of happiness.
The same as previous sentences, the order of the PP and Main clause is mixed up. Since the preposition phrase functions as the additional information
strengthen the image given by the persona, it should be put at the end of sentence. The phrase “with silver rain” is interpreted as the nominal “one almost could be
good again ” yet it has been displaced from its normal position following the head
noun one. Thus, the sentence should be put as “One almost could be good again
with silver rain ”.
As mentioned in chapter 2, preposition phrases can be used as modifiers of other phrases, as complements of other phrases, and as nominal functions. A
prepositional phrase indicated a relation between things mentioned in a sentence or in another simpler term, a preposition is a prior explanation, typically found
before a noun, pronoun, or substantives that explain the noun, pronoun, or substantives. Somebody has to be able and be careful in using preposition phrase
correctly because it affects the speaking and writing of English.