verbprep
Verbprep, short for verb–preposition construction, is a term used in linguistics to describe sequences in which a verb subcategorizes for a specific preposition to introduce an oblique complement. The preposition often encodes a semantic relation between the verb's event and a participant or circumstance. Verbprep is closely tied to the verb’s valency and can constrain which nouns or clauses may occur with the verb.
Common examples in English include rely on, depend on, count on, account for, result in, look after,
Syntactically, a verbprep construction typically involves a verb followed by a prepositional phrase whose preposition the
Cross-linguistically, verb–preposition patterns vary: some languages rely heavily on prepositions to express oblique arguments, while others
See also: prepositional verb, phrasal verb, subcategorization, valency.