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    The starting point of an interval fan of
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    The preposition fan of, from combines with prepositional complements headed by certain prepositions. In such cases, the preposition denotes the starting point of something.

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    In the following example, the prepositional phrase headed by ûnder beneath denotes the starting point of an interval, which may be open at the other end:

    1
    De groanysk sike leden (fan) ûnder de santich
    the chronically ill members of below the seventy
    The chronically ill members of less than seventy years

    The preposition fan of is optional in the example above. Such an interval is often a temporal interval:

    2
    Fan foar de twadde wrâldkriich
    from before the second world.war
    From before world war two

    In the following example, the preposition fan of, from denotes the starting point of a change of location:

    3
    In brief fan Ljouwert nei Swol koste twa stuorren
    a letter from Ljouwert to Swol cost two pennies
    A letter from Ljouwert to Swol cost two pennies

    In the example above, the complement is a Noun Phrase (NP), and, correspondingly, the preposition is obligatory. The preposition fan of combines with prepositional complements headed by other prepositions as well, as long as these prepositions denote a location:

    4
    a. De bank fan njonken hûs is nei de pomp ferhuze
    the bench of next.to house is to the pump moved
    The bench beside the house has been moved to the pump
    b. Gleon stoarren har eagen fan efter de bedsplanke yn 'e stille nachtlike wrâld
    glaring gazed her eyes from behind the bed.board in a quiet nightly world
    Her blazing eyes gazed from behind the bed board into the quiet world of the night

    In rare cases, a prepositional complement may denote a preposition, as in the following example:

    5
    As der fan nei see dan dochs neat kaam
    if there of to sea DcP DcP nothing came
    If anyhow nothing would come of going to sea

    The prepositional complement contains the reduced NP see sea.

    References
      About this article
      Author(s): Eric Hoekstra
      Category: Frisian Syntax
      Keywords: intervaltemporal intervalchange of location
      Version: 1.0, December 2015
      Version history:
      version editor(s) date remarks
      1.0 Eric Hoekstra December 2015
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