# The Preposition Project

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.08922 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.08922/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 0 of its 9 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 18 Apr 2021.

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [Evaluating the Generation of Spatial Relations in Text and Image Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.07664/) (2024)
- [STUPD: A Synthetic Dataset for Spatial and Temporal Relation Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.06680/) (2023)
- [Tapping BERT for Preposition Sense Disambiguation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.13972/) (2021)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Prepositions are an important vehicle for indicating semantic roles. Their meanings are difficult to analyze and they are often discarded in processing text. The Preposition Project is designed to provide a comprehensive database of preposition senses suitable for use in natural language processing applications. In the project, prepositions in the FrameNet corpus are disambiguated using a sense inventory from a current dictionary, guided by a comprehensive treatment of preposition meaning. The methodology provides a framework for identifying and characterizing semantic roles, a gold standard corpus of instances for further analysis, and an account of semantic role alternation patterns. By adhering to this methodology, it is hoped that a comprehensive and improved characterization of preposition behavior (semantic role identification, and syntactic and semantic properties of the preposition complement and attachment point) will be developed. The databases generated in the project are publicly available for further use by researchers and application developers.