Preposition proliferation

Have you noticed how, over the years, prepositions have been creeping into places where they never used to be? They seem to be proliferating [sich ausbreiten].

For example, in the past, you would say, "I'm meeting Tom in town this afternoon. We're having lunch together at our favourite restaurant." Nowadays, people feel the need to slip in a few extra pronouns, as in, "I'm meeting up with Tom in town this afternoon."

People used to say, "I'll call you this afternoon". Now they say, "I'll call you up this afternoon." The same with "I'll ring you" and "I'll ring you up".

This is okay if the extra preposition or two doesn't change the meaning of what is being said. But I've seen some very worrying examples. The first one is this: "The pipes allow for the water to flow into the drains." In this case, the word "for" is completely unnecessary and it actually changes the meaning of the verb, making it totally inappropriate for the sentence.

What the sentence should be is this: "The pipes allow the water to flow into the drains." That is to say that they enable the water to flow into the sewage system [Abwassersystem].

The verb "to allow for" means something completely different. I shall let the Cambridge English Dictionary define it for you:

to consider something when you are planning something:

We allowed for living expenses of £20 a day.

[ + -ing verb ] You should allow for the plane being delayed.

We have to allow for the possibility that we might not finish on schedule.

More examples

• You have to allow for a time lag between order and delivery.
• Our range of children's clothing is generously sized to allow for shrinkage.
• Remember to allow for extra time if you are travelling at rush hour.
• Did you allow for staff absences when you drew up the work schedule?
• At least the old curriculum allowed for some variation in classroom activities.

In German, this would translate as "etwas berücksichtigen", "etwas in Betracht ziehen" or "etwas einplanen", which is not the same as "erlauben" or "zulassen", which is the translation of "allow".

People seem to feel an urge to shove prepositions in where none are needed. Another example is the verb "to advocate", which means "etwas empfehlen oder befürworten oder verfechten". 

This is a dictionary definition of "to advocate": to publicly support or suggest an idea, development, or way of doing something:

Examples: She advocates taking a more long-term view.  He advocates the return of capital punishment.

"To advocate for" means "to speak for, support, or represent a person or group of people who may need extra help or protection or representation

Examples: A lot of people living in desperate poverty are taken advantage of and need someone to advocate for them.

The Education Trust advocates on behalf of disadvantaged and minority students.

As you can see from the second example, the 'for' means 'on behalf of'. This is why it is completely inappropriate in the first examples. If you just use 'advocate', it's like saying you recommend something. You're not arguing on behalf of a person or group of people.

I am not the only person who has noticed how prepositions are creeping into places where they are "extraneous to requirement", i.e. simply not necessary. Here is a blog entry from 2015, which will give you some more examples: https://www.sevendaysvt.com/LiveCulture/archives/2015/05/29/style-patrol-prepositions-are-creeping-up-on-us 

Enjoy!