"offshore/onshore" adv., or prep.?

[Joel S. Berson]

Dan's message forces me to admit that I am thoroughly confused as to
the criteria for deciding whether each of the various instances given
on ADS-L, and in the OED, should be classified as adverb or preposition.

Take "onshore".  The OED does not list it as a preposition (it does
list "offshore" as a preposition).  (Both entries are 3rd edition, 2004.)

Some uses called adverbial by the OED:
1835   J. Ross Narr. 2nd Voy. xi. 173   Part of the crew was sent on
shore for exercise.
1993   D. Lamb Sense of Place 29   Lewis walked onshore, making notes
on topography, flora and fauna.

One of Dan's instances below is:
2011  The Bakr W G1 and Bakr W H fields were discovered onshore the
Gulf of Suez

I admit that Dan doesn't explicitly call this a prepositional use,
but he wrote in response to "offshore" "used the same way" -- that
is, presented in previous messages as "prepositional".  What is the
difference between these examples?  I could ask the same question
about some of the examples of "offshore".


I think I understand adjectival instances; and some of the examples
given here previously seem to me to be adjectival.  For example, from
Ben's message:

"Apache drills globally, with operations in Australia, Alaska,
Canada, Egypt and offshore England."
"examples from the Triassic of onshore and offshore England and
Northern Ireland"

These can't be prepositional (or adverbial), can they, when preceded
by the prepositions "in" and "of"?

Joel

At 5/20/2013 12:44 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>As you might imagine, one sees onshore used the same way:
>
>"The Bakr W G1 and Bakr W H fields were discovered onshore the Gulf of Suez
>in Eocene reservoirs by the General Petroleum Company (GPC)."
>Geology of North Africa - Page
>14<http://books.google.com/books?id=Oogm1anCJ_cC&pg=PA14&dq=%22onshore+the%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=plGaUbmTNK3d4AOLr4DwBA&ved=0CDIQ6AEwATgK>
>books.google.com/books?isbn=0415874203
>E.
>Tawadros<https://www.google.com/search?sa=N&biw=1024&bih=649&tbm=bks&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22E.+Tawadros%22&ei=plGaUbmTNK3d4AOLr4DwBA&ved=0CDQQ9AgwATgK>
>-
>2011
>
>
>The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle - Volume 70, Part 2 -
>Page 671
>books.google.com/books?id=JKVJAAAAYAAJ, dated July 1800
>
>11, we chased a French frigate, which ran onshore the West side of the
>river Tom- beau, a'<out three mile; from Por; Louis in that island [ after
>firing several hrna Isides X hec site cut away her roasts ; at seven P. M.
>the boats were sent to ...
>
>
>
>DanG
>
>
>On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 3:44 AM, Ben Zimmer
><bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu>wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: "offshore" as preposition?
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 1:34 AM, Mailbox <mailbox at grammarphobia.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > My husband (Stewart Kellerman) and I wrote a post about the
> > > prepositional use of "offshore" May 9  for our blog, Grammarphobia.com.
> > > It notes that according to the OED and M-W Collegiate, the prepositional
> > > use is fairly recent, dating from the mid-1960's.
> > > Link: http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/05/offshore-of.html
> > > Pat O'Conner
> >
> > A bit earlier...
> >
> > 1961 Leon Wolff _Little Brown Brother_ 39 What with Dewey in the
> > Orient grimly preparing for war, and the _Maine_ resting at anchor
> > offshore Havana, one might assume that things had gone from bad to
> > worse.
> >
> > 1961 _Ibid._ 57 The Spanish fleet was not sighted offshore Manila, and
> > the Americans turned westward toward Cavite.
> >
> > 1961 _Ibid._ 106 For eight endless days, unable to debark, his
> > expedition sat offshore the Tambo beach.
> >
> > http://books.google.com/books?id=hHzvx94oiUgC
> >
> > --bgz
> >
> > --
> > Ben Zimmer
> > http://benzimmer.com/
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
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