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== Prepositions as content words ==
Generally, though,all prepositions can also act as content words. In the sentence,▼
Now since a transitive predicate is interpreted as making the predicate apply to the direct object of the sentence, and a prepositional phrase can head a predicate, it is possible to transitively apply a prepositional phrase to a direct object, like so:
 
:;mi lukin e sitelen tawa.▼
:;jan lanpan li poki e ona li tawa tomo telo e ona.<ref>[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wGSEiI3XlJ32YKeFRmp6U-HMKW96Ac_4/view mijomi telo], page 3.</ref>
::I watched a movie.▼
::The pirate put them in a cage can brought them to the boat.
 
Itit is practically impossible to interpret the last word of the sentence as a preposition, rather than a [[modifier]] of the word ''sitelen''. The phrase ''mi lon e ma'' has a completely distinct flavor from ''mi lon ma''.<ref>jan Kekan San, "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU9PEZ9TARs mi lon e ma]."</ref> In the first, ''lon'' is a content word meaning "real, existing," and so the sentence means "I make the earth exist." The second sentence has ''lon'' as a preposition introducing ''ma'', so the sentence means, "I am in place." The presence of the particle [[e]] serves to distinguish them.▼
This can be interpreted:
 
In the original toki pona lessons, ''tawa'' "acts as a preposition and never uses e."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090821024454/http://bknight0.myweb.uga.edu/toki/about/lesson/tp4.html] toki pona original Lesson 4</ref> Similarly, the meaning of ''lon'' as a transitive word is not discussed, though its use as a [[Glossary#modifier|modifier]] is defined.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090819071609/http://bknight0.myweb.uga.edu/toki/about/lesson/tp7.html]toki pona Original Lesson 7</ref> However, by 2002, the word ''tawa'' is used transitively:
:jan lanpan li tawa tomo telo e ona la ona li tawa tomo telo,
 
<blockquote>
which holds together. Now ordinarily "tawa tomo telo" is interpreted as a prepositional phrase, and it is perfectly reasonably applied to a direct object here and conforms to the observations on transitivity in the previous section.
tan ma tomo Pape la jan sewi Jawe li tawa e jan tawa ma mute.<ref>[https://archive.ph/yuYp1/]Religious Texts translated by Sonja Lang</ref>
 
</blockquote>
▲Generally, though, prepositions can also act as content words. In the sentence
 
▲:;mi lukin e sitelen tawa.
▲::I watched a movie.
 
A word list from this period also confirms that prepositions could be used as content words by this period: ''tawa'' and ''kepeken'', in particular, are used as transitive verbs.<ref>[https://archive.ph/K7fME]toki pona word list with parts of speech</ref>
▲It is practically impossible to interpret the last word of the sentence as a preposition, rather than a [[modifier]] of the word ''sitelen''. The phrase ''mi lon e ma'' has a completely distinct flavor from ''mi lon ma''.<ref>jan Kekan San, "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU9PEZ9TARs mi lon e ma]."</ref> In the first, ''lon'' is a content word meaning "real, existing," and so the sentence means "I make the earth exist." The second sentence has ''lon'' as a preposition introducing ''ma'', so the sentence means, "I am in place." The presence of the particle [[e]] serves to distinguish them.
 
UnfortunatelyHowever, theusing particleprepositions [[e]]as cannotcontent alwayswords bemakes usedcertain tosentences disambiguate, and in some cases multiple intepretations are possibleambiguous. A classic example, coined on 2002-05-28 by [[Nikita Ayzikovsy]] on the [[toki pona forums]] will suffice:
 
<blockquote>
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