Pied-à-terre Netherlands to provide housing to politicians working in The Hague. Pied-à-terre A pied-à-terre (; French for "foot on the ground") is a small living unit usually located in a large city some distance away from an individual's primary residence. It may be an apartment or condominium. The term "pied-à-terre" implies usage as a temporary second residence (but not a vacation home), either for part of the year or part of the work week, by a reasonably wealthy person. If the owner's primary residence is nearby, a "pied-à-terre" implies a secondary residence within the city which allows the owner to use
Pied-piping Pied-piping in English is optional with many prepositions ("in", "of", "on", "to", "with", etc.). Colloquial registers prefer to avoid pied-piping whenever possible, whereas a more formal register can opt for pied-piping. The issue is understood in terms of preposition stranding. When a preposition is stranded, pied-piping has not occurred, whereas when preposition stranding is avoided, pied-piping of the preposition has occurred, e.g. The debate surrounding the stylistic acceptability of preposition stranding can hence be illuminated by an understanding of pied-piping. Broadly construed, pied-piping occurs in other types of discontinuities beyond wh-fronting, that is, if one views just part of a