The English Language english language

Phrases

Prepositional phrases are relatively uniform constructions: spot a preposi-
tion and the NP that immediately follows it, and you can be fairly certain
that you have identified a PP. However, you should recall that some apparent
prepositions are actually particles and that others may be subordinating adver-
bial conjunctions.

Exercise
Draw a tree diagram for each of the phrases (11a-c).

In (11d,e) we find two PPs, one inside the other. You can visually represent
(11e) as:

(15) PP

P NP

with N PP

malice P NP

toward Pron

none

It may seem odd to treat a preposition as the head of a phrase, because
traditional grammar may have persuaded us to regard the preposition as in-
significant. In fact, prepositions express meanings that encompass the entire
range of key semantic relations in a sentence. Another sign of the importance
of prepositional phrases is their ability to appear in so many structures—with-
in noun phrases, verb phrases, and adjective phrases.
The second part of the PP is a noun phrase that functions as its comple-
ment or object. This terminology also suggests the central role of the preposi-
tion within its phrase. Just as verbs may govern direct and indirect object NPs,
prepositions govern object NPs.