Survey of English Grammar Wiki: Week 6

The Preposition Phrase (PP)

The distribution of the preposition phrase

A PP can occur in the following diagnostic environments:

• as the second complement of the verb put: Chris put the book on the shelf.
• as the complement of verbs like run: The squirrel ran up the tree.
• inside an NP, following the noun, i.e. in [_NP ... N __]: The book about Canada

A PP can often be substituted with an adverbial pro-form there, then. In a constituent question test for a PP, the question starts with where, how, why, ...

The internal structure of the preposition phrase

A PP must contain

• a preposition (in, from, in spite of, by, ...)
• a major phrase following the preposition, usually an NP ([_PP from [_NP Canada]], [_PP to [_NP Kim]]), but other phrases are also possible such as:
  
  • • a PP [_PP from [_PP inside the building]].
      
    • an AdvP [_PP till [_AdvPrecently]].
      
    • a Clause [_PP because [_Clausenobody reacted to his opponent's mistake]].

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