Prepositional Phrases: Difference between revisions
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* a preposition (<span style="color: blue>in, from, in spite of, by, ...</span>) | * a preposition (<span style="color: blue>in, from, in spite of, by, ...</span>) | ||
* a major phrase following the preposition, usually an NP (<span style="color: blue>from [<sub>NP</sub> Canada], to [<sub>NP</sub> Kim]</span>), but other phrases are also possible (<span style="color: blue>from [<sub> | * a major phrase following the preposition, usually an NP (<span style="color: blue>[<sub>PP</sub> from [<sub>NP</sub> Canada]], [<sub>PP</sub> to [<sub>NP</sub> Kim]]</span>), but other phrases are also possible (<span style="color: blue>[<sub>PP</sub> from [<sub>PP</sub> inside the building]]</span>). | ||
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Revision as of 08:16, 26 April 2017
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 ([PP from [PP inside the building]]).