Prepositional Phrases: Difference between revisions
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A PP can occur in the following diagnostic environments: | A PP can occur in the following diagnostic environments: | ||
* as the second complement of the verb <span style="color: blue>put</span>: <span style="color: blue>Chris put the book | * as the second complement of the verb <span style="color: blue>put</span>: <span style="color: blue>Chris put the book <u>on the shelf</u>.</span> | ||
* as the complement of verbs like <span style="color: blue>run</span>: <span style="color: blue>The squirrel ran _.</span> | * as the complement of verbs like <span style="color: blue>run</span>: <span style="color: blue>The squirrel ran _.</span> | ||
* inside an NP, following the noun, i.e. in [<sub>NP</sub> ... N __]: <span style="color: blue | * inside an NP, following the noun, i.e. in [<sub>NP</sub> ... N __]: <span style="color: blue>The book about Canada</span> | ||
A PP can often be substituted with an adverbial pro-form <span style="color: blue>there, then</span>. | A PP can often be substituted with an adverbial pro-form <span style="color: blue>there, then</span>. | ||
Revision as of 08:13, 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 _.
- 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 (from [NP Canada], to [NP Kim]), but other phrases are also possible (from [NP inside the building]).