Prepositional phrase

Grammar of English

group presentation

The prepositional phrase
The Prepositional Phrase
Structure:




Preposition+ complement
Kinds of prepositional complement:

There are three kinds of complement

A Noun phrase
A Wh-clause
A V-ing clause
Firstly, a noun phrase

Eg:
In the winter
NP


at the park
NP


Secondly, a Wh-clause
Eg:
From what you did
Wh-clause

With whom you fall in love
Wh-clause

Finally, a V-ing clause
Eg:
by passing the exam


In selecting the best solution
II, Practise
At home, you can do the same with following prepositional phrases:

(decide what kind of prepositional complement they are and analyze the structure of the phrases)
1, at the park in my mind



2, on your own by the way
3, at the same time by what way



4, by trying to catch the bus
Post-posed preposition
Examples:

Who are you travelling with?


With whom are you travelling?
Propositional phrase and postposed preposition
Prepositional phrase includes a preposition and its prepositional complement
Postposed preposition includes : + a preposition at the end of a clause + the complement: take the first position in the clause or be absent
Postposed preposition occurs:
Wh_question: “what are you talking about?”
Relative clause: “the cold city where I come from is very rich”
Wh-clause: ”Who I am thinking about is my love”
Exclaimation:”what a mess he’s got in”
Passive:” She was sought for by the police”
Infinitive clause:”I’m not friendly to stay with.”

SIMPLE PREPOSITIONS
AND
COMPLEX PREPOSITIONS







I. Simple prepositions

- Simple prepositions consist of one word

- Eg : at, in, about, before, etc.
He put the chicken on the table
He is singing in the bath room
II. Complex prepositions
- Complex prepositions include more than one word

- Eg: along with, on account of, apart from……


Categories:

1.Adverb + preposition: next to, outside of, instead of, forward of, etc.
Eg : We don`t have tea. Would you like coffee instead of tea?

2.Pre + pre: in between, out of, on to, etc.
Eg: the cat jumped on to the chair


3.Verb + pre: except for, apart from, etc
Eg: Everyone was present except for me, I stay at home.

4. Adjective + pre: contrary to, close to, opposite to,etc
Eg: Contrary to expectation, VietNam’s dong fell in value

5.Conjunction + pre: because of, due to,etc.
Eg: the football match was cancelled because of the rain

6. Pre1+ (Det).+ noun + Pre2:
In favour of, in term of, etc.
In a result of, in the light of,etc
Eg: the cat is sitting on top of the television
Prepositions
and
Prepositional adverbs


Preposition
and
Prepositional adverb

Similar or different?
Examples
My brother ran past the house
(Prep) (Cprep)

past is a preposition; past the house is a prepositional phrase
(2) My brother ran past
(V) (particle)
past is a prepositional adverb, its function is as an adverb modifying verb ran

(1) and (2) preposition # prepositional adverb
+) Prepositions are followed by its complement (e.g1)
+) Prepositional adverbs are not followed by a complement (e.g2)

The difference between prepositional phrase and prepositional adverb

_ A prepositional phrase includes a preposition and its complement
_ A prepositional adverb is a particle which behaves like a preposition ,but not followed by a complement

Prepositional phrases may function as:
Adjunct
Disjunct
Conjunct
Postmodifier in a noun phrase
Complementation of a verb
Complementation of an adjective
Syntactic functions of prepositional phrases
Prepositional phrases may function as Adjunct
PP modify nouns, verbs, adj,etc.
Eg: The rose is a flower of great beautiful.


Eg:She sings in the morning.
PP
N
modify
PP
V
modify
Prepositional phrases may function as Disjunct
PP divide sentence (paragraph) into smaller parts.

Eg:- To my surprise, the doctor phoned.

- Several of his friends came: Ben, Carol, and Mike, for instance.
PP
PP
Prepositional phrases may function as Conjunct
PP connect sentences to make a coherence.
Eg:- On the other hand, he made no attempt to help the victim or apprehend her attacker.
- In addition, I made friends with some of the international students at my university.
1. Post-modifier in a noun phrase.

Eg: The boy with a red hair.
head pre-modifier post-modifier
=> PP “with a red hair” functions as post-modifier. This PP modifies “boy”.
PPs are considered the commonest type of post modification in English.


Notes:
1.”resemble”: The man like Tom is Like => over there.
2. “ such as”: A man like Tom would never do that.
Prepositional modifications relate to be or elliptical sentences.

Ex1: “the girl in the library’” can be understood “ The girl is in the library”.

Ex2: “the house as a villa” can be understood “ The house is built as a villa.”
2.Complementation of a verb
2.1. Ditransitive Prepositional Verbs:
Ex: We remind him of the agreement.


Ditransitive verbs: Od introduced by a preposition allow only one passive, with the Oi function as Subject.
Ex: He is reminded of the agreement.
2.2. Common verbs often have form:
2.2.1 Accuse X of Y (X: a person, Y: a thing) { V X prep Y}
Ex: She introduced her boyfriend to her parents. S V X( Od) prep Y(Oi)
2.2.2 Explain X to Y ( X: a thing, Y: a person)
{V X prep Y}
Ex: She gave a gift to me.
S V X( Od) prep Y(Oi)


Thanks for your attention!

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