Unit 6.

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES
 I. Components of prepositional phrases

1. Structure of prepositional phrases

Preposition + Prepositional complement

for freedom
according to these rules
2. Prepositional complements realised by:
a. Noun phrases:
He was surprised at her remark.
b. -Ing participle clauses:
He was surprised at her saying that.
c, Wh- interrogative clauses:
He was surprised at what she said.
d, Yes/no interrogative clauses:
It depended on whether he would win the
match or not
e, Nominal relative clauses:
I was interested in whatever he was saying
at the time.
f. Adv: Since then, I’ve been very happy.
 II. Syntactic functions of Pre.P

1. Adjuncts: He talks to her in a

friendly way. She comes here on foot.

2. Disjuncts:
in fact, of course, to my surprise, to some
extent, in some way, by all means

3. Conjuncts:
on the other hands, in other words, at last,
in short, apart from, in addition, in a word,
in brief, instead of
Other functions:
4. Post modifier in a NP:
The book on grammar is difficult to read.
I’m a woman in love.

5. Complementation of a verb:
Everything depends on the weather.
Everyone is looking for that picture.

6. Complementation of an adj.:
I’m afraid of a dog.
I’m interested in reading books.

Ex: chapter PreP.