Prepositional Phrases Ed McCorduck English 402--Grammar SUNY Cortland http://mccorduck.cortland.edu

slide 2: definition of a prepositional phrase prepositional phrase (PP) – a phrase (see slide 2 of the “Descriptive Grammar of English” chapter 2 lecture) whose head(word) is a member of the form class preposition (see the “Form Classes” chapter 2 lecture) the head preposition (P) “governs” a following noun phrase (NP) English 402: Grammar

slide 3: examples of prepositional phrases exx (head Ns like this) in the house P NP to Grandma (cf. to her/*to she) P NP at high noon P NP through the dense, dark, creepy woods P NP for a bigger share of the loot P NP English 402: Grammar

slide 4: movability of PPs functioning as adverbials When PPs function as adverbials, they are (normally) movable ex Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. PP (adv of time) In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. English 402: Grammar

slide 5: Reed-Kellogg diagrams of sentences with movable adverbial PPs In Reed-Kellogg diagrams, prepositional adverbials are all diagrammed with the PPs in predicate position, i.e., after the vertical subject/predicate dividing line, and always connected to the main verb, NOT to any objects or complements. Thus, the Reed-Kellogg diagram of the sentence Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 is as follows: English 402: Grammar

slide 6: example of a Reed-Kellogg diagram of a sentence with an adverbial PP English 402: Grammar

slide 7: example of a Reed-Kellogg diagram of a sentence with a fronted adverbial PP And here is the Reed-Kellogg diagram of the sentence In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue: Notice that the only difference between the diagram for this sentence and that for Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 is that the i of the preposition in is capitalized to indicate that the whole PP of which it is the head and first word of occurs at the beginning of the surface sentence. English 402: Grammar

slide 8: multiple adverbial PPs in sentences When PPs function as adverbials, there may be more than one adverbial PP in a sentence ex Professor Plum did it with a blunderbuss in the conservatory at midnight. English 402: Grammar

slide 9: example of multiple adverbial PPs in a sentence with a blunderbuss – adverbial of “instrument,” a.k.a. instrumental PP in the conservatory – adverbial of location at midnight – adverbial of time English 402: Grammar

slide 10: Reed-Kellogg diagrams of sentences with multiple adverbial PPs In Reed-Kellogg diagrams, multiple adverbials are all also diagrammed with the PPs in predicate position, i.e., after the vertical subject/predicate dividing line, and again always connected to the main verb, NOT to any objects or complements (in addition, their relative order doesn’t matter, though it’s generally are the same as the adverbials appear in the surface sentence). For example, the following is the diagram of the sentence Professor Plum did it with a blunderbuss in the conservatory at midnight: English 402: Grammar

slide 11: example of a Reed-Kellogg diagram of a sentence with multiple adverbial PPs English 402: Grammar

slide 12: modification of adverbial PPs in sentences When PPs function as adverbials, the PPs may be modified exx He accosted me nearly in a frenzy. PP (adv of manner) She smacked him right upside the head. PP (adv of location) English 402: Grammar

slide 13: special rule for Reed-Kellogg diagrams with modified adverbial PPs Similar to what we saw with exclamatory sentences (see the chapter 4 “Exclamatory Sentences” lecture), in Reed- Kellogg diagrams if the prepositional phrase is modified, its modifier will be connected via a special structure to the slanted line on which is placed the head of the modified PP. For example, here is the diagram of the sentence She smacked him right upside the head, and note how the PP modifier right is handled: English 402: Grammar

slide 14: example of a Reed-Kellogg diagram with a modified adverbial PP English 402: Grammar

slide 15: PPs and structural ambiguity Finally, care should be taken in the analysis of prepositional phrases since these can often display structural ambiguity; that is, a PP in a sentence could be analyzed a having more than one function and thus the entire containing sentence could have more than one interpretation or meaning. English 402: Grammar

slide 16: example of unambiguous use of a PP to postmodify a noun Consider, for example, the sentence The wretch in the dungeon is miserable where the PP in the dungeon unambiguously postmodifies the wretch, and hence the PP in the dungeon is actually part of the larger noun phrase (NP) the wretch in the dungeon which itself serves as the subject of this sentence. English 402: Grammar

slide 17: example of unambiguous use of a PP as an adverbial Consider now the sentence The wretch is languishing in the dungeon where the PP in the dungeon now unambiguously serves as an adverbial (of place) for the entire, Pattern VI sentence (and thus in a Reed-Kellogg diagram would be placed below the main horizontal line on the right [predicate] side of the subject/predicate vertical dividing line). English 402: Grammar

slide 18: example of a structurally ambiguous PP Finally, consider the sentence The wretch is plotting a murder in the dungeon. In this case, the PP in the dungeon could be interpreted either as postmodifying the noun murder in the larger NP a murder in the dungeon (i.e., “the wretch” intends the murder to take place in the dungeon) or as an adverbial for the whole sentence, i.e., structurally not part of the NP a murder but rather meaning that the murder is not (necessarily) intended to take place within the dungeon but only that the planning of the murder is being conducted there. English 402: Grammar

slide 19: Reed-Kellogg diagram of one interpretation of a structurally ambiguous sentence To help illustrate the source for the ambiguity of The wretch is plotting a murder in the dungeon, here is the Reed-Kellogg diagram of the sentence with the intended meaning that the murder is being specifically planned to take place in the dungeon, i.e., where the PP in the dungeon is a constituent in the larger, dir obj NP a murder in the dungeon: English 402: Grammar

slide 20: Reed-Kellogg diagram of the other interpretation of this ambiguous sentence And here is the Reed-Kellogg diagram of The wretch is plotting a murder in the dungeon where the meaning is only that the planning is what’s happening in the dungeon, i.e., in which the PP in the dungeon functions as an adverbial: English 402: Grammar