Transcript Slide 1

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
through the dense, dark, creepy woods
NP
to Grandma
P
NP
P
for a bigger share of the loot
P
(cf. to her/*to she)
P
NP
at high noon
P
NP
NP
English 402: Grammar
NP
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.
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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
PP
at midnight – adverbial of time
PP
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 ReedKellogg 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.
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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