Prepositional Phrases

When we dig even deeper into the meanings of prepositional phrases, we discover finer and finer levels of meaning.  Even the seemingly simple question of “where” has finer subdivisions: where can ask for a starting location, a route that is taken, a destination location, and so on.  We can see similar issues with other prepositions, too.  When working on reading comprehension, these divisions become significant.  Linguists have developed technical terminology for describing these more detailed meanings, but non-native speakers will need simpler terms to understand them. 

For reference, I have included a list of some of the technical terms for some of these meanings.  These are the semantic roles that nouns (and remember there are noun phrases in prepositional phrases) can play in sentences.  Also remember that semantic roles have to do with meaning, not syntax, and that grammatical roles have to do with syntax, not meaning.  That is, it is possible for a noun phrase to have the grammatical role of subject and the semantic role of agent as in Isner defeated Mahut.  It is also possible for the semantic role of agent to be held by a noun in the grammatical role of object of a preposition, as in Mahut was defeated by Isner.

Activity 11.4: The Meanings of Prepositions 3

Find the prepositional phrases in the story below and click on them to mark them. Check your answer by clicking on the blue "Check Answer" button. Select or deselect each word in the sentence until the "Check Answer" shows that you are correct.

Then in the spaces below each one, write what information each phrase adds to the sentence. Mouse over the brown button to see the recommended answer.

So far we have seen prepositional phrases performing to main but different functions in sentences in English, as noun modifiers and as verb modifiers.  We looked closely at prepositional phrases functioning as noun modifiers when we looked at noun phrases, and we have just looked closely at prepositional phrases functioning as verb modifiers.  Like true adverbs, prepositional phrases can act to modify adjectives, as well.  One example comes from Activity 11.2, He was afraid of Juliet’s parents, where the prepositional phrase of Juliet’s parents provides further information about the adjective afraid.

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