The Prepositional Phrase

Abstract

This chapter attempts to determine whether there is any notable difference between the ordering of modifiers in a noun phrase and in a prepositional phrase. It has indeed been suggested that pre-nominal placement of modifiers in prepositional phrases could be a kind of syntactic constraint. This issue, the placement of quantifiers, adjectives, and genitive complements in prepositional phrases, is examined, after some general remarks concerning the phenomenon of framing and integration of modifiers into a noun phrase. The chapter shows that semantic functions, for example, those of place complements, can be reflected in the choice of modifiers. It looks at problems closely linked with the topic, namely: the question of the attachment of prepositional phrases to a noun or a verb, in order to see whether a prepositional phrase can truly be a noun complement, and the question of constructions with support verbs.Keywords: adjectives; genitive complements; modifiers; noun phrase; prepositional phrase; quantifiers; support verbs