Functions of prepositions in the english language

Function of Prepositional phrases

Prepositional phrases can function as a constituent in the clause: it can be an adverbial, a complement or a nominal, and as part of other constituents, such as postmodifier of a noun, modifier, or in a portative construction.

There are six syntactic functions of prepositional phrases. They are adjunct, postmodifiers, disjunct, conjunct, complementation of verb and complementation of adjective.

Adjunct

Adjunct is one of syntactic functions of prepositional phrases that answers the questions ‘ how, when, where, why, what and who. Especially, adjunct is the phrases that express the meaning of cause, purpose, reason, motive, intended destination, recipient, goal, target, source, origin, means - agentive, manner, instrument, stimulus, accompaniment, support and opposition. At the end of one spectrum of cause - purpose, the prepositions expressing either the material cause or the psychological cause (motive). Postmodifier is one of syntactic functions of prepositional phrases that occur if a prepositional phrase appears after a noun phrase, and the noun phrase together with the prepositional phrase function as a subject in the sentence.

Postmodification by PPs can be classified according to the restrictive /nonrestrictive and appositive/ nonappositive distinctions

• 
  The course on English grammar starts tomorrow.
  

[nonappositional, restrictive]

• 
  This course, on English grammar, starts tomorrow.
  

[nonappositional, nonrestrictive]

• 
  The question of student grants was discussed yesterday.
  

[appositional, restrictive]

• 
  This question, of student grants, was discussed yesterday.
  

[appositional, nonrestrictive]

While the restrictive/nonrestrictive classification is linked to whether the modification helps identify the head noun or not, the appositive/relative distinction is mainly based on the semantic content of the postmodifier. Appositive postmodifiers “contain their antecedents”, whereas relative modifiers add extra information about the head noun. Nonrestrictive modifiers are often confused with and mostly seen as instances of adverbials (Quirk et al., 2005, p. 1288).

• 
  The children, behind the fence, jeered at the soldier.
  
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