Noun Postmodification: Prepositional Phrases

Postmodification with Various Types of Prepositional Phrases

A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition and a complement. The complement is usually a noun phrase. It is the commonest type of postmodifying phrase in academic texts and there are various types:

Simple Prepositional Phrases

A very simple prepositional phrase consists of a preposition and a single noun.

• DNA from dinosaurs      (context)
• repertoire of movements      (context)

Prepositional Phrases with Adjectives

We have a noun in the prepositional phrase and, as we know, nouns can be modified in various ways, for example with an adjective:

• risk of later disease     (context)
• studies of the earliest weevils     (context)

Prepositional Phrases with Participle Modifiers

We have a noun in the prepositional phrase and, as we know, nouns can be modified in various ways, for example with a participle :

• narrow range of viewing angles     (context)
• presence of ordered nanostructured arrays     (context)

  In this last example there are two participles modifying the noun in the prepositional phrase; "ordered" and "nanostructured".

Prepositional Phrases with Noun Modifiers

The noun in the prepositional phrase can also be modified by another noun:

• help from our technology friends     (context)
• small brown fragments of wing cases     (context)

Prepositional Phrases with Binomial Phrases

The noun in the prepositional phrase may consist of a coordinated phrase :

• ancestor of humans and chimps     (context)
• rigours of decay and burial     (context)

The noun phrase "decay and burial" itself becomes the head noun phrase for the prepositional phrase "during fossilisation".

Prepositional Phrases with ing-clauses

• fear of going outside independently     (context)
• possible method for helping to prevent dementia     (context)

  Note that in the full sentence there is a second prepositional phrase containing an ing-clause (mirroring the first).

Embedded Prepositional Phrases - Example 1

The following examples of embedding all come from the same sentence which contains 4 prepositional phrases.

• significant excitement in the field     (context)
• significant excitement about the possibility     (context)
• possibility of recovering DNA     (context)
• DNA from dinosaurs     (context)

  The whole sentence is: In the early 1990s, there was significant excitement [in the field] [about the possibility] [of recovering DNA] [from dinosaurs].

  "excitement" is postmodified by two prepositional phrases: [in the field] and [about the possibility].

  "possibility" is postmodified by one prepositional phrase: [of recovering DNA].

  "DNA" is postmodified by one prepositional phrase: [from dinosaurs].

In the the examples above we have a series of embedded prepositional phrases two of which are contained (embedded) within another. Structures like these are not uncommon in academic texts.

Embedded Prepositional Phrases - Example 2

The following examples all come from the same sentence, which contains 3 prepositional phrases, three of which are noun postmodifiers.

• sediments from the ancient lake     (context)
• ancient lake of Lobsigensee     (context)
• lake of Lobsigensee in Switzerland     (context)

  The whole sentence is: The specimens are 13,000-year-old weevils found by our colleague Scott Elias (formerly of Royal Holloway University), in sediments [from the ancient lake] [of Lobsigensee] [in Switzerland].

  "sediments" is postmodified by the prepositional phrase: [from the ancient lake] .

  "the ancient lake" is postmodified by the prepositional phrase: [of Lobsigensee].

  "the ancient lake of Lobsigensee" is postmodified by the prepositional phrase: [in Switzerland].

This is a straightforward cascade of post-modifying prepositional phrases. There are other prepositional phrases in this sentence but they do not modify nouns.

Test your understanding with the Prepositional Phrases Quiz.