A girl with red hair

Question

a girl with red hairWhat is the function of the PP "with red hair" in the NP "a girl with red hair"? Is it a modifier, adverbial or complement?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Anonymousa girl with red hairWhat is the function of the PP "with red hair" in the NP "a girl with red hair"? Is it a modifier, adverbial or complement?

Modifier.

CJ

Philip · Answer

CalifJimModifier.CJ

Do we still use terms like "prepositional phrase used as an adjective" or "adjectival prepositional phrase"? My long teeth are showing, I fear.

CalifJim · Answer

PhilipDo we still use terms ... ?

I don't know. Who is "we"?

I'm sure a great many people are using phrasing like "used as a noun/adjective/adverb". However, the latest methodology has it that we should never say the phrases "used as" or "functioning as" together with the name of a word category like 'noun', 'adjective', etc. "It is used as an adjective" is usually replaced now by "It modifies a noun", or by something like "Its function is to modify the noun (X) in this sentence".

Thus, in "brick wall", "brick" is said to be a noun (which makes sense if you think about it) and is said to modify "wall". A noun may modify a noun in this way. But, they say, "brick" must never be called an adjective, and — because it sounds too uncomfortably close to saying it is an adjective — they prefer that we not even say that it is a noun that functions as an adjective. By this way of thinking, nouns are nouns, adjectives are adjectives, and so on, and there is nothing that is ever said to "function as a noun" or "function as an adjective" or "be used as an adjective", or any such thing.

In the OP's example, 'with red hair' is a preposition phrase (Note, no 'al') and has nothing to do with adjectives. It modifies 'girl', but in doing so, it does not "function as an adjective". It just, well, modifies. Part of the reasoning is that, besides the fact that it's more than one word, it can't take adjective inflections ('with red hairer', 'with red hairest') and it can't appear in places where adjectives can ('very with red hair', 'more with red hair than Sally').

The OP's question asked us to choose between some rather more modern grammatical terms: Is it a modifier, adverbial or complement? That in mind, I answered from that point of view, avoiding "used as", etc.

I confess that I am not consistent in my terminology. I try to guess which method the OP is working with and answer accordingly. Sometimes a 'participial phrase' is a 'participle clause', and vice versa; sometimes a 'noun clause' is a 'content clause', and vice versa; etc.

CJ

A girl with red hair

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