Adverbial phrase or Prepositional phrase?

Question

The children are playing in the field.He is sitting on the stairs.Are 'in the field' and 'on the stairs' mentioned in above sentences adverbial phrases or Prepositional phrases and what really is difference between both?thanks

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Hi;
A prepositional phrase is a sequence of words (a phrase) begins with a preposition, and has a noun (or noun phrase) object.

After that definition, you can ask, "What is the function of the phrase in a sentence?"
These phrases can function as adjectives or adverbs.

If it functions as an adjective, you can call it an adjectival prepositional phrase.
If it functions as an adverb, you can call it an adverbial prepositional phrase.

Mister Micawber · Answer

They are both. 'Preposition' is a word class (like 'noun') and 'adverbial' is a function (like 'subject'). In the field and on the stairs are prepositional phrases acting as adverbs in the sentences.

BillJ · Answer

soche123The children are playing in the field. He is sitting on the stairs. Are 'in the field' and 'on the stairs' mentioned in above sentences adverbial phrases or Prepositional phrases and what really is difference between both?thanks

"In the field" and "on the stairs" are preposition phrases; that's their category. They're called PPs because they're headed by the preps "in" and "on" respectively.

Adverbial is not a category, it's a function. In your examples, the preposition phrases are functioning as adverbials (or adjuncts): they tell you where the children are playing and where he is sitting. So more precisely they're called 'adverbials of place'.

The term 'adverbial' is very misleading because the adverbial function can be realised by several types of expression. Adverb phrases and preposition phrases are the most common, but there are several others:

"He spoke remarkably clearly". (adverb phrase)
"I'll see you after dinner". (preposition phrase)
"She arrived this morning". (noun phrase)
"I couldn't do it, however hard I tried". (finite clause)
"Realising he couldn't win, Tom began to lose heart". (non-finite clause)
"Hands on their heads, the prisoners filed from the room". (verbless clause)

BillJ

Adverbial phrase or Prepositional phrase?

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