Prepositional phrase as a complement or adverb?

Question

I've been studying the theory of preposition using the following link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_grammar#Prepositions

It says prepositional phrase has three uses
1/ modifiy a noun (so obvious)

2/ A prepositional phrase can be used as a complement of a verb or adjective. For example: deal with the problem, proud of oneself

3/ A prepositional phrase can be used generally as an adverb phrase. In other words, it modifies verbs (or verb phrases), adjectives (or adjective phrases), or other adverbs (or adverb phrases). For example: in the pool, after two years, for the sake of harmony.

I am a little confuse about 2 and 3.
What is the difference between a complement of a verb and an adverb phrase of a verb?
In other words, using the example wiki gives me, what's the difference between deal with the problem and swim in the pool(or pee in the pool

)?

Similarly, what is the difference between a complement of an adjective and an adverb phrase of an adjective?

Thanks a lot

BillJ · Accepted Answer

Anonymous am a little confuse about 2 and 3.What is the difference between a complement of a verb and an adverb phrase of a verb?In other words, using the example wiki gives me, what's the difference between deal with the problem and swim in the pool

"You must deal with the problem".

The essential difference between a complement of a verb and an adverbial is that obligatory elements are always complements (they are needed to complete the verb phrase), whereas optional elements may be complements or adverbials. In that example, the PP "with the problem" is essential for this sense of "deal", meaning something like 'cope with' or 'put right'. And if you say "You must deal", the verb has a different sense (such as "deal the cards"). So the PP is obligatory and thus a complement.

"Would you like to swim in the pool"?

This time, the PP "in the pool" is optional; you could simply say "would you like to swim"? without changing the meaning of "swim", or making the sentence ungrammatical. So the PP is optional; it's an adverbial of place, because it defines where the swimming might take place.

AnonymousSimilarly, what is the difference between a complement of an adjective and an adverb phrase of an adjective?

[1] "They were fraught with danger".
[2] "It was dangerous in the extreme".

In [1] the PP "with danger" is an obligatory complement for this sense of the adjective "fraught" - roughly "full of" or "charged". Omitting it would result in a change of meaning of "fraught" to "anxious" or "distressed". Since it's an obligatory element, it must be a complement. In [2] the PP "in the extreme" modifies the adjective "dangerous" It modifies it by delimiting its meaning to that of the PP, i.e. extremely dangerous. It's not obligatory for this sense of "dangerous", and its omission would not render the sentence ungrammatical, and hence not a complement.

By the way, Wiki is not always a good source of information on English grammar. For example, the element "in the extreme" in [2] is not an adverb phrase, but a preposition phrase functioning as a modifier. An adverb phrase is one that's headed by an adverb like "incredibly" in "She is quite incredibly generous", where the adverb phrase "quite incredibly" modifies the adjective "generous".

BillJ

Solopolo · Answer

Thanks a lot, Bill. Your explanation is very helpful.

BTW is there any grammar book you'd like to recommend?

Prepositional phrase as a complement or adverb?

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