What Does This Prepositional Phrase Modify?
Motion picture piracy costs the film industry billions of dollars in lost revenue.
As far as I know, the film is an indirect object and billions of dollars a direct object. But, what is the function of the prepositional phrase? What does it modify?
Top answer
The PP "in lost revenue" modifies "dollars" and the whole NP "billions of dollars in lost revenue" is direct object. We know that "billions of dollars in lost revenue" is a constituent because it is portable: Billions of dollars in lost revenue is what motion picture piracy costs the film industry every year.
- The PP "in lost revenue" modifies "dollars" and the whole NP "billions of dollars in lost revenue" is direct object.
- We know that "billions of dollars in lost revenue" is a constituent because it is portable: Billions of dollars in lost revenue is what motion picture piracy costs the film industry every year.
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The PP "in lost revenue" modifies "dollars" and the whole NP "billions of dollars in lost revenue" is direct object.
We know that "billions of dollars in lost revenue" is a constituent because it is portable:
Billions of dollars in lost revenue is what motion picture piracy costs the film industry every year.
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