PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

prepositional phrase
A phrase with a preposition as its headword. The preposition comes at the beginning of the phrase and is followed by:
■ a noun:
preposition
noun
below
ground
■ a pronoun:
preposition
pronoun
after
me
■ a verbal noun:
preposition
verbal noun
without
leaving
■ a noun phrase:
preposition
noun phrase
during
the last month
Uses
Prepositional phrases have two main uses:
■ To modify a noun. When they form part of a noun phrase they normally come after the noun. (So they are, technically, ‘postmodifiers’.) For example:
Court actions in foreign countries
expose a company to a number of risks.
noun phrase
■ As an adverbial. When they are used as adverbials, they give information about:
place
time
manner
reason
purpose