A. Little Jack Horner sat in the corner.
B. Little Jack Horner resembles his mother in an odd way.
2. Since adverbials can be moved fairly easily, adverbial PPs can usually be moved to the front of the sentence without changing the meaning in any significant way.
A. In the corner, sat little Jack Horner.
B. In an odd way, little Jack Horner resembles his mother.
(The diagrams for these sentences are essentially the same as those for 1 A and B).
The boy in the corner ate pizza. ("which boy")
A,The boy in a hurry ate pizza.
("what kind of a boy"; note there may be another boy who is less rushed who eats a full, nutritionally sound meal!)
A. In the corner, sat little Jack Horner.
B. In an odd way, little Jack Horner resembles his mother.
C. Little Jack Horner, in an odd way, resembles his mother.
Note what happens to The boy in a hurry ate pizza. when you move the PP to the front or to the end of the sentence (i.e. away from the noun phrase):
D. In a hurry, the boy ate pizza.
E. The boy ate pizza in a hurry.
Now the PP is adverbial, and the meaning has changed from one in which the boy is described as "someone in a hurry" ("which/what kind") to one in which his eating is described as being "in a hurry" ("how")
| Syllabus | Class schedule |
| Assignments | Handouts |
| WWW Resources |
Return to handouts index.
Return to objects, complements, and modifers index
Return to modifiers index.