Adpositional phrase

An adpositional phrase, in linguistics, is a syntactic category that includes prepositional phrases, postpositional phrases, and circumpositional phrases. Adpositional phrases contain an adposition (preposition, postposition, or circumposition) as head and usually a complement such as a noun phrase. Language syntax treats adpositional phrases as units that act as arguments or adjuncts. Prepositional and postpositional phrases differ by the order of the words used. Languages that are primarily head-initial such as English predominantly use prepositional phrases whereas head-final languages predominantly employ postpositional phrases. Many languages have both types, as well as circumpositional phrases.

Three types of adpositional phrases

There are three types of adpositional phrases: prepositional phrases, postpositional phrases, and circumpositional phrases. These three types are illustrated in the subsections that follow:

Prepositional phrases

The underlined phrases in the following sentences are examples of prepositional phrases in English. The prepositions are in bold: