Learn English – Can prepositional phrases be subject complements

complementssubjects

I’m an ESL teacher without much formal training (at this stage). I have however Googled grammar questions many times and been redirected here, so this time I'm actually posting. I’m trying to explain to students what follows “to be” when it acts a main verb, but I’m stuck on one point.

I know that predicate adjectives and predicate nominatives can be subject complements as they describe the subject.

I also know that sometimes prepositions act as adverbs after “to be”, eg. “She’s not up yet”), and that position words can act as adverbial phrases after “to be”, eg. “I’m not there yet”).

As these prepositions and adverbial phrases are describing the position or state of the subject, and not any action, would these also be considered subject complements? If so, is there a special name for them?

Also, would a prepositional phrase such as the one in “He’s in the kitchen” also count as a subject complement as it describes the position of the subject and not an action?

Best Answer

Prepositional phrases, because they're a type of phrase where a verb, or adjective, is used to alter an adverb or noun, they count as subject complements. Subject complements, words or phrases that modify, describe, or complete the grammatical subject of a clause, are then technically similar in function to prepositional phrases.

"He's in the kitchen", with that being said, this phrase can technically count as both a prepositional phrase, and a subject complement

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