Manhattan SC - 6th Edition (Kindle) Page 58 of 266

[RahulB226]

Manhattan SC - 6th Edition (Kindle) Page 58 of 266
Noun Modifier - Preposition

Type | Example | Meaning

Preposition | Sue placed the CAT on the couch | Where is the cat? (on the couch)

In the above sentence why can't we say that the preposition 'on the couch' is modifying the verb placed? For e.g. I may ask, where was the cat placed?

Regards,
Rahul Bajpai

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

I agree with you that, in this case, "on the couch" modifies "placed", not "cat". It's giving us some extra information about where Sue placed the cat. Perhaps a better example would be: "Sue looked at the cat on the couch." However, don't worry about it: it's just meant to be an example of a prepositional modifier.