prepositional phrase out in the cold (out in the cold they go). Functions PPs typically function as adjuncts in clauses, verb phrases, NPs, and AdjPs. They also function as complements in VPs, PPs, AdjPs, and NPs. Particle Prepositions may function as particles, a kind of dependent in a VP that may, unusually, come between a verb and an object. An example is up in pick up the children or pick the children up. Subject In rare cases, a PP can function as the subject of a clause, such as the underlined PP in the following conversation: A: What time can we meet? B: Before noon doesn't work. Types of prepositions Subcategorization In linguistics, subcategorization is the "assignment of a lexical item to a subclass of its part of speech, especially with respect to the syntactic elements with which it can combine.". Prepositions can be subcategorized based on complement type. The list of English prepositions is categorized this way. Though the prototypical preposition is a single word that precedes a noun phrase complement and expresses spatial relations, the category of preposition includes more than this limited notion (see ). Prepositions can be categorized according to whether the preposition takes a complement, what kind of complement the preposition takes, on what side of the preposition the complement occurs, and whether the preposition consists of one word or multiple words. A preposition that takes a noun-phrase complement is called a transitive preposition (e.g., She went up the hill), and one that does not take any complements is called an intransitive preposition (e.g., She went up). Prepositions can also take the following complements: clauses (e.g., after you arrived), adjective phrases (e.g., accepted as valid), and other prepositional phrases (e.g., because of the problem). A preposition whose complement precedes it (e.g., the constitution notwithstanding) may be called a postposition to distinguish it from more prototypical prepositions, whose complements follow them. Some grammars classify prepositions and postpositions as different kinds of adpositions while other grammars categorize both under the heading of the more common variety in the language. Thus, in the latter categorization method, postpositions may be considered a variety of preposition in English. Complex prepositions A complex preposition is a multi-word preposition. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (CGEL) says of complex prepositions, In the first place, there is a good deal of inconsistency in the traditional account, as reflected in the practice of