Adjective phrase or adverb phrase?

Question

He walks into the room with his hands in his pockets.
Is 'in his pocket' an adjective phrase?
Is 'with his hand in his pockets' an adverb phrase?

He lands on the ground with his feet two inches behind the line.
Is ' his feet two inches behind the line' an adjective phrase?

Thank you very much.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

HongkieHe walks into the room with his hands in his pockets. Is 'in his pockets' an adjective phrase?

It's a preposition phrase because it's headed by the preposition in. An adjective phrase has an adjective as its head word, e.g., very useful, hard to understand, scared of heights, glad it's over.

I assume you're effectively asking whether the phrase is modifying the noun hands. It's not. It is predicate of the verbless clause his hands in his pockets. With here is semantically comparable to have: the sentence entails that he has his hands in his pockets.

HongkieIs 'with his hands in his pockets' an adverb phrase?

Another PP, headed by the prep with. Its function here is adjunct (‘adverbial’ in traditional grammar).

HongkieHe lands on the ground with his feet two inches behind the line. Is 'his feet two inches behind the line' an adjective phrase?

That's another verbless clause. (I can't imagine where you got ‘adjective phrase’ from.)

Anon f8r · Answer

Thanks.
I know they are prepositional phrase. Besides being prepositional phrases, are they adjective phrase or adverb phrase?

Adjective phrase or adverb phrase?

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