Final answer:
Prepositions can take prepositional phrases as complements, with examples including 'like' in the sentence 'The taxi driver seemed like a nice man.'. Object complements can also form prepositional phrases in sentences like 'Francis became a criminal.'. Lastly, prepositional phrases can modify verbs and nouns, as seen in 'Marco jumped in the pool after swimming in the ocean.'.
Step-by-step explanation:
Prepositions that take other prepositional phrases (PPs) as complements are common in English usage. For example, a noun phrase acting as a subject complement may be preceded by the preposition "like". If we look at the sentence 'The taxi driver seemed like a nice man.', 'like a nice man' is a prepositional phrase acting as the subject complement, with 'like' being the preposition and 'a nice man' functioning as the noun phrase within the PP.
In the case of transitive verbs, an object complement can form a prepositional phrase. In the sentence 'Francis became a criminal.', 'a criminal' is the direct object and also serves as the object complement, redefining Francis. These types of structures are common and showcase the versatility of prepositions in English grammar.
When considering the syntax of prepositional phrases, remember that they can modify either nouns or verbs. For instance, in the sentence 'After swimming in the ocean, Marco jumped in the pool.', the prepositional phrase 'in the ocean' modifies the verb phrase 'after swimming', while the prepositional phrase 'in the pool' modifies the verb 'jumped'. The versatility of prepositional phrases enables them to nest within each other and add layers of meaning to a sentence.