Talk:on top

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Status as a compound preposition[change]

It is difficult to see whether on top is actually a compound preposition, although that is the analysis favoured here. The alternative is a "layered head analysis" (See CGEL p. 620). Under such an analysis, on top is a preposition phrase (PP) composed of a preposition and a noun phrase functioning as its complement. This entire PP then takes a complement, usually another PP as in the following tree with the example of in case:--Brett 13:28, 17 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]