I have the sentence: Kyle seems calm despite his situation. Kyle is the subject, seems is the being verb, calm is a subject complement adjective that describes Kyle. My question is, is "...despite his situation" an adverb phrase? Is it describing calm or seems?

Thanks,

I would say it's an adjective phrase, describing "calm." But I can see it both ways!

I think it's definitely an adverb phrase. Since calm is an adjective and seems is a verb, which ever the phrase modifies, it is still an adverb phrase.

Ahhh, Ms. Sue is right!

=)

To determine if the phrase "despite his situation" is an adverb phrase and if it is describing "calm" or "seems," we need to analyze its function in the sentence.

In this case, "despite his situation" is a prepositional phrase that starts with the preposition "despite." Prepositional phrases usually function as adjectives or adverbs in a sentence.

Let's break it down:

- The preposition: "despite"
- The object of the preposition: "his situation"

In this sentence, "despite his situation" is describing the reason or circumstance behind Kyle seemingly being calm. It provides more information about the situation he is facing.

From a grammatical standpoint, "despite his situation" is functioning as an adverbial phrase. It modifies the verb "seems" by answering the question "Why does Kyle seem calm?" And since it modifies the verb, it is indirectly associated with describing the state conveyed by "seems."

In summary, "despite his situation" is an adverbial phrase that describes the reason behind Kyle's calm state, and it indirectly modifies the verb "seems."