prepositional phrase (instead of)

[Anonymous]

Dear teachers:

- Things will be worse instead of better.
- We'll be sleeping outside instead of in the tent.

I can't seem to find anything wrong about these sentences, but isn't 'instead of' a prepositional phrase? Then how can an adjective like 'better', or an adverb like 'outside', or an adverbial phrase like 'in the tent' come after the prepositional phrase? That is my question.

Thank you very much!

[Anonymous]

You can use 'instead of' before any noun, pronoun, preposition, adjective, adverb, or phrase to make it contrasted with the word that precedes it. However, it is rarely used before a verb or to infinitive.

[Anonymous]

Thank you.

Then, can we say, safely, a preposition (or prepositional phrase or complex preposition like 'instead of' here) can have a noun, a pronoun, an adjective, an adverb, in short, just about everything as its object?

This question still bothers me.

[Anonymous]

Thank you.

Then, can we say, safely, a preposition (or prepositional phrase or complex preposition like 'instead of' here) can have a noun, a pronoun, an adjective, an adverb, in short, just about everything as its object?

This question still bothers me.
No. What I said is only about 'instead of'. You cannot generalize the rule.