~ of supporting Russia's military.

[Rainfall]

One of the Financial Times headlines: US accuses five firms in China of supporting Russia's military.

What role is the prepositional phrase "of supporting" play in the sentence? Adjective or adverb?
If 'of supporting' is to modify the main verb 'accuse', so it is reasonable that it is an adverb?

Your comment is highly appreciated.

 

[Uncle Jack]

"Of supporting Russia's military" is an object complement, which makes it an adjective.

 

[entangledbank]

'Accuse of' takes a noun phrase complement: accuse someone of murder. So an ing-verb can be used where a noun phrase can.

 

[Rainfall]

"Of supporting Russia's military" is an object complement, which makes it an adjective.

Here's the analysis of the sentence 'US accuses five firms in China of supporting Russia's military.'
subject: US
verb: accuses
object: five firms
Object complementrepositional phrase I "in China" as an adjective to describe 'five firms'
object complement:　prepositional phrase II ＂of supporting Russia's military" as an adjective to describe 'five firms':

 

[Rainfall]

'Accuse of' takes a noun phrase complement: accuse someone of murder. So an ing-verb can be used where a noun phrase can.

Is the first prep phrase 'in China' a complement (adjective) as well?

 

[Uncle Jack]

Object complementrepositional phrase I "in China" as an adjective to describe 'five firms'

I'd just call "five firms in China" the object. "In China" just says where the five firms are; it says nothing about the manner in which they are accused.

As you can see, I include "of" in the complement, meaning that it is an adjective, whereas entangledbank includes "of" with the verb, and so the complement is "supporting Russia's military", which is a noun phrase.