This study inquires how selection restrictions operative on verbs with predicative complements can be derived in the framework of a two-stage meaning analysis. The center of interest focusses on verbs of position and their PP complements, but in the second part of the study the purview is extended to include resultative constructions. In order to explain the variant behavior of intransitive verbs in resultative constructions, a conceptually motivated distinction is made between two types of semantic predicate, allowing a differentiation between non-ergative and non-accusative verbs. On the basis of this distinction general restrictions on the composition of semantic structures can be formulated from which (among other things) observations are derivable about thematic restrictions limiting argument positioning.