If I recall correctly, I wrote that in one of my junior high school English classes (1966? 1967? 1968? anyway, thereabouts, many brain cells ago). I think I wrote it on an exam, because that’s what those kinds of phrases looked like to me. But whether I wrote it on an exam or elsewhere, I got it wrong, and I was informed by the teacher that these kinds of phrases function adjectivally (although I’m not sure she used the word adjectivally in her explanation).
So I decided to ride with the tide and go with the flow.