What Is a Phrase? Definition and Examples in Grammar
Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms
Updated on August 09, 2019
In English grammar, a phrase is a group of two or more words functioning as a meaningful unit within a sentence or clause. A phrase is commonly characterized as a grammatical unit at a level between a word and a clause.
A phrase is made up of a head (or headword)—which determines the grammatical nature of the unit—and one or more optional modifiers. Phrases may contain other phrases inside them.
Common types of phrases include noun phrases (such as a good friend), verb phrases (drives carefully), adjective phrases (very cold and dark), adverb phrases (quite slowly), and prepositional phrases (in first place).
Pronunciation: FRAZE
Etymology: From the Greek, «explain, tell»
Adjective: phrasal.
Examples and Observations
«Sentences can be divided into groups of words that belong together. For instance, in the nice unicorn ate a delicious meal, the, nice, and unicorn form one such group, and a, delicious, and meal form another. (We all know this intuitively.) The group of words is called a phrase.
«If the most important part of the phrase, i.e. the head, is an adjective, the phrase is an Adjective Phrase; if the most important part of the phrase is a noun, the phrase is a Noun Phrase, and so on.» — Elly van Gelderen
Types of Phrases With Examples
- Noun Phrase
«Buy a big bright green pleasure machine!» — Paul Simon, «The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine,» 1966 - Verb Phrase
«Your father may be going away for a little while.» — Ellen Griswold in the movie «Vacation,» 1983 - Adjective Phrase
«It is always the best policy to speak the truth—unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar.» — Jerome K. Jerome, «The Idler,» February 1892 - Adverb Phrase
«Movements born in hatred very quickly take on the characteristics of the thing they oppose.» — J. S. Habgood, «The Observer,» May 4, 1986 - Prepositional Phrase
«I could dance with you till the cows come home. On second thought, I’d rather dance with the cows till you come home.» —Groucho Marx in «Duck Soup,» 1933
«Prepositional phrases differ from the other four types of phrase in that a preposition cannot stand alone as the head word of a phrase. Although a preposition is still the head word in a prepositional phrase, it has to be accompanied by another element—or prepositional complement—if the phrase is to be complete. Most typically, the prepositional complement will be a noun phrase.» — Kim Ballard
An Expanded Definition of Phrase
A prototypical phrase is a group of words forming a unit and consisting of a head or «nucleus» together with other words or word groups clustering around it. If the head of the phrase is a noun, we speak of a noun phrase (NP) (e.g. all those beautiful houses built in the sixties). If the head is a verb, the phrase is a verb phrase (VP). In the following sentence, the VP is in italics and the verb head is in bold:
Jill prepared us a couple of sandwiches.
«A phrase is only potentially complex. In other words, the term is also used to refer to ‘one-word phrases,’ i.e. non-prototypical phrases that consist of a head only. Thus the sentence Jill smokes is a combination of a noun phrase and a verb phrase.»
— Renaat Declerck, Susan Reed, and Bert Cappelle
Phrases, Nesting Phrases, and Clauses
«Phrases contrast with clauses, which they do, however, resemble. … The main feature of a clause is that it has all the components of a potentially independent sentence, namely a verb and usually a subject, and perhaps objects, too. A part of a sentence with just these components would be called a clause rather than a phrase. A phrase can contain a verb, without its subject, or it may itself be the subject of some verb.» —James R. Hurford
Hurford notes two ways that phrases can appear inside other phrases:
- Conjoining smaller phrases by a conjunction, such as and, but or or
- Nesting a smaller phrase inside a larger one
Hurford’s examples of nesting a smaller phrase inside a larger one as an integral part of it [the nested phrase is in italics]:
- Might in all probability be coming
- Ran away home quickly to his mother
- Five extremely tall basketball players
- Out from under the kitchen table
- Is not very convincingly established
Complex Structures
«Noun phrases and prepositional phrases can have particularly complex structure in written texts, with several layers of phrase embedding. In fact, the complexity of phrases is a very striking measure for comparing the complexity of syntax in different registers of English. The simplest structures occur in conversation and the complexity increases through fiction and newspaper writing, with academic writing showing the greatest complexity of phrase structure.» — Douglas Biber, Susan Conrad, and Geoffrey Leech
Sources
- Van Gelderen, Elly. «An Introduction to the Grammar of English: Syntactic Arguments and Socio-Historical Background.» John Benjamins, 2002, Amsterdam.
- Ballard, Kim. «The Frameworks of English: Introducing Language Structures,» 3rd ed. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, Basingstoke, UK, New York.
- Declerck, Renaat; Reed, Susan, and Cappelle, Bert. «The Grammar of the English Tense System: A Comprehensive Analysis.» Mouton de Gruyter, 2006, Berlin, New York.
- Hurford, James R. «Grammar: A Student’s Guide.» Cambridge University Press, 1994, Cambridge.
- Biber, Douglas; Conrad, Susan; and Leech, Geoffrey. «Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English.» Longman, 2002, London.
Phrase definition: A phrase is a grammatical term referring to a group of words that does not include a subject and verb.
What is a Phrase? Examples, Definitions
What are phrases? A phrase is a group (or pairing) of words in English. A phrase can be short or long, but it does not include the subject-verb pairing necessary to make a clause.
Some examples of phrases include:
- after the meal (prepositional phrase)
- the nice neighbor (noun phrase)
- were waiting for the movie (verb phrase)
None of these examples contains a subject doing an action (subject-verb). Therefore, each example is merely a group of words called a phrase.
A phrase will always be more than one word.
Phrases vs. Clauses: a Hierarchy of Word Units
A phrase is any group of words that does not contain a subject completing an action.
When a group of words contains a subject doing an action (subject-verb), it becomes a clause.
Phrases can be added to sentences to make them more complex.
Concepts can begin with a single word and develop into a compound sentence.
Example:
- meal (word)
- after the meal (phrase)
- that mom prepared (clause)
- After the meal that mom prepared I felt full. (sentence)
- After the meal that mom prepared, I felt full because I ate too much. (complex sentence)
- After the meal that mom prepared I felt full, but my brother was still hungry. (compound sentence)
Before we go into different types of grammatical phrases, let’s look at a few more examples of phrases.
- In the air (prepositional phrase)
- Beside the bed (prepositional phrase)
- Along the road (prepositional phrase)
- To live and breathe (infinitive phrase)
- Looking stunning (participle phrase)
As you can see, English phrases can be just about any combination of words so long as they do not contain a subject-verb pairing.
Different Types of Phrase
What is a noun phrase? Noun phrases consist of a noun and its modifiers.
- the nice neighbor
- a soft, comfortable bed
What is a verb phrase? Verb phrases consist of a verb and its modifiers.
- were waiting for the movie
- felt a prick on his arm
What is an adverbial phrase? Adverbial phrases are phrases that act as adverbs. They modify verbs, adverbs, or adjectives.
- around the block (modifying where)
- after the meal (modifying when)
- in silence (modifying how)
What is a gerund phrase? Gerund phrases are essentially noun phrases that begin with a gerund.
- running through the woods
- jumping like a kangaroo
What is an infinitive phrase? Infinitive phrases begin with a verb infinitive and include any modifiers. Infinitive phrases function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.
- to run out of food
- to visit to the countryside
What is an appositive phrase? An appositive is essentially a noun phrase but one that renames another noun in the sentence.
- The tree, a tall redwood, was beautiful.
- The curtains were made of lace, a beautiful and delicate fabric.
What is a participle phrase? A participle phrase begins with a present (-ing) or past (-ed) participle. A participle phrase includes the participle and its modifiers. Participle phrases function as adjectives.
- The girls giggling and playing in the park never seemed to tire.
- Fatigued and dehydrated in the desert the men traveled on.
What is a prepositional phrase? A prepositional phrase is a group of words that includes a preposition and a noun. A prepositional phrase will function as either an adjective or an adverb.
- before church
- under the stairs
What is an absolute phrase? An absolute phrase includes a noun and a participle and any modifiers.
- the flag flying at half-mast
- her hair streaked with sunlight
Summary: What are Phrases?
Define phrase: The definition of phrase is any grouping of words that does not contain a subject and a verb. A phrase is a very basic word unit in English.
- Phrases Examples:
- Reading a book
- The tall basketball player
Contents
- 1 What is a Phrase? Examples, Definitions
- 2 Phrases vs. Clauses: a Hierarchy of Word Units
- 3 More Phrase Examples
- 4 Different Types of Phrase
- 5 Summary: What are Phrases?
Have you ever wondered why we use particular words to communicate things and how we make them make sense? Grammar refers to the structure of a language, particularly how words are put together in different ways to express meaning. Words don’t stand alone; they are combined to form phrases (then clauses and then sentences). But what are the different types of phrases?
Fig 1. Types of phrases are an important part of English grammar
Types of phrases in grammar
There are several types of phrases in English grammar. A phrase is a group of words that form what the dictionary calls ‘a conceptual unit’ (an idea contained in a few words). Phrases normally form parts of clauses. A phrase is not a sentence on its own. The important thing to not is that phrases do not make sense on their own as they do not have a subject and predicate.
What are the different types of phrases?
Some different types of grammatical phrases are as follows:
-
Noun phrase
-
Adjective phrase
-
Adverb phrase
-
Verb phrase
-
Prepositional phrase
It is helpful to remember that phrases can include other phrases within them. There can also be more than one of the same phrases in a single sentence.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these types of phrases. But, before we do that, and in case you need a reminder…
A noun = a word that is used to name something, such as an object, place, person, idea etc. For example, ‘desk’, ‘city’, ‘woman’, ‘love’.
An adjective = a word that describes a noun or pronoun. For example, in the sentence “the cat is grey”, the adjective is ‘grey’ and it is used to describe the noun (the cat).
A verb = a word that describes an action or state. For example, in the sentence “the teacher writes on the board” the verb is ‘writes’ as it indicates the action. In the sentence “the ball is rolling down the hill”, the auxiliary verb ‘is’ indicates the tense of the sentence, and the main verb ‘rolling’ expresses the action.
An adverb = a word that describes a verb, adjective, another adverb or a whole sentence. For example, in the sentence “she walks slowly” the adverb is ‘slowly’ as it adds information about the verb. In the sentence “he is really tall”, the adverb is ‘really’ as it adds information about the adjective.
A preposition = a word or group of words that indicate where things are in relation to one another. This can refer to direction, time, location and spatial relationships. For example, words like ‘on’, ‘in’, ‘under’, ‘over’, ‘before’, ‘after’.
Okay, let’s continue to look at the different types of phrases…
Examples of the different types of phrases
Below you will see some examples along with the different types of phrases so you can easily make sense of a sentence in the future.
Noun phrase
A noun phrase is a group of words that consists of a noun (or pronoun eg. he, she, it) and other words that modify the noun. Modifiers can refer to articles (a/an/the), quantifiers (some, a lot, a little), demonstratives (this, that, those), possessives (his, her, their), adjectives or adverbs.
Noun phrases are used to give more information about a noun. They can function as the subject, object or complement of a sentence.
Noun phrase examples
Here are some examples of the types of phrases known as noun phrases.
In the sentence:
“Your black cat is always outside.”
The noun phrase is
“Your black cat.”
It is used to add detail to the sentence, by indicating the subject (cat) and describing it (a cat that is black and belongs to someone).
In the sentence:
“I saw a scary movie at midnight.”
The noun phrase is:
“A scary movie.”
It is used to indicate the object of the sentence (a movie) and provide a description of it (scary).
It has been argued that a noun phrase CAN consist of only one word, which would be either a noun or pronoun.
“Beth is walking home from school”.
Here, Beth is the only noun in the sentence, so it can be considered a one-word noun phrase.
Adjective phrase
An adjective phrase (also known as an adjectival phrase) is a type of phrase which is a group of words that consists of an adjective and other words that modify or complement it. Adjective phrases have the purpose of an adjective and are used to describe or add more detail to a noun/pronoun. They can come before or after a noun.
Adjective phrase examples
Here are some examples of adjective phrases.
In the sentence
“The man with short hair is running in the park.”
The adjective phrase is
“Short hair.”
It appears after the noun and is used to provide more detail about the noun (the man).
In the sentence:
“I ate some sugar-coated
doughnuts.”
The adjective phrase is:
“Sugar-coated.”
It appears before the noun and is used to provide more information about the noun (doughnut) — it describes what they were like (sugar-coated).
Adverb phrase
An adverb phrase (also known as an adverbial phrase) is a group of words that consists of an adverb and often other modifiers. They have the function of an adverb in a sentence and are used to modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. They can appear before or after the elements they modify.
Adverb phrase examples
Here are some examples of adverb phrases.
In the sentence:
“I go to the gym every weekend.”
The adverb phrase is:
“Every weekend.”
It gives more information about how often the action takes place.
In the sentence:
“He very carefully lifted the trophy.”
The adverb phrase is:
“Very carefully.”
It gives more detail about how the action (lifted) is carried out.
Verb phrase
A verb phrase is a group of words that consists of a head (main) verb and other verbs such as copular verbs (verbs that join the subject to the subject complement ie., seems, appears, tastes) and auxiliaries (helping verbs ie., be, do, have). It can also include other modifiers. A verb phrase has the function of a verb in a sentence.
Verb phrase examples
Here are some examples of verb phrases.
In the sentence:
“Dave was walking his dog.”
The verb phrase is:
“Was walking.”
It consists of the auxiliary verb ‘was’, which indicates the tense of the sentence, and the main verb ‘walking’, which indicates the action.
In the sentence:
“She will go to the party tonight.”
The verb phrase is:
“Will go.”
It consists of the modal verb ‘will’, which indicates a degree of certainty, and the main verb ‘go’ which indicates the future action.
Fig 2. ‘She will go to the party’ contains the verb phrase ‘will go’
Prepositional phrase
A prepositional phrase is a group of words that consists of a preposition and an object. It can also include other modifiers, but these are not essential. A prepositional phrase can either act as an adjective or adverb in a sentence. It is used to modify nouns and verbs and gives information about the relationships between subjects and verbs.
Prepositional phrase examples
Here are some examples of prepositional phrases.
In the sentence:
“The rat runs into the box.”
The prepositional phrase is:
“Into the box.”
It gives information about where the subject (the rat) goes.
In the sentence:
“The cut on my leg is painful.”
The prepositional phrase is:
“On my leg.”
It gives information about where the subject (the cut) is situated.
Types of Phrases — Key takeaways
- A phrase is a group of words that add meaning to a sentence. The different types of phrases include: noun phrase, adjective phrase, adverb phrase, verb phrase, and prepositional phrase.
- A noun phrase is a group of words that consists of a noun (or pronoun) and other words that modify the noun. It adds information about the noun.
- An adjective phrase is a group of words that consists of an adjective and other words that modify or complement it. It is used to add detail to a noun.
- An adverb phrase is a group of words that consists of an adverb and often its modifiers. It functions as an adverb in a sentence, with the purpose of modifying verbs, adjectives or other adverbs.
- A verb phrase is a group of words that consists of the main verb and other verbs (such as copulas and auxiliaries). It can also include other modifiers.
- A prepositional phrase is a group of words that acts as either an adjective or adverb in a sentence. It consists of a preposition and an object, and can also include other modifiers.
Phrase: Definition, Types & Examples
What is Phrase?
Phrases and clauses are the most important elements of English grammar. Phrase and clause cover everything a sentence has. Clauses are the center of sentences and phrases strengthen the sentences to become meaningful. If the clauses are the pillars of a building, the phrases are the bricks. A phrase usually is always present within a clause, but a phrase cannot have a clause in it.
The basic difference between a clause and a phrase is that a clause must have a finite verb and a phrase must not.
A phrase, therefore, is a group of words which has no finite verb in it and acts to complete the sentence for making it meaningful.
“A phrase is a small group of words that form a meaningful unit within a clause.” -Oxford Dictionary
“In linguistic analysis, a phrase is a group of words (or possibly a single word) that functions as a constituent in the syntax of a sentence, a single unit within the grammatical hierarchy.” — Osborne, Timothy, Michael Putnam, and Thomas Gross (2011)
Phrase Examples
Types of Phrases
The phrases are generally of several types.
- Noun Phrase
- Adjective Phrase
- Adverbial Phrase
- Prepositional Phrase
- Conjunctional Phrase
- Interjectional Phrase
- Absolute Phrase
- Appositive Phrase
- Participle Phrase
- Gerund Phrase
- Infinitive Phrase
Noun Phrase
It is usually assembled centering a single noun and works as a subject, an object or a complement in the sentence.
Example:
- I like to swing the bat hard when I am at the crease. (An object)
- Reading novels is a good habit. (A subject)
- The probability of happening that match is not much. (A subject)
- We are sorry for her departure.
Adjective Phrase
It is comprised of an adjective and works as a single adjective in the sentence.
Example:
- Alex is a well-behaved man.
- He is a man of friendly nature.
- Julie is a woman of gorgeous style.
- She leads a very interesting life.
- A lot of people do not sleep at night.
Adverbial Phrase
It modifies the verb or the adjective and works as an adverb in the sentence.
Example:
- The horse runs at a good speed.
- I was in a hurry then.
- I ran as fast as possible.
- He works very slowly.
Prepositional Phrase
It always begins with a preposition and connects nouns.
Example:
- He sacrificed his life for the sake of his country.
- In the end, we all have to die.
- He is on the way.
- By working aimlessly, you will not get success.
- In spite of working hard, he was insulted by his boss.
Note: Prepositional phrases include all other types of phrases.
Conjunctional Phrase
A conjunctional phrase works as a conjunction in the sentence.
Example:
- As soon as you got in, he went out.
- We have to work hard so that we can win the next match.
- I will attend the ceremony provided that you come.
- John started working early in order that he could finish early.
Interjectional Phrase
Interjections that have more than one word are called interjectional phrases.
Example:
- What a pity! He is dead.
- What a pleasure! I won the first prize.
- Oh please! Don’t say that again.
Absolute Phrase
The phrases containing Noun or Pronoun accompanied by a participle and necessary modifiers if any are stated as Absolute Phrases. They modify indefinite classes and are also called Nominative Phrases.
Examples:
- Weather permitting, I will join the party.
- God willing, he’ll pass the test this time.
- The hot Summer sun having set, we left for the movie
Appositive Phrase
An appositive is a Noun or Pronoun often accompanied by modifiers that sit beside another Noun or Pronoun to describe it. An Appositive Phrase is a set of words containing an Appositive and it follows or precedes the Noun or Pronoun it identifies or explains.
Examples:
- My school friend, Brooks always bunked classes.
- His colleague, Mr. Robinson likes his tea.
- Jeremy, the police officer on duty, wrote the speeding ticket.
Participle Phrase
It is made of a participle, its modifier(s) and/or the objects that complete the sense of the sentence.
Examples:
- Walking fast, I keep looking left and right.
- Climbing the stairs, she waved at us.
- I looked back, starting the engine.
Gerund Phrase
These contain a Gerund, its modifier(s) and the other necessary elements. They function as Nouns just like Gerunds themselves and that means they can be Subjects and Objects of the sentences.
Examples:
- Eating plenty of grapes in one sitting is a bad idea.
- Doing the dishes gives me cold allergies.
- I hate hurrying right before the deadline.
Infinitive Phrase
These are comprised of infinitive verbs (To + base verb)along with their modifiers and/or complements.
Examples:
- We love to cook together.
- He likes to solve math problems too much.
- Rina walks fast to be there on time.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In grammar, a phrase—called expression in some contexts—is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression «the very happy squirrel» is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase «very happy». Phrases can consist of a single word or a complete sentence. In theoretical linguistics, phrases are often analyzed as units of syntactic structure such as a constituent.
Common and technical use[edit]
There is a difference between the common use of the term phrase and its technical use in linguistics. In common usage, a phrase is usually a group of words with some special idiomatic meaning or other significance, such as «all rights reserved», «economical with the truth», «kick the bucket», and the like. It may be a euphemism, a saying or proverb, a fixed expression, a figure of speech, etc.. In linguistics, these are known as phrasemes.
In theories of syntax, a phrase is any group of words, or sometimes a single word, which plays a particular role within the syntactic structure of a sentence. It does not have to have any special meaning or significance, or even exist anywhere outside of the sentence being analyzed, but it must function there as a complete grammatical unit. For example, in the sentence Yesterday I saw an orange bird with a white neck, the words an orange bird with a white neck form a noun phrase, or a determiner phrase in some theories, which functions as the object of the sentence.
Phrase trees[edit]
Many theories of syntax and grammar illustrate sentence structure using phrase ‘trees’, which provide schematics of how the words in a sentence are grouped and relate to each other. A tree shows the words, phrases, and clauses that make up a sentence. Any word combination that corresponds to a complete subtree can be seen as a phrase.
There are two competing principles for constructing trees; they produce ‘constituency’ and ‘dependency’ trees and both are illustrated here using an example sentence. The constituency-based tree is on the left and the dependency-based tree is on the right:
The tree on the left is of the constituency-based, phrase structure grammar, and the tree on the right is of the dependency grammar. The node labels in the two trees mark the syntactic category of the different constituents, or word elements, of the sentence.
In the constituency tree each phrase is marked by a phrasal node (NP, PP, VP); and there are eight phrases identified by phrase structure analysis in the example sentence. On the other hand, the dependency tree identifies a phrase by any node that exerts dependency upon, or dominates, another node. And, using dependency analysis, there are six phrases in the sentence.
The trees and phrase-counts demonstrate that different theories of syntax differ in the word combinations they qualify as a phrase. Here the constituency tree identifies three phrases that the dependency trees does not, namely: house at the end of the street, end of the street, and the end. More analysis, including about the plausibilities of both grammars, can be made empirically by applying constituency tests.
Heads and dependents[edit]
In grammatical analysis, most phrases contain a head, which identifies the type and linguistic features of the phrase. The syntactic category of the head is used to name the category of the phrase;[1] for example, a phrase whose head is a noun is called a noun phrase. The remaining words in a phrase are called the dependents of the head.
In the following phrases the head-word, or head, is bolded:
-
- too slowly — Adverb phrase (AdvP); the head is an adverb
- very happy — Adjective phrase (AP); the head is an adjective
- the massive dinosaur — Noun phrase (NP); the head is a noun (but see below for the determiner phrase analysis)
- at lunch — Preposition phrase (PP); the head is a preposition
- watch TV — Verb phrase (VP); the head is a verb
The above five examples are the most common of phrase types; but, by the logic of heads and dependents, others can be routinely produced. For instance, the subordinator phrase:
-
- before that happened — Subordinator phrase (SP); the head is a subordinating conjunction—it subordinates the independent clause
By linguistic analysis this is a group of words that qualifies as a phrase, and the head-word gives its syntactic name, «subordinator», to the grammatical category of the entire phrase. But this phrase, «before that happened», is more commonly classified in other grammars, including traditional English grammars, as a subordinate clause (or dependent clause); and it is then labelled not as a phrase, but as a clause.
Most theories of syntax view most phrases as having a head, but some non-headed phrases are acknowledged. A phrase lacking a head is known as exocentric, and phrases with heads are endocentric.
Functional categories[edit]
Some modern theories of syntax introduce functional categories in which the head of a phrase is a functional lexical item. Some functional heads in some languages are not pronounced, but are rather covert. For example, in order to explain certain syntactic patterns which correlate with the speech act a sentence performs, some researchers have posited force phrases (ForceP), whose heads are not pronounced in many languages including English. Similarly, many frameworks assume that covert determiners are present in bare noun phrases such as proper names.
Another type is the inflectional phrase, where (for example) a finite verb phrase is taken to be the complement of a functional, possibly covert head (denoted INFL) which is supposed to encode the requirements for the verb to inflect – for agreement with its subject (which is the specifier of INFL), for tense and aspect, etc. If these factors are treated separately, then more specific categories may be considered: tense phrase (TP), where the verb phrase is the complement of an abstract «tense» element; aspect phrase; agreement phrase and so on.
Further examples of such proposed categories include topic phrase and focus phrase, which are argued to be headed by elements that encode the need for a constituent of the sentence to be marked as the topic or focus.
Variation among theories of syntax[edit]
Theories of syntax differ in what they regard as a phrase. For instance, while most if not all theories of syntax acknowledge the existence of verb phrases (VPs), Phrase structure grammars acknowledge both finite verb phrases and non-finite verb phrases while dependency grammars only acknowledge non-finite verb phrases. The split between these views persists due to conflicting results from the standard empirical diagnostics of phrasehood such as constituency tests.[2]
The distinction is illustrated with the following examples:
-
- The Republicans may nominate Newt. — Finite VP in bold
- The Republicans may nominate Newt. — Non-finite VP in bold
The syntax trees of this sentence are next:
The constituency tree on the left shows the finite verb string may nominate Newt as a constituent; it corresponds to VP1. In contrast, this same string is not shown as a phrase in the dependency tree on the right. However, both trees, take the non-finite VP string nominate Newt to be a constituent.
See also[edit]
- Clause
- Constituent (linguistics)
- Dependency grammar
- Finite verb
- Head (linguistics)
- Non-finite verb
- Phrase structure grammar
- Sentence (linguistics)
- Syntactic category
- Verb phrase
- Phraseme
- X-bar theory
Notes[edit]
- ^ Kroeger 2005:37
- ^ For empirical arguments against finite VP’s, see Miller (2011:54f.) and Osborne (2011:323f.).
References[edit]
- Finch, G. 2000. Linguistic terms and concepts. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
- Kroeger, Paul 2005. Analyzing grammar: An introduction. Cambridge University Press.
- Miller, J. 2011. A critical introduction to syntax. London: continuum.
- Osborne, Timothy, Michael Putnam, and Thomas Gross 2011. Bare phrase structure, label-less structures, and specifier-less syntax: Is Minimalism becoming a dependency grammar? The Linguistic Review 28: 315–364.
- Sobin, N. 2011. Syntactic analysis: The basics. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Today in this article we are going to learn Phrases with proper examples. To download the PDF of this lesson please find the PDF downloadable link mentioned below of this article.
If you want to improve your English grammar, you need to work on phrases and clauses since these are the most important elements of grammar. After all, a sentence cannot lack them. They are the most essential parts of a sentence. Before proceeding further, it is only fair that you understand what a phrase and a clause really are in English Grammar.
So, What is a Phrase in grammar?
According to the Macmillan dictionary, a phrase is simply a group of words that are used together in a fixed expression. A clause, on the other hand, is a group of words with a subject and a verb. Actually, the difference between a clause and a phrase is that the former consists of a subject and a verb whereas the latter does not.
Clauses can be seen as the building blocks of a sentence, whereas phrases can be regarded as the support structures of a sentence. In other words, clauses allow us to create a sentence, but phrases enable a sentence to be meaningful. Nevertheless, a phrase will always be present within a clause, but a clause cannot be part of a phrase.
Types of Phrases:
There are eight different types of phrases commonly used in English grammar.
These are:
- Noun Phrases.
- Verb Phrase.
- Gerund Phrase.
- Infinitive Phrases.
- Appositive Phrases.
- Participial Phrases.
- Prepositional Phrases.
- Absolute Phrases.
Noun Phrases
Noun phrases consist of nouns and all their modifiers.
Examples of noun phrases are as follows:
- The terrified fox jumped off the edge and crushed on the rock.
- The dental facility recorded a higher number of patients last week.
- It was a story as horrifying as it sounds.
Verb Phrases
Verb phrases are made up of verbs and all their modifiers.
Examples of verb phrases include:
- He was intending for us to succeed.
- She was mad when I did not show up.
- They have been living a lie for such a long time.
Gerund Phrases
Gerund phrases are noun phrases that begin with gerunds (nouns formed by adding ‘-ing’ to a verb, that describes an action, like ‘sleeping’ or ‘begging’).
For example:
- Making out in the rain is fun for many women.
- Texting while driving can be dangerous.
- Talking too much in front of people is not pleasant.
Infinitive Phrases
Infinitive phrases are noun phrases that start with verbs that are in their infinitive forms.
For example:
- To hit the jackpot, you have to tamper with their systems secretly.
- I tried to offer advice, but she was too arrogant.
- She refused to prepare food for days to make a statement.
Appositive Phrases
Appositive phrases restate and define a noun. They are made up of one or more words.
For instance:
- Her favorite hobby, gossiping, pisses a lot of people.
- My car, Mercedes G63 SUV, remains to be my pride and joy.
- My girlfriend, wife-to-be, has never given me a reason to doubt.
Participial Phrases
Participial phrases start with past or present participles.
Examples of sentences are as follows:
- Having won so many fights, Mayweather can be said to be one of the most successful lightweight boxers of all time.
- Broke as hell, life no longer appealed to him.
- Going by the rumors flying around, there could be an assassination attempt soon.
Prepositional Phrases
Prepositional phrases begin with prepositions and can act as nouns, adverbs or adjectives.
For example:
- In the end, we all have to win.
- On this day, he was born.
• In this
season, we are not tolerating nonsense.
Absolute Phrases
Absolute phrases comprise of subjects, but not action verbs, so they cannot stand alone as complete sentences. These phrases modify the whole sentence, not just nouns.
Here are some examples of absolute phrases:
- Backed by the Soviets, the president of Syria continued to be defiant against the West.
- Thirsty, hungry and exhausted, the homeless man decided to turn back.
- Broke and without any other solid military strategy, America decided to pull away from Syria.
Here is a Gist on Phrases:
Although Phrases can be classified as:
- Noun Phrases.
- Verb Phrases.
- Adjective Phrases.
- Adverb Phrases.
- Prepositional Phrases.
Up to this point, I hope everything is straightforward and needs no clarity or further explanation.
If so, let us look at a few examples of phrases to help your understanding.
Let me show you some example of Phrases:
- The dental facility recorded a higher number of patients last week.
- It was a story as horrifying as it sounds.
- He was intending for us to succeed.
- She was mad when I did not show up.
- They have been living a lie for such a long time.
- Making out in the rain is fun for many women.
- Texting while driving can be dangerous.
- Talking too much in front of people is not cute.
- To hit the jackpot, you have to tamper with their systems secretly.
- I tried to offer advice, but she was too arrogant.
- She refused to prepare food for days to make a statement.
- Her favorite hobby, gossiping, pisses a lot of people.
- My car, Mercedes G 63 SUV, remains to be my pride and joy.
- My girlfriend, wife-to-be, has never given me a reason to doubt.
- Having won so many fights, Mayweather can be said to be one of the most successful lightweight boxers of all time.
- Broke as hell, life no longer appealed to him.
- Going by the rumors flying around, there could be an assassination attempt soon.
- I am really disappointed, considering how much I have paid in vain.
- They were looking forward to meeting the actor, having heard so many great stories about him in the past.
- On this day, he was born.
- In this season, we are not tolerating nonsense.
- Backed by the Soviets, the president of Syria continued to be defiant against the West.
- Thirsty, hungry and exhausted, the homeless man decided to turn back.
- Broke and without any other solid military strategy, America decided to pull away from Syria.
- The terrified fox jumped off the edge and crushed on the rock.
Recommended video on Phrases:
Final Thoughts:
If you want to improve your English grammar, you should start by learning phrases and clauses. These are the basic elements of grammar. Understand these examples of different types of phrases and do a lot of phrases exercises until you perfect yourself. With nothing more to add, good luck in learning phrases.
This is the complete overview of Phrases in English Grammar with Examples, I hope you liked this lessons, if you still have any doubts, you can ask me in the comment section.
References [External Links]:
- Phrases and Clauses Examples – SoftSchools
- Phrases and clauses Video Khan Academy
