Phrases

Find the subject What is the subject of the verb destroy?

He could only have been chosen had there been no other credible candidate, and Baldwin's performance from the date of the Carlton Club meeting forward had destroyed this possibility.

Baldwin's performance from the date of the Carlton Club meeting forward had destroyed this possibility.

Baldwin's performance from the date of the Carlton Club meeting forward had destroyed this possibility.

Who had destroyed the possibility? Baldwin The performance The Carlton Club The meeting

Phrase Sentence constituents (parts) can be expre

ssed through more than one word. A group of words functioning as one is a ph

rase.

What’s wrong? President the new/ be will/ competent very. SU P SA

Word order inside the phrase is rule governed.

Word Classes and Phrases Noun (N) Pronoun (Pron) Verb (V) Adjective (Adj) Adverb (Adv) Preposition (P) Conjunction (Conj) Interjection (Interj)

Noun Phrase (NP)

Verb Phrase (VP) Adjective Phrase (AdjP) Adverbial Phrase (AdvP) Prepositional Phrase (PP)

Structure of phrases A phrase can consist of several words. A phrase can consist of one word

Convention: the constituents of a sentence are PHRASES.He came in.The goat has come inside the roomNP VP PP

The Head One word in the phrase is more important than th

e rest.

HEAD: The most important word in the phrase. It determines the meaning of the phrase It determines the function of the phrase

The phrase has the same distribution as its head.

little cats with green eyes is same as… (a) little (b) cats (c) green (d)ey

es

I like little cats with green eyes . -> I like …

most remarkably hot is same as HOT [adjective] This is a most remarkably hot day.

[adjective phrase] This is a hot day.

almost halfway inside is like (a) almost (b) halfway (inside) He crept almost halfway inside .

He crept almost. He crept halfway. He crept inside.

Noun Phrase

The Structure of Noun Phrases determiner, pre-modifier, HEAD, post-modifier

det:art premod:AdjP head:noun post-mod:FC The taut ropes that control the sail of a sh

ip

Determiners Central determiners:

a, the, this, that, every, each, no, some Pre-determiners:

all, both, half, double, twice, three times, one-third, such, what Post-determiners:

cardinal numerals: one, ten ordinal numerals: first, second closed-class quantifiers :many, a few, several; open-class quantifiers: plenty of, a lot of, great deal of, a small

quantity of

Pre-modifiers: Adjectives

Black cat

Tiny, black cat

Fearless, tiny, black cat

Adjectives? City life Stone wall Flower pattern

Adjective or noun? one stone wall - two stone walls

very hot * very stone wall hotter *stoner wall

Pre-modifiers: Genitives

Specifying genitive: ownership the boy's book; your son's book

Classifying genitive: kind a children's book; women’s jeans

Kind or property? The old children’s books The two children’s house

Post-modifiers phrases:

the boy ahead; the boy near you finite clauses (FC):

the boy who walked into the room non-finite clauses (NFC):

the boy living next door

Restrictive and non-restrictive modifiers

My friend who has moved to London called last night (restrictive)--> I have several friends One of them has moved to London

Peter, who has moved to London, called last night. there is just one Peter--> he has moved to London

Relative clauses and relative pronouns who, whom, whose: refer to persons which refers to things that can refer to both persons and things, b

ut only in restrictive relative clauses. The boy that I told you about went to London The car that I bought is very good *The boy, that moved to London, returned *The car, that is very good, was expensive

that Deletion that can be dropped if it is not subject. The boy1 that I told you about t1 went to Lon

don The boy1 ___ I told you about t1 went to Lon

don The boy2 that t2 moved next door is nice * The boy2 ___ moved next door is nice

Ellipsis in relative clauses A subject followed by a be verb may be ellipted in

a dependent clause. Where is Sandra, who is the girl who lives next door? Where is Sandra, __ the girl who lives next door?

Dr. Wilcox, who is unable to attend the meeting, will be here later.

Dr. Wilcox, __ unable to attend the meeting, will be here later.

Adjective Phrase Premodifiers: AdvP HEAD: adjective Post-modifiers: AdvP, PP, clause

premod: AdvP head: adj post-mod:PP

Very good at smimming

Discontinuous constituents disc-mod1 head:adj disc-mod2 So good that he may participate in the Olympics

disc-mod1 head:adj disc-mod2 Too good to participate in the local games

Prepositional Phrase Pre-modifier: AdvP HEAD: preposition complement: NP, clause

premod:AdvP head: prep complement: NP Right into the fire

The Structure of Phrases