Text Chapter. 12
Text Chapter 14
Grammar Text Table of Contents

Chapter 13

Phrases as Constituents.

A. The Noun Phrase.
B. The Finite Verb Phrase.
C. Nonfinite Verb Phrases (Nominal, Adjectival, or Adverbial).
    1.  Infinitive Phrases (Nominal, Adjectival, or Adverbial).
    2.  Participial Phrases (Adjectival).
    3.  Gerund Phrases (Nominal).
D. The Adjective Phrase.
E. The Adverb Phrase.
F.   Prepositional Phrases (Nominal, Adjectival, or Adverbial).
G.  The Appositive Phrase.

Basic Sentence Pattern Constituents (as listed in Chapter 4): subject, predicate, verb, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, object complement.  A-F above constitute an inconclusive list of phrase types that can serve as sentence constituents. There is (of course) some fuzziness about what makes up a constituent.  There are all sorts of definitions given for constituents. Remember that I’m trying to avoid such definitions in this text. That doesn’t mean that they are useless, just confusing. You, eventually, need to confront definitions; but do so cautiously. They are jumbled up with barbed wire and cat’s claws aplenty.

All of the above seems like a heck of a bunch of stuff to handle in one lesson. The only thing that saves us is that you probably have already learned most of it in connection with other lessons. Only a few items will require any real discussion time. The rest are matters that you either know because native speakers just don’t make mistakes in these areas or you will have to internalize gradually with extensive experience working with the language.

A.  Noun Phrases: (Determiner) + (Premodifiers) + Head + (Postmodifiers).
The most common problem with noun phrases is our attachment to traditional grammar where we did not deal with them. They were nouns and modifiers making up structures such as complete subjects, subject complements, direct and indirect objects, objects of prepositions, or objective complements. They still are. It is just that in modern grammar, we tend to think from the larger component to the smaller one. Instead of thinking first of parts of speech (e.g., noun), we start our discussion of sentence constituents with larger constituents (e.g., noun phrase). By far the hardest lesson to digest is a simple one: that a phrase can be (and often is) just one word. For instance, if the complete subject of a sentence is just one word, a noun (Dogs love bones.) you might ask: "Is dog a noun or a noun phrase?" The answer is: "Both. At the same time. But we first think of it as a noun phrase, then as a noun." We might note here that some pronouns work just like nouns, and a single one can make up a noun phrase (I like bones.) First, we think of it as a noun phrase. Then we think of it as a pronoun. Several other syntactic structures can also serve as constituents that we normally consider the territory of noun phrases: structures such as infinitive phrases, gerund phrases, and noun clauses to name three. We will speak of some of these below. Noun clauses we will save for another chapter.

The normal form of a noun phrase is as follows: (Determiner) + (Premodifiers) + Head + (Postmodifiers). Parentheses mean that the component is optional. Notice that the only part of the noun phrase that is not optional is the head. That would be the noun or pronoun that is serving as the head of the noun phrase. We won’t get into pre- and postmodifiers at this moment.  Ahead is an entire chapter on modification.

Examples:

Our old dog died. (NP in bold Italics)  our old dog [subject--DET (our) + premodifier (old) + noun (dog) as head]

I buried him.  I (pronoun as subject); him [pronoun as DO]  Note that pronouns usually serve as the entire NP.  Exceptions occur:  The tall one is Bill.  One, a pronoun, is the head of the subject noun phrase in this sentence. Bill is an NP as SC.

The man in the moon is a myth.  the man in the moon [subject--determiner (DET) + N as head + prepositional phrase as postmodifier], the moon [object of a preposition (OP)--DET + N], a myth [SC (Nom)--DET + N].

John sent Jill candy.  John [subject--N as head], Jill [IO--N as head], candy [DO--N as head]

Jill called John a cad.  Jill [subject--N as head], John [DO--N as head], a cad [OC (Nom)--DET + N as head]

B.  Finite Verb Phrases: There are two types of verb phrases.  The most common is the finite verb phrase.  This is the type that serves as the predicate of a complete sentence.  The other type is the nonfinite verb phrase.  It is called nonfinite because it does not contain a finite verb phrase marker of the sort discussed in Chapter 18.  Also, it is not  used as the predicate of a sentence. It appears without a subject  and is nominal, adjectival, or adverbial.  

    Finite Verb Phrases:  AUX + Head + (Complements/Objects) + (Adverbial Modifiers).

Note about adverbial modifiers: Usually, modifiers stay where they are lodged in the formula; but in the case of adverbials, they are moveable, so they might be located anywhere in the sentence that they please to reside. This is one thing that makes adverb phrases and clauses (verb modifiers) so hard to identify and to understand.

The head of a verb phrase is the main verb. The AUX will be discussed in a later chapter. Here, we will only indicate that the AUX contains finite verb phrase marker (usually called tense) and what are usually referred to as helper or auxiliary verbs. Notice that the only required parts of the finite verb phrase are the AUX and the Head.  Modification will be discussed at length in a later chapter. Note that complements and objects (SCs, DOs, OCs, etc.) are considered here to be part of the verb phrase. That is a feature of T-G grammar.  It is important for you to realize that sentence constituents are often embedded in other sentence constituents. Such is the case with objects and complements as parts of verb phrases.  There is no need for us to see examples of finite verb phrases here.  You need only look at the predicates of any of the examples of basic sentence pattern sentences in chapters 6-12. They contain a good variety of what makes up the unelaborated finite verb phrase.

C.  Nonfinite Verb Phrases: (AUX) + Head + (Complement/Objects) + (Adverbial Modifiers).

Verb phrases that have no finite verb phrase (tense) marker (see Chapter 18) are called nonfinite. Their formula is similar to that of a finite verb phrase except that the AUX, because there is no finite verb phrase marker, becomes optional. They are of three types: infinitive phrases, participial phrases , and gerund phrases. Nonfinite phrases are  modifiers or nominals. Remember well (because it will lead to confusion if you don’t) that nonfinite verb phrases (sometimes called verbal phrases) can have all of the components of any other verb phrase except a finite verb phrase marker (e.g., " Electing Martha, my older sister, president of the senior class August 20^th was a bad mistake." The entire italicized structure is a gerund phrase serving as the subject of the sentence.)

        1.  Infinitive Phrases. Usually, infinitive phrases begin with the word "to." Because of this, they are often mistaken by grammatical novices for prepositional phrases. Of course, you are not grammatical novices, so you will not make this mistake. The only thing you must remember is that the infinitive phrase is a type of verb phrase and follows the formula of a verb phrase, not that of a prepositional phrase. So the word "to" is followed by a verb which is the head of the infinitive phrase. [Note that, occasionally, an infinitive phrase will appear with a "bare" infinitive without the word "to" (e.g., What I do well is eat.   Eat is the SC, an infinitive phrase).  There is no law that forbids such exhibitionism among infinitives. Such tarts!]  Infinitive phrases serve as

adjectival modifiers (e.g., The desire to dance on the dining room table is universal among humans),

as adverbial modifiers (e.g., We are happy to dance),

or in nominal roles (e.g., To dance is necessary).

        2.  Participial Phrases. The participial phrase is adjectival.   That is, in nearly any place in a sentence where you could use an adjective phrase, you can use a participial phrase. Participles are verbs that end in –ed or –ing (or, occasionally, with other endings that mean the same things). They are often found as a part of finite verb phrases. The participial phrases we are speaking of, however, never serve in that function. Here are several examples of participial phrases in uncomplicated sentences.

The football player, beaten to the turf by his opponent, arose slowly. (postmodifier of an NP. Notice that –en sometimes takes the place of –ed.)

                    The sweetly singing maiden leaped over the stream. (premodifier in an NP.)   

                    The flower floating in the water is a lily. (Postmodifier in an NP)

        3.  Gerund Phrases. Gerund phrases are much like participial phrases. They are differentiated  by their usage. They serve as nominals. The head of the gerund phrase almost always ends in –ing. Knowing this, you should have little need for explanation, only examples:

                    Eating is living. (eating: gerund phrase as subject; living: gerund phrase as SC)

The real thrill of waking up in the morning is jumping into a cold shower. (waking up in the morning: gerund phrase as object of a preposition; jumping into a cold shower: gerund phrase as SC)

D.  Adjective Phrases: (Intensifier or Degree Adverb) + Head + (Postmodifiers)
Calling these adjective phrases instead of just adjectives is something of a stretch according to some grammarians. On the other hand, realizing that they are, indeed, phrases is important to our understanding of just how coherent and organized our language really is (even if we occasionally experience it as a chaos of fuzziness).

You have a new word here: intensifier. In traditional grammar, intensifiers were passed over as being merely adverbs. Modern grammarians have realized, however, that they don’t act like adverbs except in what they modify (adjectives and adverbs). For one thing, they are not moveable like adverbs. For a second thing, they normally can’t be modified by other intensifiers. Also, they can't serve as adverb phrases.  The list of intensifiers is relatively short (though mine is not conclusive): very, only, more, most, too, rather, quite. There is another list of words that act like intensifiers. These are called degree adverbs: I won’t list nearly all of these but here are three: extremely, reasonably, somewhat. You get the idea. Think "degree."  There is a really fuzzy area between intensifiers and degree adverbs.  Don't be surprised if you can't always tell the difference.

The head of an adjective phrase is (like, you know, duh!) an adjective.

This head adjective may be followed by a variety of modifiers, most commonly adverb phrases or prepositional phrases. Prepositional phrases used thus are adverbial. Here are some examples of adjective phrases in sentences:

The teacher gave a very difficult test. (very: intensifier; difficult: head adjective. This adjective phrase is a premodifier in an NP.)

The policeman was totally unaware of any crime. (totally: degree adverb; unaware: head adjective; of any crime: prepositional phrase as postmodifier. Here the adjective phrase is an SC.)

Men are often unaware that they have offended their wives. (often: degree adverb; unaware: head adjective; that they have offended their wives: adverb (subordinate) clause as adverbial modifier of head adjective. This adjective phrase, again, is an SC.)

The caller, hesitant to begin the square-dance, sat in the corner. (hesitant: head adjective; to begin the square-dance: infinitive phrase as adverbial postmodifier. This adjective phrase is a postmodifier of "caller." This sort of modifier is also called a free modifier because it is free to be placed in other parts of the sentence at the whim of the writer or speaker (e.g., "Hesitant to begin the square-dance, the caller sat in the corner," or, "The caller sat in the corner, hesitant to begin the square-dance." )

E.  Adverb Phrases. Formula: (Intensifier) + Head + (Postmodifiers)
This is the simplest of the phrases, yet it is probably the hardest for students to recognize consistently in written text. The biggest reason for this is the moveability of adverb phrases (e.g., "The rocks were moved quickly," or "Quickly, the rocks were moved," or " The rocks were quickly moved.") We usually recognize a modifier by its relative closeness to the structure it modifies. But, as you can see in the above example, adverb phrases often sneak away from the words they modify to some remote part of the sentence. Too bad. They are still adverb phrases. (Note, however, that an adverb phrase moved to another part of the sentence is often set off with one or more commas.) Samples:

The boxer landed very softly on his back. (very: intensifier; softly: head adverb. The phrase modifies the verb "landed."  Notice that the prepositional phrase, "on his back" also modifies the verb "landed.")

The poorly dressed beggar ate the bread hungrily. (poorly: head adverb, modifies the adjective "dressed"; hungrily: head adverb, modifies the verb "ate.")  Notice that "poorly dressed" could also be called a participial phrase.  Participles often become so common in adjectival use that, in that context, they are simply referred to as adjectives.)

Slowly, the trolley climbed the hill. (slowly: head adverb, modifies the verb, "climbed.")

Unfortunately for Rebecca, we had already left the station.  This example contains a postmodifying prepositional phrase.

F.  Prepositional Phrases: Head + Object.
Consider the sentence: Under the bed is a dusty place to hide. Here, a  prepositional phrase appears to serve as the subject.  We normally think of a prepositional phrase serving an adjectival or adverbial function. That’s why it pays not to take grammatical definitions too seriously. Fuzzy is fun! Usually, though, prepositional phrases are easy to spot. They are headed by words that commonly serve as prepositions (of which there is a list in English of 40 or 50, eight or ten of which are common, and a few words not on the list are occasionally used as prepositions). Most prepositional phrases can be arranged around some sort of mnemonic device. My favorite is prepositional phrase mountain: over the mountain, under the mountain, by the mountain, in the mountain, etc. Keep in mind, though, that such a device is fallible. For instance, it doesn’t include that most common of prepositions: of. It also misses out on a number of other prepositions that don’t have anything to do with relative position to an object. Perhaps most important is the danger in teaching prepositions through such devices is that students will think of the words they generate as always being prepositions, which they aren't.  Consider for instance the word "to."  which is often used as a preposition, but nearly as often used as the marker for an infinitive.  Following the preposition is its object (a nominal).  

I'm going to be slightly perverse here and say, "If you can't recognize an ordinary prepositional phrase by now, study." 

G. The Appositive Phrase.
A strange duck, indeed, neither fish nor foul, a whale of a problem if you try to examine it too closely. I’m talking about that nominal phrase, set off by commas, which follows another nominal constituent—like the following:

Bill, my brother from Detroit, was swallowed by a great fish, a hungry fish, indeed--one with poor taste.

You get three of them in that sentence.  There are many variations on these. Some of them are not actually appositives. They arise under several different names. I lump them all together as a class of constituent.  The most important thing about appositives is recognizing that they are separate constituents embedded in larger constituents.  Sometimes the failure to recognize these rascals causes grammatical problems such as subject/verb disagreement.

Chapter 13 Homework:  Write sentences (A-G), each sentence demonstrating your knowledge of one of the different types of phrases discussed above as constituents.  Don't use sentences that appear in this book or that we have discussed.  Be sure to identify the type of phrase you are demonstrating in each example.

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