Phrases in the structure of sentences
Levels of Grammar
We have already noticed that language consists of a variety of levels
of organisation (eg phonetics, grammar). Grammar itself is also composed
of a number of levels. At the bottom level there are words, which
are combined in various ways to create sentences at the top level.
Words and sentences are, in fact, related through some intermediate levels
of structure (phrases and clauses):
Sentences are composed of one or more clauses (or "simple
sentences").
Clauses are composed of one or more phrases.
Phrases are composed of one or more words.
Consider the sentence,
'The students might like this webpage but
I hate it'.
Using round brackets to indicate the phrases and square brackets to indicate
the clauses, we can show the sentence's structure as follows:
[ ( The students ) ( might like ) ( this
webpage ) ] [ but ( I ) ( hate ) ( it ) ]
The sentence thus consists of two coordinated clauses (ie two simple
sentences joined together as one sentence). In the first clause each constituent
phrase consists of two words, and in the second clause each phrase consists
of one word.
Word Classes and Phrases
So far we have distinguished four major word classes: noun (N),
verb (V), adjective (A) and adverb (Adv). We can
use these classes to define four of the five kinds of phrases which occur
in English sentences:
(1) NOUN PHRASE (NP) = a group of words that
has a NOUN as its head (ie as its most important
word) and which functions together as a noun:
a student
the charming student
that grotty little Linguistics student with dark
hair
(2) VERB PHRASE (VP) = a group of words that
has a VERB as
its head and which functions together as a verb:
yawned
had yawned
had been yawning
might have been yawning
(3) ADJECTIVE PHRASE (AdjP)
= a group of words that has an ADJECTIVE
as its head and which functions together as an adjective:
despicable
absolutely despicable
as despicable as possible
(4) ADVERB PHRASE (AdvP) = a group of words
that has an ADVERB as
its head and which functions together as an adverb:
quickly
too quickly
much too quickly
We use the word class preposition to define the
fifth kind of phrase, PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE (PP)
= A group of words that consists of a preposition followed by a Noun Phrase:
in the basket
up the road
down his throat
If we now return to the sentence we looked at above, we can see (i)
its structure again, this time with the phrase types marked, and (ii)
the overall structure:
NP
VP
NP
NP
VP NP
[ ( The students ) ( might
like ) ( this webpage ) ] [ but (
I ) ( hate ) ( it
) ]
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