Adjective Phrase (AP)

In an ADJECTIVE PHRASE (AP), the Head word is an adjective. Here are some examples:

Susan is [AP clever]
The doctor is [AP verylate]
My sister is [AP fond of animals]

The pre-Head string in an AP is most commonly an adverb phrase such as very or extremely. Adjective Heads may be followed by a post-Head string:

[AP happy to meet you]
[AP ready to go]
[AP afraid of the dark]

A small number of adjective Heads must be followed by a post-Head string. The adjective Head fond is one of these. Compare:

My sister is [AP fondof animals]
*My sister is [fond]

Adverb Phrase (AdvP)

In an ADVERB PHRASE, the Head word is an adverb. Most commonly, the pre-Head string is another adverb phrase:

He graduated [AdvP very recently]
She left [AdvP quite suddenly]

In AdvPs, there is usually no post-Head string, but here's a rare example:

[AdvP Unfortunately for him], his wife came home early

Prepositional Phrase (PP)

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES usually consist of a Head -- a preposition -- and a post-Head string only. Here are some examples:

[PP through the window]
[PPover the bar]
[PPacross the line]
[PPafter midnight]

This makes PPs easy to recognise -- they nearly always begin with a preposition (the Head). A pre-Head string is rarely present, but here are some examples:

[PP straight through the window]
[PP right over the bar]
[PP justafter midnight]

Phrases within Phrases

We will conclude this introduction to phrases by looking briefly at phrases within phrases. Consider the NP:

[NP small children]

It consists of a Head children and a pre-Head string small. Now small is an adjective, so it is the Head of its own adjective phrase. We know this because it could be expanded to form a longer string:

very small children

Here, the adjective Head small has its own pre-Head string very:

[AP very small]

So in small children, we have an AP small embedded with the NP small children. We represent this as follows:

[NP [AP small] children]

All but the simplest phrases will contain smaller phrases within them. Here's another example:

[PP across the road]

Here, the Head is across, and the post-Head string is the road. Now we know that the road is itself an NP -- its Head is road, and it has a pre-Head string the. So we have an NP within the PP:

[PP across [NP the road]]

When you examine phrases, remember to look out for other phrases within them.

Clauses and sentences

So far we have been looking at phrases more or less in isolation. In real use, of course, they occur in isolation only in very restricted circumstances. For example, we find isolated NPs in public signs and notices:

[Exit]
[Sale]
[Restricted Area]
[Hyde Park]

We sometimes use isolated phrases in spoken English, especially in responses to questions:

Q: What would you like to drink?
A: [NP Coffee]

Q: How are you today?
A: [AP Fine]

Q: Where did you park the car?
A: [PP Behind the house]

In more general use, however, phrases are integrated into longer units, which we call CLAUSES:

Q: What would you like to drink?
A: [I'd like coffee]

Q: How are you today?
A: [I'm fine]

Q: Where did you park the car?
A: [I parked the car behind the house]

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 865