English grammar Syntax 2 phrases

Prepositional phrase II... Prepositional phrase II... Noun phrase• Typically constructed by either a noun or a pronoun as the head & other constituents as modifiers.. • Apart from its he

Week 10: Phrasal structure and

Verb complementation

Key issues

I Phrasal structure

1 Noun phrase

2 Verb phrase

3 Adjective phrase

4 Adverb phrase

5 Prepositional phrase

II Verb complementation

Key issues

I Phrasal structure

1 Noun phrase

2 Verb phrase

3 Adjective phrase

4 Adverb phrase

5 Prepositional phrase

II Verb complementation

Noun phrase

• Typically constructed by either a noun or a pronoun as

the head & other constituents as modifiers

• Apart from its head, all other constituents are optional

• Functions as subject, object, complement or adverbial

NP

Pre-modification

Pre-modification Head nounHead noun Post-modification

Post-modification

Noun phrase

Can be expanded in many ways

(Brinton, 170)

Key issues

I Phrasal structure

1 Noun phrase

2 Verb phrase

3 Adjective phrase

4 Adverb phrase

5 Prepositional phrase

II Verb complementation

Verb phrase

• A phrase headed by a verb

• May be constructed from a single verb or a

combination of a main verb and any auxiliary verbs

• Calls

• Called

• (Have) called

• Have been being called

• Will have been being called

Key issues

I Phrasal structure

1 Noun phrase

2 Verb phrase

3 Adjective phrase

4 Adverb phrase

5 Prepositional phrase

II Verb complementation

Adjective phrase

• A phrase with an adjective as head as in

(He was) so very happy

(He was) happy

• Can be expanded in many ways:

Key issues

I Phrasal structure

1 Noun phrase

2 Verb phrase

3 Adjective phrase

4 Adverb phrase

5 Prepositional phrase

II Verb complementation

Adverb phrase

• A phrase that does the work of an adverb in a

sentence

• Can be expanded as:

Key issues

I Phrasal structure

1 Noun phrase

2 Verb phrase

3 Adjective phrase

4 Adverb phrase

5 Prepositional phrase

II Verb complementation

Prepositional phrase

• Typically consists of a preposition followed by a a NP

or a wh-clause or V-ing clause.

• Can be expanded as:

Key issues

I Phrasal structure

1 Noun phrase

2 Verb phrase

3 Adjective phrase

4 Adverb phrase

5 Prepositional phrase

II Verb complementation

Verb complementation

• Not all verbs can stand alone Below are units that

complement verbs, which are generally obligatory in a clause

Verb

Intensive

Extensive

+ Cs (1)

+ A (obli) (2)

intransitive

(3) transitive

mono-transitive

(4)

complex-transitive

(6,7)

Verb complementation

intensive

(2)

(7)