1. Descriptive Grammar – 2S, 2016 Mrs. Belén Berríos Droguett
Phrases
Descriptive Grammar – 2S, 2016
Mrs. Belén Berríos Droguett

2. Types
For the analysis and parsing of elements in a sentences, we are going to look for six classes of phrases:
Noun Phrase (NP)
Adjective Phrase (AjP)
Adverb Phrase (AvP)
Prepositional Phrase (PP)
Genitive Phrase (GP)
Verb Phrase (VP)

3. Phrase - Characteristics
Main Phrase vs. Subordinate Phrase
Main: direct constituent, no part of another phrase
E.g. [NP(These days) VP(are) AjP(the hardest) PP(during Spring)]
Subordinate: part of another phrase
E.g. [NP(The first day PP(of Spring)) VP(are) AjP(the hardest)]

4. Phrase - Characteristics
Subordination: this can occur of elements of different level as well as at the same level or in some cases, higher (phrase into words or phrase containing other phrases inside them, or even clauses)
E.g. 1) (The kids)
2) (The kids (of the neighborhood))
3) (The kids [who are playing in the street])
Do also the tree on the board

5. Phrase - Classification
As with words, phrases can also be classified according to form and function. During the following section we will study all of the form and some specific elements related to every of the phrases. Also we will be covering the possible functions of certain phrases inside a sentence.

6. Noun Phrase (NP) Function
Probably NPs are the richest structure in thus, they can work with many different purposes:
Subject
Object
Complement
Adverbial
Modifiers of other phrases (subordination)
From the last, we can consider the concept apposition, where two phrase share the same referent or are defined by an identical element
E.g. my friend the psychologist

7. Noun Phrase (NP)
Form
The main element (Head) of any NP is either a Noun or a Pronoun
The typical structure could be simplified into:
(M*) H (M*)
Pre and post modifiers can be of many different nature (determiners, enumerators, other nouns, adverbs, prepositional phrases, relative clauses, etc.)
It is always important to recognize the Head of a NP since this will help us to identify modifiers and it will make an easier analysis process

8. Noun Phrase (NP)
In some specific cases, we can find adjectives, enumerators or genitive phrase as the head of an NP. This is in the case they actually act as the name or reference to an element:
E.g.
The punctual is always a couple of minutes earlier
The twenty answered correctly
Mary’s is a great restaurant

9. Noun Phrase (NP)
Coordination: using and/or we can put two NPs together. In the analysis, we will considered the phrases together and the analyze them separately, leaving out and/or
Later we are going to study some specific notation related to coordination

10. Prepositional Phrases (PP)
Function
In clauses PPs are considered functioning as Adverbial (A)
Usually they answer questions similar to when? or how?
PPs can also being seen as subordinate phrases in NP, AjP, AvP or act as post-modifiers
According to AIGFT, PPs have three functions:
Post-modifier of a noun
Post-modifier of an adjective
Adverbial (as it was mentioned before)
It is very possible the appearance of PPs inside other PPs:
The cat in the house near the park of the city

11. Prepositional Phrases (PP)
Form
The structure of a PP is characterized by the presence of a preposition at the beginning which is usually followed by a NP:
PP= p + NP
In some specific contexts the preposition can be left out, but the purpose of this course we would keep them together

12. Prepositional Phrases (PP)
Other two possible units which can follow a preposition in a PP are:
Nominal relative clause (a clause introduced by a nominal relative pronoun, they function as NP)
-ing clause (clauses beginning with a verb in the –ing form)
E.g.
About what you told (nominal relative clause)
Of listening the same stories (-ing clause)

13. Genitive Phrase (GP) Function Form As pre-modifiers or head of a NP
Those were NPC(GPM(the team’s) NHuniforms)
Those uniforms were CNP(HGPthe team’s)
Form
They share a similar structure to NPs with the exception of the use of the particle `s or s`

14. Adjective Phrase (AjP)
Function
AjPs work as Complement (Subject or Object)
As a subordinate phrase, they can act as pre-modifiers of NP
E.g.
The present situation is problematic
Her friend is someone quite strange
Some nice girls help the old lady
James looks for a job very easy

15. Adjective Phrase (AjP)
Form
AjPs are made of Adjectives as their Heads, which can appear in their plain, comparative or superlative forms (good, better, best)
Adverbs (mostly intensifiers) are the common pre-modifier of these phrases
In the case of possible post-modifiers, they usually are a certain type of explanation to the adjective in the form of PP or NP

16. Adverb Phrase (AvP) Function Form
Similar to AjPs, Adverb Phrases act usually as Adverbials
Form
Its head is an Adverb and its structure is similar to AjPs

17. Verb Phrase (VP) Function
Central element of a Clause, appearing always as the Predicator
At this level, we will considered only tensed verb phrases:
TENSED FORMS
Present
Past Vs V0
Ved
Full-Verbs
Regular
walks
walk
walked
Irregular
eats
eat
ate
Operator Verbs
Primary
does do
did
Modals
shall
should

18. Verb Phrase (VP)
Form
In a VP we will recognize two elements: Main Verb and Auxiliaries, being the second one optional and precede the Mv
Auxiliaries can act in four different forms:
Modal
Perfect Aspect
Progressive Aspect
Passive Voice
Here is a table for the construction of VPs:
Function
Class of Verb
Form of following verb
Optional
Modal
Perfect
Progressive
Passive
Modal Verb
Have Be Vi
Ven
Ving
Obligatory
Main Verb
Verb (V) -

19. Verb Phrase (VP) Relation of Forms and Functions VP  Predicator
NP Subject, Object, Complement, Adverbial
Ajp  Complement
AvP  Adverbial
PP  Adverbial