noun phrase

Adjectival phrase The term adjectival phrase, adjective phrase, or sometimes phrasal adjective may refer to any one of several types of grammatical phrase. In syntax, the term adjectival phrase or adjective phrase refers to a phrase built upon an adjective, which functions as the head of that phrase. For example, the phrase much quicker than I is based on the adjective 'quick', and the phrase fond of animals is based on the adjective 'fond'. Such phrases may be used predicatively, as in They are much quicker than I (≈ they are quick) or they are fond of animals (≈ they are fond). When used attributively within a noun phrase, complex adjectival phrases tend to occur after the noun: I found a typist much quicker than I (compare I found a quick typist, where a simple adjective occurs before the noun). The words modifying the head adjective may be adverbs (much quicker, very pretty), prepositional phrases (fond of animals, happy about the news), or subordinate clauses (happy that you came). [1] A different use of the term is for a phrase that modifies a noun as an adjective would, even if it does not contain or is not based on an adjective. These may be more precisely distinguished as phrasal noun modifiers. For example, in Mr Clinton is a man of wealth, the prepositional phrase of wealth modifies a man the way an adjective would, and it could be reworded with an adjective as Mr Clinton is a wealthy man. Similarly, that boy is friendless (an adjective friendless modifies the noun boy) and that boy is without a friend (a prepositional phrase without a friend modifies boy). Under some definitions the term adjectival phrase is only used for phrases in attributive position, within the noun phrase they modify. These may be more precisely distinguished as phrasal attributives or attributive phrases. This definition is commonly used in English style guides for writing, because attributive phrases are typically hyphenated, whereas predicative phrases generally are not, despite both modifying a noun. Compare a light-blue purse and a purse which is light blue; without the hyphen, a light blue purse would be read as a light purse which is blue – that is, without 'light blue' being understood as a unit. Only a light-blue purse would be considered to contain an adjectival phrase under this definition, although under the syntactic definition a purse which is light blue contains an adjectival phrase as well. Although the purse example is based on an actual adjective, this is not generally the case: an on-again-off-again relationship contains no adjectives, for example, and so is not an adjectival phrase under the syntactic definition.         More Phrase Types PHRASES PAGE 3/5 Just as a noun functions as the Head of a noun phrase, a verb functions as the Head of a verb phrase, and an adjective functions as the Head of an adjective phrase, and so on. We recognise five phrase types in all:    Phrase Type Head Example Noun Phrase Noun [the children in class 5] Verb Phrase Verb [play the piano] Adjective Phrase Adjective [delighted to meet you] Adverb Phrase Adverb [very quickly] Prepositional Phrase Preposition [in the garden]   For convenience, we will use the following abbreviations for the phrase types:   Phrase Type Abbreviation Noun Phrase NP Verb Phrase VP Adjective Phrase AP Adverb Phrase AdvP Prepositional Phrase PP   Using these abbreviations, we can now label phrases as well as bracket them. We do this by putting the appropriate label inside the opening bracket: [NP the small children in class 5] Now we will say a little more about each of the five phrase types.   Noun Phrase (NP) As we've seen, a noun phrase has a noun as its Head. Determiners and adjective phrases usually constitute the pre-Head string: [NP the children] [NP happy children] [NP the happy children] In theory at least, the post-Head string in an NP can be indefinitely long: [NP the dog that chased the cat that killed the mouse that ate the cheese that was made from the milk that came from the cow that...] Fortunately, they are rarely as long as this in real use. The Head of an NP does not have to be a common or a proper noun. Recall that pronouns are a subclass of nouns. This means that pronouns, too, can function as the Head of an NP: [NP I] like coffee The waitress gave [NP me] the wrong dessert [NP This] is my car If the Head is a pronoun, the NP will generally consist of the Head only. This is because pronouns do not take determiners or adjectives, so there will be no pre-Head string. However, with some pronouns, there may be a post-Head string: [NP Those who arrive late] cannot be admitted until the interval Similarly, numerals, as a subclass of nouns, can be the Head of an NP: [NP Two of my guests] have arrived [NP The first to arrive] was John   Verb Phrase (VP) In a VERB PHRASE (VP), the Head is always a verb. The pre-Head string, if any, will be a `negative' word such as not [1] or never [2], or an adverb phrase [3]: [1] [VP not compose an aria] [2] [VP never compose an aria] [3] Paul [VP deliberately broke the window] Many verb Heads must be followed by a post-Head string: My son [VP made a cake] -- (compare: *My son made) We [VP keep pigeons] -- (compare: *We keep) I [VP recommend the fish] -- (compare: *I recommend) Verbs which require a post-Head string are called TRANSITIVE verbs. The post-Head string, in these examples, is called the DIRECT OBJECT. In contrast, some verbs are never followed by a direct object: Susan [VP smiled] The professor [VP yawned] These are known as INTRANSITIVE VERBS. However, most verbs in English can be both transitive and intransitive, so it is perhaps more accurate to refer to transitive and intransitive uses of a verb. The following examples show the two uses of the same verb: Intransitive: David smokes Transitive: David smokes cigars We will return to the structure of verb phrases in a later section.