The Structures of Phrases

- The Noun Phrase -

 Kinds of phrases

Noun phrase. A lovely evening.

Verb phrase. Must have been working.
Adjective phrase. Very interesting.
Adverb phrase. Very carefully.
Prepositional phrase. In his place.
 General points
The technical word phrase is used even if there is
only one word: the main word alone.
very patient : Adjective phrase
patient : Adjective phrase
A phrase may contain another phrase within it
(embedded).
They were sitting in the shade of a large oak tree.
tree
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
 THE NOUN PHRASE
The main word in a noun phrase is a noun or a
pronoun.

The structure of the typical noun phrase may be

represented in the following way:

(Determiners) (pre-modifiers)- NOUN (post-modifiers)

 Determiners introduce noun phrases.

Modifiers are dependent on the main word and

can be omitted.

books Noun
those books Determiner + noun
history books Pre-modifier + noun
some long books Determiner+pre-modifier+noun
books about Canada Noun + post-modifier
some books on astronomy Det + noun + post-modifier
popular books on psychology Pre-mod + noun + post-mod
some popular books on astronomyDet + pre-mod + noun + post-mod
- Determiners
There are three classes of determiners:
Pre-determiners (all, both, half)
Central determiners (a(n), the, those)
Post-determiners (other, two, first)
Examples:
all these other animals

both our two sons

 CENTRAL DETERMINERS are divided into
several subclasses:
1) Definite article: the
2) Indefinite article: a, an
3) Demonstratives: this, that, these, those
4) Possessives: my, your, our, his, her, its, their
5) Interrogatives: what, which, whose
6) Relatives: which, whose, whatever
7) Indefinites: some, any, no, enough, every,
each, either, neither, much, many.
 PRE-DETERMINERS are before the central
determiners.
1) Multipliers: double, twice, three times.
2) Fractions: half, one-third
3) Others: all, both, such, what (a good idea).

All, both, such can occur without a central determiner.

all stations
both children
such jokes
 POST-DETERMINERS: They can come after the central
determiners.
- Cardinal and ordinal numbers:
the three rooms
our first apartment
the first two weeks
- many, few and little:
my many good friends
the little furniture that I have

- The post-determiners can occur without other determiners:

He has few problems.
I saw two accidents last year.
 - Modifiers
There can be more than one pre- or post- modifier in
a noun phrase. Examples:
a long hot summer
acute, life-threatening crises
a nasty gash in his chin which needed medical attention

A modifier may also be discontinous, one part

coming before the noun and the other part after it:
the easiest children to teach
 - Modifiers: The Relative Clause

A common post-modifier is the relative clause.

He had a nasty gash which needed medical attention.

If it were an independent clause, it should be:

The gash needed medical attention.
 Stages of the embedding

A) He had a nasty gash. The gash needed medical attention.

S

B) He had a nasty gash which needed medical attention.

S

Which and who can be replaced by the relative

pronoun that.
 Relative Pronouns.

Relative pronouns introduce relative clauses. They also

have distinctions in gender and case:

Subjective Objective Genitive case

case case
Personal Who Whom Whose

Non-personal Which Which Whose

That That
 Combine the (a) and (b) sentences in each set below by turning
one of the sentences into a relative clause.
1a. The drugs inevitably damage a patients healthy cells as well.
b. The drugs are used for chemotherapy.
2a. Human infants pass through a critical period.
b. The period lasts a few years.
3a. It was a mystery.
b. They could not solve the mystery.
4a. The fundraising campaign has recruited a core of graduates.
b. They in turn contact more graduates.
5a. Most of the bannings of books were overturned.
b. The bannings have recently been sent to the Appeal Board.
6a. I saw a young Canadian.
b. The Canadian was being treated for burns.
7a. He consulted with the leaders.
b. The leaders were released from prison last year.