Card 18

The object of mini – syntax: phrase. The problem of phrase theory in English. Classification of phrases.

Grammar is traditionally subdivided into two different but inter-related areas of study. Morphology and Syntax. Morphology is the study of how words are formed out of smaller units (traditionally called morphemes). The part of the grammar that concerns itself with the structure of phrases and sentences is called syntax. ‘Syntax’, then, is devoted primarily to the study of groups of words in utterances rather than single words and their modifications. Leonard Bloomfield has stated that “Syntactic constructions, then, are the constructions in which none of the immediate constituents is a bound form” of course it is necessary to define what a construction is, in the first place. The first step may be obvious enough, as when the english sentence “This is the pen with which I write ” is broken down into a subject of discourse This and the predication, consisting of the rest of the utterance.

It is an important task in describing any language how major and minor elements of sentences are related to one another. In grammar, a phrase is a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence. Most phrases have central word, which defines the type of the phrase. Some phrases however, can be headless. Phrases may be classified by the type of the head they take.

1. Prepositional phrase (PP) – with a preposition as the head (e.g. in love, over the rainbow);

2. Noun phrase (NP) – with a noun as head (e.g. The black cat)

3. Verb phrase (VP) – with a verb as head.(e.g. eat cheese, jump up and down);

4. Adjectival phrase (AP) – with an adjective as head. (e.g. full of toys);

5. Adverbial phrase (Adv.P) – with an adverb as head. (e.g. very carefully).

The Classification of Phrases according to L. Bloomfield

L. Bloomfield makes no distinction between predicative combinations and any other

combinations.

Phrase

Endocentric Exocentric

Phrases don’t share the form class fo any of it’s constituent. (head).

e.g. beside me, with me.

Jon ran.

Syntactic Group

Close Loose

Не знайшли потрібну інформацію? Скористайтесь пошуком google:

Генерація сторінки за: 0.005 сек.