Classification of phrases according to the types of syntactic relations between the constituents.
The structural theory of word-groups (descriptive linguistics) divides word-groups into two main types: endocentric (headed) and exocentric (non-headed). The criteria for distinguishing between them are distribution and substitution. An endocentric group has the same position as its headword. The distribution of an exocentric group differs from the distribution of its components.
3 types of syntactic relations within word-groups: subordination, coordination, interdependence. Accordingly, phrases are usually classified into subordinate, coordinate and predicative. Sometimes a fourth type, appositive phrases, is mentioned.
Subordination:
1) agreement (concord);
2) government;
3) adjoinment;
4) enclosure.
Predicativity. Predication. Constructions with secondary predication.
The communicative function of the sentence distinguishes it from phrases and words, which have one function – naming.
Predicativity - the correlation of the thought expressed in the sentence with the situation of speech. Its components are modality, time and person, expressed by the categories of mood, tense and person.
Means of expressing predicativity: predicate verb, subject-predicate group (predication), intonation. Predication constitutes the basic structure of the sentence. A sentence may contain primary and secondary predication. I heard someone singing. The group someone singing is called the secondary predication, as it resembles the subject-predicate group (= the primary predication), structurally and semantically: it consists of two main components, nominal and verbal, and names an event or situation. But it cannot be correlated with reality directly and cannot constitute an independent unit of communication, as verbals have no categories of mood, tense and person. The secondary predication is related to the situation of speech indirectly, through the primary predications.