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Chapter 4: Phrase
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Introduction: structures larger than words We shall be considering the ways in which words are combined to make phrases. Phrase structure The circularity of the system of units and structures in English means that it is impossible to write about individual words and word classes without mentioning their functional roles in larger structure, including phrases. In English, phrase classes reflect the four major lexical word classes, so that there are noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases and adverb phrases, each of which is centred on a head word of the relevant class, and each of which has certain potential additions to that head word to make a longer phrase. The only addition to this list is the prepositional phrase, which is really just a noun phrase with a preposition added at the beginning. Let us consider what makes a structure phrase and not a clause. Single words can form complete utterances. This is true of all word classes, and all phrase classes too, but without the full clause structure an utterance usually needs to include some information from context for us to understand the significance of word phrase that is uttered. Many traditional and more recent linguistic exploration of syntax have concentrated on the structure of more complete utterances that can stand alone and be understood. These structures are normally based on clauses, which have a conceptual completeness that is missing when a phrase is uttered alone. Phrase like words, form part of larger structures and are not usually complete in themselves, without either the rest of the clause or some context that can fill in a clause-like conceptual structure. These are a prepositional phrase, noun phrase and adverbial phrase respectively, and could occur as utterances on their own. However in that case they would be subject to some kind of contextual interpretation. The same phrases, when embedded in a full clause, would not require the same amount of contextual information to be interpreted at a basic semantic level, though context is always relevant to the full interpretation of all utterances. Noun phrase (NP) The noun phrase is the most common and probably the most versatile phrase in English. It is based around a head noun, which is the irreducible core of the phrase and the shortest possible version of the noun phrase. Slippers are the new stilettos. Power made him crazy. Stephen found mould behind the bath. In these examples the noun phrases we are concerned with are only one word long and consist of a single head noun. Most noun phrases have at least one premodifier, usually a determiner: These slippers are the new stilettos. His power made him crazy. Stephen found the mould behind the bath. In English a noun phrase can have only one determiner, which is partly what puts the different determiners (articles, demonstratives and possessives) into a single class. Some languages allow a combination of article and possessive, but this is not permitted in English. In addition to the determiner, the premodification of
the head noun may include, in the following order, a predeterminer (determiner), an enumerator, adjectives and a noun. There is small number of predeterminers in English, most of them concerned with quantification. Predeterminers, as their name implies, tend to occur before determiners, though very similar quantifiers can occur without the intervening determiner. To which subclass these quantifiers belong is open to question. They seem to be like predeterminers in meaning, but they could belong to the class that is mostly dominated by numbers, that is, the enumerators. (table 4.3 page 106). These candidates for membership of either the predeterminer or the enumerator class do not behave consistently with regard to combining with determiners. Some may occur with a determiner, and some may not. The significant difference is that where a determiner does enumerators proper it precedes the numeral. The predeterminer class has a varied expectation of cooccurrence with other determiners, but where it occurs it is the first item in a noun phrase. The enumerator class coming between the determiner and the adjective positions in the premodification of a noun phrase. As well as the ordinal numbers the cardinal numbers are also part of this class. After the enumerator class, the premodification of a noun may include a number of adjectives. There is no theoretical restriction on the number of adjectives allowed in an English noun phrase, though more than three is unusual and a single adjective is most common, except in specific context. A few identifiable subclasses of adjectives appear to have general restrictions on their co- occurrence as well as a tendency to occur in a certain order. The classes denoting colour, origin and material tend to occur after the subclass that might be labelled ‘general adjectives’. These include size, shape and evaluation adjectives. They are not so much a structured class as a miscellaneous group of the most common adjectives that do not fit into the other, more-specific classes. The ordering of adjectives in noun phrases is not a strict rule of the grammar, and is probably a semantic restriction as much as anything, since it is unlikely that we would want to describe the noun head as being of two colours or from two different places. The only way in which these phrases could be made to work would be to combine the meanings of the duplicated adjective class to mean ‘somewhere between’ red and blue, and ‘a bit’ Indian and ‘a bit’ Chinese. As well as not having more than one of each adjectival subclass, changes in the order of these adjectives ca sound rather odd. However this does not mean that they are ungrammatical. ? Those red gorgeous linen Indian trousers. ? Her Chinese long silk green skirt. One of the effects of reordering the adjective classes is that the noun phrase sounds more as though it were being constructed on the spot, with the speaker thinking it through as she or he goes. In addition to the subclasses already explored there is the verbal adjective class, which is made up of adjectives clearly derived from verbs, either using the -ing or the -en form of the verb but behaving in all other respects like an ordinary adjective. The painted wooden boxes. Those poor dancing bears. It is less clear than with the earlier statement of ordering where these ‘deverbal’ adjectives are likely to occur in the premodification of the noun phrase. For one thing noun phrases with lots of premodifiers are relatively rare. Also, some changes in emphasis can be achieved with different orders, as we can see by changing the order of the premodifiers in the first f the above examples. The wooden painted boxes It is also unclear where an origin adjective would fit into the second of the above examples. Those poor Russian dancing bears. Those poor dancing Russian bears.
(as in the poor or the rich). These uses are dependent on the understanding that adjectives are fulfilling a noun-like role, as the head of a noun phrase. Hearers are thus likely to interpret adjective heads as implying that there is a missing noun , people. The combinations of premodifiers are not restricted, except by the norms of length and the difficulty of understanding a very long noun phrase. Another complicating factor in the noun phrase is the possibility of recursion. Because the noun phrase can contain a prepositional phrase that is mainly made up of a noun phrase, there is the possibility of infinity repetition of this pattern. The levels of structure are quite complex, the first noun phrase being in three parts. The second level of structure concerns the prepositional phrase that postmodifies sty. In other words, if the first prepositional phrase tells us where the pig is, then this one tells us where the sty is. The prepositional phrase at this level has a preposition in, and a noun phrase. Pre-modification Head Post-modification The sty on his farm in Wiltshire… The embedded noun phrase has the head noun sty and another prepositional phrase that postmodifies sty. In other words, if the first prepositional phrase tells us where the pig is, then this one tells us where the sty is. The prepositional phrase at this level has a preposition, in , and a noun phrase. Pre-modification Head Post-modification His farm in Wiltshire… This noun phrase seems very simple, but it does of course have one further level embedded within it. The post-modification of farm is a prepositional phrase with a preposition, in, and a noun phrase, Wiltshire. The structure of the latter consists solely of the head noun Wiltshire. It is also possible to do the same thing with relative clauses. Pre-modification Head Post-modification The cat that chased the rat that ae the malt that lay in the house that Jack built The relative clause has a subject, that, a verb, chased, and the rest is an object, which is a noun phrase with the following structure: Pre-modification Head Post-modification The malt the lay in the house that Jack built In this case we have a noun phrase with a post-modifying relative clause that tell us more about the malt. This relative clause has a subject, that, a verb, lay, and an adverbial, which is a prepositional phrase containing the preposition, in, and a noun phrase with the following structures: Pre-modification Head Post-modification The house that Jack built In this example the noun phrase has a further relative clause that post-modifies house, which consists of an object, that, a subject, Jack, and a predicator, built. In the original the noun phrase functions as the complement to the clause, which otherwise consists of only a subject, this, and a verb, is. Let us look at some simpler examples in order to consider an important structure that occurs very often in English, particularly, but not only, in news reporting. In this structure two or more noun phrases are placed in apposition to each other, meaning that there can be more than one noun phrase in one of the normal clause functions and if these have the same referent they are said to be in apposition.
Verb phrases (VP) The verb phrase is the pivotal phrase in English clauses. It fulfils the role of predicator in the clause and effectively introduces a process. Unlike in the noun phrase, recursion is not possible in the verb phrase, and with only a small number of exceptions all verb phrases fit into a fairly predictable and clear pattern. It is important to note that some approaches, notably those deriving from generative theory, use the term verb phrase to refer to the whole of the predicate of the clause, that is, the verb and all that follows it. In the approach used here the term is used to describe only the verbal element of the clause, functioning as the predicator. The first thing to note is that the simplest verb phrase will be a main lexical verb on its own. This is true of the vast majority of English verb phrases, and also of the clauses below. The party started about 9 o’clock My brother always sings in the bath You bring us bad luck! As English has no future tense and things such as voice (active and passive), perfective and progressive, are not built into its morphology, there is a range of auxiliary verbs instead. These precede the main lexical verb and introduce all of the variations of meaning that some other languages include in the form of the verb itself. The modal auxiliaries in English are a subclass with a least the following members: May, might, will, would, shall, should, can, could, ought (to) There are other potential members of the modal class, including need and dare, but these are increasingly falling out of usage as modal verbs. Modality is an important semantic contribution to the interpretation of any text, and it is not found in modal verbs alone. In general modal verbs are responsible for bringing in the speaker’s own opinion about the substance of the clause being uttered, by indicating either how true or how desirable or acceptable he or she considers the circumstance being described. This likelihood or truth of an utterance is called epistemic modality, and its desirability is known as deontic or boulomaic modality. These two aspects of modal meaning can be represented by the same modal verb, with the semantics and context enabling the hearer to distinguish between them.
1. She should be here by now (I know that she left in plenty of time) epistemic modality 2. She should be here by now (it’s not polite to be so late for a wedding) deontic The first example shows the use of should as an epistemic modal, with the speaker indicating some doubt about the truth of the statement. The second example demonstrates the deontic use of modals, whereby the speaker indicates what she or he things is the proper thing to happen. The modal verbs have no formal variation in morphology, and therefore they are always the same, irrespective of the person (first, second, third) or number (singular or plural) of the subject they follow: I should go You should eat He/she/it should play We should sing They should leave More important is the fact that the modal verbs do not occur on their own, hence the inclusion of a range of lexical verbs in the examples given above. It is only when the lexical verb is completely predictable that the modal can stand in for the whole verb phrase. When a modal auxiliary is included in the verb phrase the subsequent verb form must be infinitive form of the verb – one of the non-finite forms of the verb. In the
(they are) likely to come to the party (clausal) In these examples the adjective phrase is the part of the section that is not in brackets and forms the complement of the clause. Adverb phrase (AvP) The adverb phrase is the simplest of all English phrases, being made up of only an adverb and any premodying intensifiers that are also part of the adverb class: … very closely … right slowly … amazingly subtly In general only adverbs that are gradable – normally those deriving from gradable adjectives – are able to be premodified by intensifiers. Other adverbs occur alone. The two major functions that adverb phrases fulfil are as an adverbial in a clause structure or as a premodifier to adjectives in adjective phrases: … very obviously drunk … they nearly always arrive late The first of these examples in an adjective phrase, with an adverb phrase as premodifier. The second has the adverb phrase (underlined) as a clause element, telling the hearer how often the action occurs. Prepositional phrase Although it is quite easy to identify prepositional phrases there is considerable potential for confusion between the two functions of these phrases. We shall now explore some of the ways of distinguishing the functions, as well as some of the possible ambiguities. To take adverbial function first, we have seen that adverbs and adverb phrases are typical forms that function in adverbial roles in clauses. The adverbial role can be summed up as detailing the circumstances in which the action of the clause takes place. This might include the time, the place and the emotional setting and in many cases these circumstances are outside the compulsory structure of the clause: In a moment or two the cortege will emerge from the Abbey.. The adverbial prepositional phrase in this example is not vital to the grammar of the sentence, though it clearly adds information. The other function of prepositional phrases is to post-modify the head noun in a noun phrase: Those children with the expensive trainers… This prepositional phrase elaborates what we know about the head noun, children, and would be part of the section if a pronoun were substituted.
