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Friday, February 17, 2017

Types of Phrases I

Types of Phrases I


A phrase is a group of related words (within a sentence) without both subject and verb. 
For example, He is laughing at the joker.

A phrase functions as a noun, verb, adverb, adjective or preposition in a sentence. The function of a phrase depends on its construction (words it contains). On the basis of their functions and constructions, phrases are divided into various types i.e. noun phrase, verb phrase, adverb phrase, adjective phrase, appositive phrase, infinite phrase, participle phrase and gerund phrase.

Noun Phrase
      A noun phrase consists of a noun and other related words (usually modifiers and determiners) which modify the noun. It functions like a noun in a sentence.

A noun phrase consists of a noun as the head word and other words (usually modifiers and determiners) which come after or before the noun. The whole phrase works as a noun in a sentence.
Noun Phrase = noun + modifiers        (the modifiers can be after or before noun)

Examples.
  • He is wearing a nice red shirt.                    (as noun/object)
  • She brought a glass full of water.               (as noun/object)
  • The boy with brown hair is laughing.           (as noun/subject)
  • A man on the roof was shouting.                 (as noun/subject)

A sentence can also contain more noun phrases.
For example. The girl with blue eyes bought a beautiful chair.

Prepositional phrase.
      A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition, object of preposition(noun or pronoun) and may also consist of other modifiers.

e.g. on a table, near a wall, in the room, at the door, under a tree

A prepositional phrase starts with a preposition and mostly ends with a noun or pronoun. Whatever prepositional phrase ends with is called object of preposition. A prepositional phrase functions as an adjective or adverb in a sentence.
Examples.
  • A boy on the roof is singing a song.              (As adjective)
  • The man in the room is our teacher.             (As adjective)
  • She is shouting in a loud voice.                    (As adverb)
  • He always behaves in a good manner.        (As adverb)

Adjective Phrase.
   An adjective phrase is a group of words that functions like an adjective in a sentence. It consists of adjectives, modifier and any word that modifies a noun or pronoun.

An adjective phrase functions like an adjective to modify (or tell about) a noun or a pronoun in a sentence.

Examples.
  • He is wearing a nice red shirt.                     (modifies shirt)
  • The girl with brown hair is singing a song.  (modifies girl)
  • He gave me a glass full of water.                (modifies glass)
  • A boy from America won the race.               (modifies boy)

Prepositional phrases and participle phrases also function as adjectives so we can also call them adjective phrases when they function as adjective. In the above sentence “The girl with brown hair is singing a song”, the phrase “with brown hair” is a prepositional phrase but it functions as an adjective.