LANGUAGE STUDY

PHRASE
WHAT IS A PHRASE?
A UNIT OR CONSTITUENT IN A SENTENCE. IT CAN BE A SINGLE WORD OR A COMBINATION OF TWO OR MORE WORDS. WHEN IT CONTAINS MORE THAN ONE WORDS, THESE WORDS FUNCTION AS A SINGLE UNIT AND CANNOT BE BROKEN WITHOUT AFFECTING THE SENTENCE GRAMMATICALLY

PHRASE
e.g

The boy kicked the ball

Determiner Noun Verb Determiner Noun

PHRASE

PHRASE

PHRASE

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e.g

The ball hit the girl

Determiner Noun Verb Determiner Noun

PHRASE

PHRASE

PHRASE

PHRASE
e.g

The girl told the teacher

Determiner Noun Verb Determiner Noun

PHRASE

PHRASE

PHRASE

PHRASE
e.g

She scolded the boy

Pronoun Verb Determiner Noun

PHRASE

PHRASE

PHRASE

PHRASE
e.g

She scolded the boy in the office

Pronoun PHRASE Verb Determiner Noun Prep Det Noun PHRASE PHRASE PHRASE

PHRASE

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Types of phrases
1 2 3 4 5 Noun Phrase Verb Phrase Adjective phrase Adverb phrase Prepositional phrase

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NOUN PHRASE

told the teacher

Determiner Noun Verb Determiner Noun

NOUN PHRASE

NOUN PHRASE

PHRASE
NOUN PHRASE

She scolded the boy

Pronoun Verb Determiner Noun

NOUN PHRASE

NOUN PHRASE

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NOUN PHRASE

Q HOW TO IDENTIFY A NOUN PHRASE? Substitute the phrase with a pronoun/proper noun

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NOUN PHRASE (SUBSTITUTION) e.g The boy kicked the ball He kicked the ball. Ali kicked the ball He kicked it

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NOUN PHRASE (EXERCISE)
IDENTIFY THE NOUN PHRASES IN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES 1 2 3 4 The handsome boy smiled quietly in his room It was an accident Jogging under the hot sun is bad for your health. The buffalo under the house is a female

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NOUN PHRASE (ANSWER)
IDENTIFY THE NOUN PHRASES IN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES 1 2 3 4 The handsome boy smiled quietly in his room It was an accident Jogging under the hot sun is bad for your health. The buffalo under the house is a female

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NOUN PHRASE Rules to remember:
[pre-modifier] + HEAD NOUN + [post modifier] [The] donkey [behind the toilet] smiled at the pretty girls.

Pre = Det / AP / N Post = PP / Relative Clause/ Non-finite clause

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VERB PHRASE (Transitive)

The pretty lady bought the jumper

Det Adj
NOUN PHRASE

Noun

Verb

Det

Noun

NOUN PHRASE

VERB PHRASE

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VERB PHRASE (Intransitive)

THE DONKEY SNORES

NOUN PHRASE VERB PHRASE

THE DONKEY SNORES LOUDLY

Det Noun Verb Adverb

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VERB PHRASE (Ditransitive)

SHE BOUGHT HIM A FLOWER

Pro
NOUN PHRASE

Verb

Pro
NOUN PHRASE

Det

Noun

NOUN PHRASE

VERB PHRASE

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VERB PHRASE (INTENSIVE / LINKING )

HE LOOKS GOOD
VERB PHRASE

THE BOY IS FAT

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VERB PHRASE (Complex Transitive)

THE CLASS ELECTED ALI MONITOR

NOUN PHRASE NOUN PHRASE

VERB PHRASE

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VERB PHRASE (PREPOSITIONAL)

The boys lean against the wall

VERB PHRASE

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VERB PHRASE
RULES TO REMEMBER
1. 2 3 4 5 6 VP VP VP VP VP VP V + NP ( She kicked the ball) SVO V + [AvdP] (She smiles [politely] SVA V + NP + NP (She bought her mother a pen) SViOdO V + NP/PP/AP (She is a doctor / in the hut/ bad) SVC V + PP (She glanced at the naughty boys) SVsC V + NP+NP/PP/AP ( They elected her president) SVoC
( They sat her on the table )

( They made her angry)

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EXERCISE 1
Identify the VERB PHRASE in each of the following sentences. Say/ determine whether the verb is transitive, intransitive or linking verb.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 The bell rings at 5 pm everyday Those children play all afternoon The lawyer seemed nervous Cats catch mice by instinct The room smelled smokey The cynic snickered His answer surprised us Keith caught a cold last week

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i. ii.

EXERCISE 2

Read the text BET CLEAN Identify 10 noun phrases and 10 verb phrases from the text iii. For the verb phrases you identified, explain whether the verb in each phrase is transitive, intransitive of linking verb. (Make sure you identify at least 2 phrases for each type of verb)

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PREPOSITIONAL
SALLY LOOKED UP THE CHIMNEY
NP V P NP

PP Prepositional phrase = Preposition + Noun Phrase

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PREPOSITIONAL
JOHN JUMPED INTO THE SWIMMING POOL
NP V P NP

PP Prepositional phrase = Preposition + Noun Phrase

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PREPOSITIONAL
AHMAD WALKED DOWN MEMORY LANE
NP V P NP

PP Prepositional phrase = Preposition + Noun Phrase

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ADVERB ALI SNORES LOUDLY
NP V AdvP

ALI SNORES VERY LOUDLY

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ADVERB ALI WORKS FAST
NP V AdvP
What are the constituents of this phrase?

ALI WORKS EXTREMELY FAST

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ADVERB
UNFORTUNATELY THE CAT KILLED THE MOUSE

AdvP

NP

VP

What are the constituents of this phrase?

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ADVERB
THE CAT UNFORTUNATELY KILLED THE MOUSE

NP

AdvP

VP

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ADVERB
THE CAT KILLED THE MOUSE UNFORTUNATELY

NP

VP

AdvP

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ADVERB
UNFORTUNATELY THE CAT KILLED THE MOUSE THE CAT UNFORTUNATELY KILLED THE MOUSE THE CAT KILLED THE MOUSE UNFORTUNATELY

* IN THE EXAMPLES ABOVE, THE ADVERB PHRASE UNFORTUNATELY

CAN APPEAR IN DIFFERENT POSITIONS IN THE SENTENCE. THIS TYPE OF ADVERBS ARE CALLED SENTENCE ADVERBS.

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ADJECTIVE
THE FAT DOG CHASED THE GIRL
NP VP
What are the constituents of this phrase?

AP

VP

THE VERY FAT DOG CHASED THE GIRL

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ADJECTIVE
What phrase is this? Constituents?

THE FAT BLACK DOG CHASED THE GIRL

AP
What are the constituents of this phrase?

VP

AP

VP

THE FIERCE FAT BLACK DOG CHASED THE GIRL

What phrase is this? Constituents?

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ADJECTIVE
THE CAT IS FAT

AP

THE CAT IS DISGUSTINGLY FAT

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ADJECTIVE (AP)
RULES TO REMEMBER AP (AdvP) + A

E.G

THE (QUITE DISGUSTINGLY) FAT DOG THE DOG IS (QUITE DISGUSTINGLY) FAT

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Exercise - Study the parts in bold in the following sentences and categorize them as
1. Noun Phrases (NP), 2.Adjective Phrases (SP), 3.Adverb Phrases (AdvP), and 4.Prepositional phrases (PP)
i. The old man ( ) could still see very clearly ( ). ii.The boys are running across the road ( ). iii. The food tastes too salty ( ). iv. The children ( ) are playing in the garden. v. He was walking slowly ( ). vi. He has just bought a beautiful ( ) dress. vii. The lecturer left in a hurry ( ) after he received a phone call ( viii. There will be 400 participants at the conference ( ).

).

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EXERCISE ( CONT)
ix. x. xi. xii. xiii. xiv. xv. xvi. xvii. xviii. xix. xx. The house is actually exceptionally big ( ) for two people. Books ( ) are not cheap nowadays ( ). Beyond them ( ) lay the vast fields ( ). The students of this school ( ) are mostly Malays. Peter is quite happily married ( ) with five children. Time ( ) passes rather fast ( ) during the holiday. The annual party ( ) was surprisingly successful ( ). The millionaire has donated a van to the orphanage ( ). The naughty pupil ( ) has made the lecturer extremely angry ( ). They ( ) are surprised that he could sing amazingly well ( ). The PM is to announce a new salary scheme ( )within a week( ). The seemingly honest man ( ) turned out to be a con man ( ).

PHRASES
Exercise - Study the parts in bold in the following sentences and categorize them as
1. Noun Phrases (NP), 2.Adjective Phrases (AdjP), 3.Adverb Phrases (AdvP), and 4.Prepositional phrases (PP)
i. The old man ( NP ) could still see very clearly ( AdvP). ii.The boys are running across the road ( PP ). iii. The food tastes too salty ( AdjP ). iv. The children ( NP ) are playing in the garden. v. He was walking slowly ( AdvP ). vi. He has just bought a beautiful ( AdjP ) dress. vii. He left in a hurry (PP/AdvP ) after he received a phone call (NP). viii. There will be 400 participants at the conference (PP ).

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EXERCISE ( CONT)
ix. x. xi. xii. xiii. xiv. xv. xvi. xvii. xviii.
xix.

The house is actually exceptionally big ( AdjP) for two people. Books ( NP ) are not cheap nowadays ( AdvP ). Beyond them (PP ) lay the vast fields ( NP ). The students of this school ( PP ) are mostly Malays. Peter is quite happily married (AdjP) with five children. Time (NP ) passes rather fast (AdvP ) during the holiday. The annual party (NP ) was surprisingly successful ( AdvP). The millionaire has donated a van to the orphanage (PP ). The naughty pupil (NP) has made him extremely angry ( AdjP ). They (NP) are surprised that he could sing amazingly well (AdvP ).
The PM is to announce a new salary scheme (NP) within a week (PP).

xx.

The seemingly honest man (NP) turned out to be a con man (NP).