CHAPTER 2

SENTENCE STRUCTURE: FUNCTIONS

 2 Sentence structure
Functions

The structure of a sentence is a matter not only of its but

also the and the of those constituents. You’ll see in this
and the next chapter that these three aspects of structure are closely bound
together.
Sentence analysis is best begun, not by immediately considering the words
in the sentence but by rst identifying the very largest phrases – those phrases
which are the immediate constituents of the sentence itself. In other words,
we’ll be working top-down (from the sentence) rather than bottom- up (from its
words). So my rst illustration of the relation between constituents, their cat-
egories and their functions, concerns the functions and categories of the IMME-
DIATE CONSTITUENTS OF THE SENTENCE itself.

Subject and predicate

To be sure of identifying only the largest (i.e. immediate) constituents of the
sentence I shall, wherever possible, divide the sentence into the fewest possible
parts, i.e. into just two. An example of the simplest possible complete sentence
structure is [1]:
[1] Ducks paddle.

Other such examples are: Max coughed, Pigs y, Empires decline and Martha
smiled. In such cases, we have no option but to analyse the sentence as consisting
of two parts, as in [2]:
[2]

What about more complicated sentences? Recognising the structure of the

sentences of a language is a matter of seeing a similar pattern across a range of
sentences. Take [3], for example:
[3] The ducks are paddling away.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003118916-3 21
SENTENCE STRUCTURE: FUNCTIONS

We want to say that [3] has the same general structure as [1]. Like [1], it can be
divided into two of the same CATEGORIES as the corresponding
constituents of [1]. Furthermore, they have exactly the same syntactic FUNCTIONS
as those in [1] – put another way, the relation between them is the same.
In asking which word-string in [3] corresponds to ducks in [1], we’re asking
which string in [3] could be replaced by the single word ducks while leaving a
grammatical sentence. It has to be the ducks. Replacing that string by ducks yields
the well-formed sentence Ducks are paddling away. In each sentence, both ducks
and the ducks could be replaced by the single word they. And the remainder of
[3] – are paddling away – can be replaced by the single word paddle (from [1]),
giving the well-formed sentence The ducks paddle.
This exhaustively divides [3] into two, as in [4]:
[4] [The ducks] + [are paddling away].

The same division is shown in [5] and [6]:

[5] [Those gigantic ducks] + [were paddling away furiously].
[6] [The mouth-watering duck on the table] + [won’t be paddling away again].

All these sentences have the same general structure. They only differ at a lower
(more detailed) level in their hierarchical structure. At the general level that
concerns us here, they illustrate the same relation and the same functions.
In making this rst division, we have divided these sentences into two
constituents, the rst of which is said to function as SUBJECT, and the second as
PREDICATE.
One way of thinking of these functions is to think of the subject as being used
to mention something (e.g. the ducks) and the predicate as used to say something
about the subject (e.g. that they were paddling away). The subject generally iden-
ti es what the sentence is about; the predicate identi es what’s being said about
it. This is usually a good way of identifying subject and predicate but we’ll see
below there are sentences in which it doesn’t work.
In Exercise 6 of Chapter 1, I raised the question of how sunbathed ts in the
structure of Old Sam sunbathed beside a stream and offered two possibilities.
Each makes a different claim as to what the immediate constituents of that sen-
tence are. In the light of the discussion so far, can you see which is being adopted
here? The answer is given in the footnote below.1

Sentences can be much more complicated than the ones we’ve looked at. In fact,
theoretically, there’s no limit. If you’re in doubt about the subject~predicate div-
ision in more complicated sentences, a simple test can be applied:

1
Subject: [Old Sam], Predicate: [sunbathed beside a stream]. See also Further exercise 3 in
Chapter 1.

22
 SUBJECT AND PREDICATE

Question test for subject:

Turn the sentence into a question that can be answered by ‘yes’ or ‘no’ (a yes/
no question). The phrase functioning as subject is the one that changes its pos-
ition when the sentence is so changed.

In Chapter 1 we saw that the movement of a string of words in forming

a construction identi ed it as a constituent. This particular movement test
con rms that the ducks, those gigantic ducks and that mouth- watering duck
on the table are constituents and that they function as the subjects of those
sentences:
[7]

Now form the yes/no questions that correspond to [5] and [6].

You may nd you intuitively know what the correct subject~predicate div-
ision is without the test. Even so, the test is important because it’s actually part of
the de nition of what a ‘subject’ is. It’s the subject that changes position in ‘yes/
no’ questions. Here are the questions that correspond to [5] and [6].
[8] Were [those gigantic ducks] paddling away furiously?
[9] Won’t [the mouth-watering duck on the table] be paddling away again?

The question test is essential in cases like the following:

[10a] It is snowing again. [10b] There is nothing to eat.

In [10a] it is in fact impossible to think of the predicate (is snowing again) as

being used to say something about what it mentions because it doesn’t mention
anything – it’s an ‘empty subject’ (in technical terms, an ‘expletive’). Notice that
[10a] is not an answer to the question ‘What is snowing again?’, which is an
odd question anyway. The same goes for there in [10b]: there doesn’t mention
anything (it’s an expletive). Nevertheless, it is the subject of [10a] and there the
subject of [10b] precisely because those are the expressions that change position
in the yes/no questions:

[11a] [11b]

Using this test, identify the subjects of the following sentences:

[12] Some nasty accident could have occurred.
[13] The clown in the make-up room doesn’t want to perform.
[14] Elizabeth and Leicester are rowing on the river.
[15] Her attempts to give up chocolate weren’t really serious.
[16] As a matter of fact, the man you paid to do it has been arrested.

23
SENTENCE STRUCTURE: FUNCTIONS

Examples [12]–[15] have the following subject~predicate structures:

[12] [Some nasty accident] [could have occurred].
(Could some nasty accident have occurred?)
[13] [The clown in the make-up room] [doesn’t want to perform].
(Doesn’t the clown in the make-up room want to perform?)
[14] [Elizabeth and Leicester] [are rowing on the river].
(Are Elizabeth and Leicester rowing on the river?)
[15] [Her attempts to give up chocolate] [weren’t really serious].
(Weren’t her attempts to give up chocolate really serious?)

I included [16] to show that the subject doesn’t always begin the sentence.
You probably discovered this yourself in applying the question test. The relevant
question is:

[16] As a matter of fact, has the man you paid to do it been arrested?

This identi es the man you paid to do it as the subject. As a matter of fact
hasn’t moved in forming the question, so it’s not part of the subject. Since it
belongs neither within subject nor within predicate, [16] is one sentence that
can’t be exhaustively analysed into a two-part, subject~predicate structure. For
the moment, I concentrate on sentences that can.
The question movement test will help you avoid taking the rst string
of words that could be a subject as actually being the subject of the sen-
tence you’re analysing. Look again at [13], [14] and [15]. [13] begins with
the string the clown, [14] with Elizabeth, and [15] with her attempts. All
these expressions could be subjects (see [17]–[19] below) but they are not the
subjects of [13]–[15].
[17] The clown refuses to perform.
[18] Elizabeth excels at Real Tennis.
[19] Her attempts weren’t really serious.

The temptation to identify less than the whole of the relevant phrase crops up
in all constituent analysis. In the case of subjects, the question test helps. For
example, if you take the subjects of [17]–[19] to be the subjects of [13]–[15], all
attempts to form the appropriate questions result in ungrammatical gobblede-
gook. In [14], for example, it results in *And Leicester are [Elizabeth] rowing
on the river?
Taking less than the whole of the subject will generally leave you with a residue
that is not a well-formed predicate. For example, if the clown, Elizabeth and her
attempts are taken to be the subjects of [13]–[15] respectively, the following are
left as residues:

[20] *in the make-up room doesn’t want to perform

[21] *and Leicester are rowing on the river
[22] *to give up chocolate weren’t really serious.

24
 NOUN PHRASE AND VERB PHRASE

These don’t hang together as phrases, they don’t form units of sense, and it’s dif-
cult to see what their function could be. They can’t be predicates; we couldn’t
say, for example, that to give up chocolate weren’t really serious is predicated as
being true of her attempts.
In applying the question movement test to the following examples, you’ll
nd you have to modify it slightly. Form the yes/no questions that correspond
to these.
[23] My new duck lays lightly boiled eggs.
[24] Elizabeth and Leicester really love Real Tennis.
[25] The previous hairdresser always chatted with the customers.

The questions are formed by introducing a form of the verb do. For the purposes
of this test, it’s convenient to assume that do is introduced as in [26]–[28],
[26] My new duck does lay lightly boiled eggs.
[27] Elizabeth and Leicester do really love Real Tennis.
[28] The previous hairdresser did always chat with the customers.

and that the questions are formed from [26]–[28] by the now familiar movement
of the subject, giving

[29]
[30] Do [Elizabeth and Leicester] really love Real Tennis?
[31] Did [the previous hairdresser] always chat with the customers?

This difference between [12]–[16] and [23]–[25] is explained in Chapter 6.

Noun Phrase and Verb Phrase

So much, then, for the functions – subject and predicate – of the immediate
constituents of the sentence. I’ll return to functions of constituents more gen-
erally later in the chapter. The question now is: What kinds – categories – of
phrases function as subjects and as predicates? We’ve seen that such phrases can
vary widely in their form and complexity. But all the we’ve looked at
have one thing in common: they all contain, and are centred on, the same cat-
egory of word: (N). They are all (NP). The single words
that can replace them are nouns or pronouns. For example, the ducks and those
gigantic ducks are Noun Phrases centred on the Noun ducks. The clown in the
make-up room is a Noun Phrase, centred on the Noun clown.
The phrases functioning as all contain, and are centred on, a
VERB (V). They are all VERB PHRASES ( ). Predictably, they can be replaced by
single-word verbs. Don’t worry if you’re unsure which words are nouns or verbs

25
SENTENCE STRUCTURE: FUNCTIONS

at this stage. You’ll get an idea indirectly in this chapter and we look properly at
categories in the next chapter. You can assume that any phrase that can function
as a subject is a Noun Phrase.
Why do we need to distinguish between the CATEGORY and the FUNCTION of a
constituent? Well, most categories of phrase have a variety of different functions.
Although we’re assuming subjects are always Noun Phrases, this doesn’t mean
all Noun Phrases function as subject. For example, the Noun Phrase the previous
hairdresser functions as subject in [25] above, but not in [32]:
[32] Most of our clients are missing the previous hairdresser.

It doesn’t change position in the question Are [most of our clients] missing
the previous hairdresser? Here it’s most of our clients that has moved. The
previous hairdresser lies within the predicate [are missing the previous hair-
dresser]. It’s a constituent of the Verb Phrase ( ). It has a function we’ll look
at in Chapter 4.
Below is a list of phrases. Some are Noun Phrases, some are Verb Phrases
and some are phrases belonging to categories not yet introduced. Identify the
phrases – as , or ‘other’ – by combining them (just two at a time) and
seeing which combinations make well-formed sentences of subject ( ) + predi-
cate ( ):
(a) remind me of you
(b) as quickly as he possibly could
(c) heavily salted hamburgers and chips
(d) pamphlets advertising new lms
(e) by the end of this week
(f) suddenly rained from the cloudless sky
(g) are very much in demand.

The only well-formed subject~predicate combinations are:

(c) + (a), (c) + (f), (c) + (g), (d) + (a), (d) + (f) and (d) + (g).
Since (c) and (d) can function as subjects they are s. (a), (f) and (g), which can
function as predicates, are all s. (a) is centred on the verb remind, (f) is centred
on the verb rained, and (g) is centred on the verb are. (b) and (e) don’t combine,
in any order, with any of the other phrases nor with each other, so they belong
to categories other than and .
Now we can include information about the categories of the immediate
constituents of the sentence in a phrase marker, by labelling the appropriate
nodes, as in [33]:

26
 NOUN PHRASE AND VERB PHRASE

[33] S

NP VP

Those gigantic ducks were paddling away furiously

(Subject) (Predicate)

The diagram has the obvious interpretation: those gigantic ducks is a constituent
of the category Noun Phrase; were paddling away furiously is a constituent of
the category Verb Phrase; the and the together form a sentence (S).
In the next few chapters, all our phrase markers for sentences are going
to look like [33], with S immediately dominating NP (to the left) and VP
(to the right). Because I’m concerned just with the immediate constituents of the
sentence itself, and , I’ve used the to avoid giving fur-
ther details about their internal structure. So, the phrase marker in [33] serves as
a partial analysis of all the sentences considered in this chapter – with the excep-
tion of [16], which, as mentioned, is a special case.
A point to note about [33] – and phrase markers in general – is that a spe-
ci cation of the functions (given in brackets in [33]) is not strictly part of the
phrase marker, and is not normally included. This is because information about
functions follows directly from other information in the phrase marker – infor-
mation about category and position. Thus:
The SUBJECT of a sentence is the NP immediately dominated by S.
The PREDICATE of a sentence is the VP immediately dominated by S.
This de nition of subject in terms of the phrase marker con rms that the pre-
vious hairdresser is not the subject of [32]. Here’s the phrase marker.
S
[34]
NP VP

most of our clients are missing the previous hairdresser

In [34] there are two s, most of our clients and the previous hairdresser, but
only the rst is immediately dominated by S. So the most of our clients is
the subject. The the previous hairdresser is not immediately dominated by S
because the node intervenes between it and S. So it’s not the subject.
Without the idea of subject function (of s) and predicate function (of s),
it would be dif cult to know how to begin a sentence analysis. In giving an
analysis, you should always be sure that anything you want to say is a con-
stituent has a well-de ned function and meaning. This goes not only for the
immediate constituents of S but for all constituents. So let’s broaden the dis-
cussion a little.

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SENTENCE STRUCTURE: FUNCTIONS

Dependency and function

In discussing the functions of constituents, we need a little terminology to
describe relationships between them. When two constituent nodes are imme-
diately dominated by the same single node, as is the case with B and C in [35],
[35]

they are said to be SISTERS. As you might guess, since B and C are sisters in [35],
they are the DAUGHTERS of A, the node that immediately dominates them. And
A is the MOTHER of B and C. Fanciful perhaps – but easily remembered!
It’s the sister relation that concerns us here. Sister constituents are represented
at the same of structure in phrase markers. Constituents always have their
functions in respect of their sister constituents. Thus, in each of the sentences
looked at so far, the subject and the predicate are sisters and so gure at
the same level of structure. The (e.g. the ducks) has its subject function in
respect of its sister, the (e.g. are paddling away). And the has its predi-
cate function in respect of the subject . Notice that subject and predicate are
dependent on each other (mutually dependent). An only functions as a subject
in the presence of a sister , and a only functions as predicate in the presence
of a sister . They are both NECESSARY in the structure of sentences.
Anticipating later chapters, let’s take a rst look at the other main functions.
There are THREE GENERAL CONCEPTS here. These are HEAD, and the two functions
that other elements have in relation to heads, MODIFIER and COMPLEMENT.

Head
The HEAD of a phrase is the element that the phrase is centred on. It’s
the one essential – NECESSARY – element in that phrase. If you think of the
phrase as a solar system, then the head is the sun. Everything else in the phrase
revolves around and depends on the head. Just as a system is a solar system
because it’s centred on a sun, so a phrase is a Noun Phrase because it’s centred
on a Noun. Similarly for Verb Phrase. So: it’s the category of the HEAD of a phrase
that determines the category of the phrase.

The modifier~head relation

Consider the structure I assigned to two very silly jokes in Exercise 3 of Chapter 1.
(Since I’m concentrating on constituency and function here, I’m omitting the cat-
egory labels which would be required for a complete analysis.)

28
 DEPENDENCY AND FUNCTION

[36] PHRASE-a

two PHRASE-b

PHRASE-c jokes

very silly

There are three sister relations in [36]: (1) between two and -b (very silly
jokes), (2) between -c (very silly) and jokes, and (3) between very and
silly. The relation that holds between these sister constituents is of the same gen-
eral kind: MODIFICATION.
At the lowest level of structure, very has its function in respect of its sister
silly. It speci es the degree of the silliness, telling us how silly the jokes are.
Very is on silly, in the sense that it’s only present because silly is.
If we omitted silly, very would be left without any function, and we would get
an ill- formed string (*two very jokes). Notice, though, that silly doesn’t depend
on very. We can omit very and still be left with a grammatical phrase (two silly
jokes). This, then, is a - / . Very depends on silly
but not vice versa. This function is called . The function of very
is modi er of silly.
What about the function of silly itself? I hope it now seems right to you that
silly is the head of its phrase. So, whatever the category of silly is, that will be
the category of the phrase very silly. For information – but don’t worry about
it now if you didn’t already know – silly is an Adjective (A). So very silly is an
Adjective Phrase ( ).
The big difference between modi ers and heads, then, is this: in the structure
of a phrase, modi ers are OPTIONAL; the head is the NECESSARY (central) element.
A modi er~head relation also holds, at the next (higher) level of structure,
between the whole phrase very silly and the word jokes. Very silly speci es the
character of the jokes. Again, very silly as a whole is a of
jokes but not vice versa. Very silly is optional (omitting it would give two jokes),
but jokes – head of phrase – can’t be omitted (*two very silly). And the same goes
for the relation – at the next level up – between two and very silly jokes. Two is
the (optional, dependent) modi er of the head very silly jokes.
We might picture the functional relations in [33] as in [37], where the direction
of the dependency is indicated by an arrow, and the functions by M (Modi er)
and H (Head):

29
SENTENCE STRUCTURE: FUNCTIONS

[37]
M H
two
M H
jokes
M H
very silly

As [37] shows, phrases – as well as words – can function as heads and as modi ers.
Compare analysis [36] above with the incorrect (*) analyses in [38] and [39]:
[38] *PHRASE-a

PHRASE-b PHRASE-c

two very silly jokes

[39] *PHRASE-a

two PHRASE-b

very PHRASE-c

silly jokes

Both these analyses should now seem odd to you. Two and very both belong to
categories that have modifying functions. They can’t themselves function as the
head of a phrase. So they can’t have their functions in respect of each other – they
can’t both be heads and can’t modify each other. But in [38], they are represented
as sisters, forming a constituent. So it’s predictable that this supposed constituent
(*two very) is meaningless; it couldn’t be the answer to any question.
[39] is slightly better, but still wrong. Before reading further, decide exactly why
it’s better than [38], and exactly why it’s still not as good as [36].

[39] is better than [38] because two is correctly represented as a (modifying)

sister of -b (very silly jokes). But [39] is still wrong because it represents
very and silly jokes as sisters, so that very is now modifying, not silly, but the
phrase silly jokes. But we saw earlier that very is dependent on (and belongs
with) just silly. Very has to do with the silliness of the jokes, not the jokes them-
selves. The original analysis of -b (given in [36]) correctly predicts that
the string very silly jokes means the same as [40]:
[40] jokes which are very silly.

30
 DEPENDENCY AND FUNCTION

By contrast, -b in [39] is wrong because it predicts that very silly jokes

means the same as the ungrammatical [41]:
[41] *silly jokes which are very.

By the way, silly jokes is another example of a word-string that forms a con-
stituent in some contexts but not others. In the context of very, we need to relate
very and silly to each other before relating the whole phrase very silly to jokes.
So silly and jokes don’t form a constituent in the context of very. In the absence
of very (or any other modi er of silly), on the other hand, silly and jokes may
well form a constituent, as they do in the phrase two silly jokes.
[42] PHRASE-a

two PHRASE-b

silly jokes

The head~complement relation

We have now looked at the two-way function – the mutual dependency – of
subject and predicate and several examples of the one-way function/dependency
of modi er and head. Now look again at the phrase beside a stream (from the
sentence Old Sam sunbathed beside a stream). Here’s the phrase marker. How
many sister relations are there in the phrase?

[43] PHRASE-a

beside PHRASE-b

a stream

At the lowest level of structure, a and stream are sisters and, at the next level
up, beside and -b (a stream) are sisters. In the last chapter I showed that
a has its function only in respect of stream. But what kind of relation holds
between beside and -b (a stream)? Try to determine whether it’s a -
(both elements necessary) or the -
( ) ( ) . You’ll need to consider the
phrase in the context of its sentence, Old Sam sunbathed beside a stream.

The way to do this, remember, is to see if either of the constituents of the

phrase can be omitted individually in the context of the sentence. In fact, neither

31
SENTENCE STRUCTURE: FUNCTIONS

can be omitted. Both [44] (with beside omitted) and [45] (with a stream omitted)
are ungrammatical:
[44] *Old Sam sunbathed a stream
[45] *Old Sam sunbathed beside

Although the whole phrase could be omitted from Old Sam sunbathed beside
a stream, giving Old Sam sunbathed, neither of the constituents of beside a
stream can be omitted individually. It seems (a) that beside requires a phrase
like a stream and (b) that a stream depends on the presence of beside. So it’s a
two-way (mutual) dependency; both elements are necessary in the structure of
beside a stream.
That phrase tells us where the sunbathing took place. It speci es a location.
The location of a thing or an activity is usually expressed by orientating it in
space (or time: after the storm, before midnight) in relation to some other thing,
activity, event or time. We can’t express a spatial location just by means of beside;
we have to specify beside . Now, although beside and a stream are both
needed to express the spatial orientation in this case, it’s clearly the word beside
that’s giving the phrase as a whole its locational character. So beside is the head.
And, just as Noun Phrases are named after – have the same category as – their
heads (nouns), we’ll be naming the whole phrase beside a stream after the cat-
egory of the word beside. See the next chapter (but, if you really can’t wait, it’s
a preposition).
We need to distinguish between the function of elements that relate to a head
in a one-way dependency (i.e. as modi ers) and the function of elements that
relate to a head in a two-way dependency. When a head demands a further
expression, that further (NECESSARY) expression is said to COMPLEMENT the head.
A stream functions as the complement of beside. Notice that a stream doesn’t tell
us something about the head (beside) as modi ers do. What we have here, then,
is not the functional relation of modi cation, but the functional relation of com-
plementation. Complements typically follow their heads in English. Modi ers
can precede or follow their heads, though so far I’ve only given examples of
modi ers preceding their heads.
Look now at [46].
[46] Phil dreads affectionate cats.

It’s a sentence – so, overall, it’s an example of the subject~predicate relation.

Now, its predicate includes both a relation of modi cation and a relation of
complementation. Before reading further, rst identify the subject and predicate
and then try to identify, within the predicate, the modi er~head relation and the
head~complement relation.

32
 SUMMARY

Phil is the subject and [dreads affectionate cats] is the predicate. Within the
predicate, affectionate can be omitted (Phil dreads cats), so it must be a modi-
er. It’s clearly telling us about the cats. So it’s modifying cats. Cats, then, is the
head of the phrase [affectionate cats]. Now for the relation between dreads and
[affectionate cats]. I hope you agree that neither can be omitted. Neither *Phil
affectionate cats nor *Phil dreads is a well-formed sentence. This shows that the
relation between dreads and [affectionate cats] is a (two-way) head~complement
dependency. Since heads precede their complements in English, dreads must
be the head and [affectionate cats] the complement. There’s a more important
reason for taking dreads as the head. You now know that, as the predicate of
the sentence, [dreads affectionate cats] is a Verb Phrase and must therefore have
a verb as its head. If you didn’t already know, dreads is a verb (more on this in
Chapter 4). These functional dependencies can be represented as in [47]:
[47]
S P
Phil
H C
dreads
M H
affectionate cats

With this example, and throughout the chapter, I’ve aimed to show how
constituency, function and meaning are interrelated. Giving appropriate ana-
lyses of sentences in terms of their constituents depends on how you actually
understand those sentences. The meaning of a sentence depends not just on
the meaning of its words, but on how those words are structured into phrases,
and on the functions of those words and phrases. If you insist that each string
of words that you want to say forms a constituent has a well-de ned meaning
and function, that’s a good starting point for analysis.

Summary
Constituents have their functions in respect of their .
There are three kinds of functional relation between sisters:

Subject~Predicate. This is the functional relation between the immediate

constituents of a sentence (S) – Noun Phrase ( ) and Verb Phrase ( ).
It’s a mutual (two-way) dependency – .
Subject precedes predicate .
The movement of the subject in questions provides a Question Test
for Subjects (page 23), especially useful in identifying empty (expletive)
subjects (it, there).

33
SENTENCE STRUCTURE: FUNCTIONS

Modi er~Head. A one-way dependency: modi ers depend on the heads they
modify.
Modi ers are (omissible).
A modi er can precede or follow the head.
Head~Complement. A two-way dependency.
Complements are , needed to complete the meaning of the
phrase.
Heads. The head is the essential – – centre of its phrase.
Every phrase has a head.
The category of the head determines the category of the phrase.
The head generally precedes its complement in English.

Exercises
1. If you know the Rock-Scissors-Paper game, provide a (brief!) grammatical description
of how the winner is decided.

2. Identify the subjects and predicates of the following sentences. Remember to apply the
question movement test in cases of uncertainty.
(a) No one has ordered my lovely prune-and-spinach stew.
(b) Her memory for names was a constant source of amazement to him.
(c) There are too many uninvited guests here.
(d) Only two of the sky-diving team brought their parachutes.
(e) It was Lydia who finally trapped the pig.
(f) The fact that you received no birthday greetings from Mars doesn’t mean it is
uninhabited.
(g) That evening, the new arrival learned the Health and Safety Regulations
by heart.

3. Identify the category of the following phrases (as Noun Phrase, Verb Phrase, or
‘other’).
(a) installed for a small fee
(b) were being given away
(c) too far to drive in a day
(d) obsolescent washing machines
(e) five holidays at the Hotel Mortification
(f) which I had bought only the day before
(g) have made me determined to spend more money in future.

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