Phrases

Supervised by: Trainees:

Prof Amine Salmi Hicham El omari
Khadija Ikhrrazne
Samira Amghar
Mustapha Azzi
 Definition of phrase

“In English grammar, a phrase is a

group of two or more words
functioning as a meaningful unit
within a sentence or clause.”

(Nordquist, 2019)
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 Definition of phrase

According to Richard Nordquist:

=> a phrase consists of a headword
in addition to one or more modifiers.
=> The headword specifies the
grammatical nature of the unit.
=> A phrase can be made up of other
phrases. (Nordquist, 2019) 3
01
Noun Phrase Types of Phrases

Verb Phrase Adjectival Phrase Adverbial Phrase

02 03 04

Prepositional Absolute Phrase

05
Gerund Phrase
06 Phrase 07

Participial Phrase Infinitive Phrase Appositive Phrase

08 09 10
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5
01 Noun Phrase

“A noun phrase consists of a noun or pronoun, which is

called the head, and any dependent words before or after
the head. Dependent words give specific information
about the head.” (English Grammar Today)
E.g., => the moon =>
a gold ring =>
the tall blonde woman we met at Joanna’s house => the
longest river in the world => a
feeling of isolation 6
 Determiners
A determiner is an important noun modifier which introduces and
provides context to a noun. Often in terms of definition, quantity
and possession.

Determiners in English precede a noun or noun phrase and

include articles, demonstrative, quantifiers, and possessives.

Simply put, they are words that limits the meaning of nouns.

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 Types of Determiners

Determiners can be broken down into three types

All the twenty-six students attended the language awareness class.

Post-determiner
Central-determiner
Pre-determiner
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 Types of Determiners
Central determiners:

Articles: a, an, and the.

Demonstratives: this, that, these, and those.

Possessives: my, your, his, her, John’s...etc.

Numerals: one, five, seven...etc.

Quantifiers: few, little, many, much....etc. 9

 Types of Determiners
Pre-determiners: all, both, half, six-times....etc.

Post-determiners:
Cardinal numbers: first, second, third...etc.

General ordinals: next, last, subsequent...etc.

Ordinal numbers: one, three, seventy-one...etc.

Quantifying expressions: few, little, many, etc. 10

 Noun Modifiers

In a similar fashion, modifiers help determine and limit the

meaning of the noun in a noun phrase.

There are two types of modifiers. The first precedes the head
noun and the other follows it.

The very young lady on the show was my colleague.

Post-modifier
Pre-modifier 11
 Types of Noun Modifiers
Adjective phrase
Pre-modifiers: Present / past participle
Noun

Adjective phrase
Present / past participle
Post-modifiers: Prepositional phrase
Relative clause
Appositive
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 Noun Complements

A complement is a grammatical constituent that completes the

meaning of the head noun.

Types of complements:

Prepositional phrases: He has published a parcel of stories

Noun clauses: The fact that Bermuda triangle is

just a myth confuses people
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 Functions of the noun phrase

Subject
Direct object
Indirect object Subject complement
Object complement
Object of a preposition
Adverbial 14
02 Verb Phrase

According to Fromkin, Rodman and Hyams (2007), a

verb phrase consists of the main verb alone or the
main verb, which acts as the head of the phrase,
next to other constituents.

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Finite Verbs vs Non-finite Verbs

? 16
 Finite vs Non-finite Verb Phrases

Finite: Tensed

Non-finite: Non-tensed
Infinitive (to-inf & bare inf) / participle (present & past)

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 Complementation of the Verb Phrase

Current copular v. Resulting copular v.

Intensive: be, appear, feel, get, become,
look, seem... grow...

Extensive: Intransitive v. Transitive v.

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 Types of the Transitive Verb Phrases

Mono-transitive complementation: Direct Object

Di-transitive complementation: Indirect Object + Direct Object

Direct Object + Indirect Object

Complex-transitive complementation: Direct Object + Object Complement

Direct Object + Adverb

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03 Adjectival Phrase

An adjective phrase is any phrase that has

an adjective as its head and can occupy the
same position as a single adjective in a noun
phrase or fill in the same slot as a single
adjective in a sentence.
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 03 Functions of Adjective Phrases
Like adjectives, adjective phrases have two main functions :
1. Adjective phrases modify nouns:
 a very exciting proposal.
 a surprisingly easy exam.

2. Adjective phrases function as subject-complement or

object-complement :

 Her proposal was very exciting.

 Let’s consider the subject pretty well closed. 21
 03 Examples:

 Her behaviour was unbelievable. ( adj)

 Her behaviour was absolutely unbelievable. ( adj phrase)

 We considered her behaviour unacceptable. ( adj)
 We considered her behaviour completely unacceptable.

( adj phrase) 22
 04 Adverbial Phrase
An adverb phrase is a group of words that
has an adverb as its head.
She got out of bed very slowly.
She could so easily believed what he was telling her.

 The head of an adverb phrase is the adverb that

carries the main meaning of the phrase :
very slowly
fast enough
more quickly. 23
 The words most commonly found along with adverbs in
adverb phrases are also adverbs, such as:

very, slightly, extremely, really, fairly,

quite, pretty, so, enough, etc.
 These adverbs modify the main adverbs ( the heads of the
phrases) by increasing or weakening their force:

She was behaving extremely oddly.

She was laughing slightly uneasily. 24
 04 Functions of Adverb Phrases
Adverb phrases mostly function as adverbials.
■ I don’t think John is behaving entirely rationally.
(how ?)
■ Quite frankly, I don’t want to know your reasons.
( commenting on the rest of the sentence).
■ She may not disapprove of what we were doing
but even then she may not actually help us.
( linking two sentences or two parts of a sentence).
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05 Gerund Phrase

A gerund phrase is a phrase consisting of

a gerund (ing) and any modifiers or
complements it may have, all of which act
together as a noun.

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 Gerunds function as nouns in the sentence.
Typically, a gerund is used as a "thing" or an
"idea," and gerunds always end in "-ing". They
can function as subjects, direct objects, objects
of the preposition.

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05 Examples:

■ (As a subject )
Reading is my first hobby

■ (as an object )
I like playing football with my friends

■ (as a subject compliment )

That swim in the ocean was exhausting
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06 prepositional phrase

A prepositional phrase is a group of words consisting

of a preposition, its object, and any words that modify
the object. Most of the time, a prepositional phrase
modifies a verb or a noun.
At a minimum, a prepositional phrase consists of one
preposition and the object it governs. The object can
be a noun, a gerund (a verb form ending in “-ing” that
acts as a noun).
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 06 Prepostional phrase

Some of the most common prepositions that begin

prepositional phrases are:
to, of, about, at, before, after, by, behind, during, for, from,
in, over, under, and with.

example: he arrived in time.

behind the school is a park.
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06 a prepostion phrase can act as:

An adjective
The cat in the middle is the cutest.
An adverb
Jane cheered for her team with excitement.
A noun
After the game will be too late for us to go to dinner.
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 07 Absolute Phrase

An absolute phrase has a subject, but not a finite verb, so it

cannot stand alone as a complete sentence. It modifies the
whole sentence, it acts as cause or a reason of the main
clause.
An absolute phrase consist of:

• A noun or a noun phrase at the beginning.

• Participle- either present participle(v1+ing) or past participle (v3).

• Modifiers and objects.

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 07 Absolute Phrase
Read these examples:
Legs quivering
Legs = noun; quivering = participle.
Her arms folded across her chest
Arms = noun; folded = participle; her, across her chest = modifiers.

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 07 Absolute Phrase

An absolute phrase modifies the whole clause:

 Legs quivering, our old dog Gizmo dreamed of chasing squirrels.
Legs quivering describes not only Gizmo but also his manner of sleep
.

 Her arms folded across her chest, Professor Hill warned the class
about the penalties of plagiarism.

Her arms folded across her chest helps us picture both Professor

Hill and the severity of her warning.

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07 Examples:

The wedding fixed, everyone is happy.

We finished our very first yoga class, our souls

replenished.

Her mom (being) upset, she did not go out to party.

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 08 Participial Phrase

Participial phrases are groups of words that act as adjectives. That

is, they provide further information about the noun or nouns in a
sentence.
A participial phrase starts with a participle and includes other
modifiers and direct objects (or subject complements).

The formula for a participial phrase

Participle + modifiers + direct object (or subject complement)
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08 Examples:

Played by millions, soccer is popular all

around the world.
(describing the subject, soccer)

Cooking his own dinners for a year, Adam

managed to save over $500.
(describing the subject, Adam)
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09 Infinitive Phrase

An infinitive phrse is the infinitive form of a verb plus any

complements and modifiers.

The complement of an infinitive verb will often be its direct

object, and the modifier will often be an adverb.

For example: Ikram likes to knead the dough slowly.

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 09 The function of infinitive phrases

An infinitive phrase can play the role of a noun, an

adjective, or an adverb.
As a noun:
 He helped to build the roof.
 Nobody wants to lower the standards.
 To have a big dream requires the same effort as having a
small dream.
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 09 The function of infinitive phrases

As an adjective:
Let him show you the best way to paint the
door. (the infinitive phrase describes the noun “way”.)

As an adverb:
The officer returned to help the inspectors.
(the infinitive phrase modifies the verb “returned”)
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 10 appositive phrase

An appositive phrase restates and defines a noun. It consists of one

or more words.

( It includes the appositive + any modifier )

An appositive can come before or after the main noun and it can be
at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence, as long as it sits
beside the noun it defines. As a noun phrase, an appositive does not
have a subject or predicate, and is not a complete thought.
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 10 Examples:

 Frannie, my sister-in law, takes nice photos and sells

them.

 An enormous man with great strength, Henry was able to

carry the entire pallet of bricks by himself.

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 References
Dakdak, A. (2021, February 12). CRMEF | TEFL. Retrieved February 15, 2021, from AchrafDK:
https://achrafdk.com/crmef-tefl/

English Grammar Today. (n.d.). Noun phrases. Retrieved January 28, 2021, from Cambridge Dictionary:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/noun-phrases

Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2007). An Introduction to Language (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Thomson
Wadsworth.

Kittelstad, K. (n.d.). Infinitive Phrases. Retrieved February 19, 2021, from Your Dictionary:
https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/grammar/sentences/infinitive-phrases.html

Kittelstad, K. (n.d.). Participial Phrases. Retrieved February 19, 2021, from Your Dictionary:
https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/grammar/sentences/participial-phrases.html

Learngrammar. (n.d.). Examples of Absolute Phrase. Retrieved February 19, 2021, from Learn English:
https://www.learngrammar.net/a/examples-of-absolute-phrase

Nordquist, R. (2019, August 9). What Is a Phrase? Definition and Examples in Grammar. Retrieved January 28, 2021,
from ThoughtCo.: https://www.thoughtco.com/phrase-grammar-1691625 43
 THANK YOU !
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