PHRASES

IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE
 SCHEME OF PRESENTATION
 Introduction
 Importance of Phrase in ESL
 Difference b/w Phrase & Clause
 Recognition of Phrase
 Types of Phrases
 Exercise/ Recognition
 PHRASE
 A phrase is a group of two or more words
without a subject-verb combination.
 Gives incomplete meaning
 Time (tense) of phrase cannot be changed
e.g. the boy to Karachi

a decent brown chair

a lady with long black hair

 CLAUSE
Whereas;
 A clause is a group of words with a subject-verb
combination.
 Entails complete meaning/ sense
 Time (tense) of the clause can be changed.
The boy goes to Karachi.
She is a teacher.
He is ill.
 Conti…
Act as simple sentence.
The boy goes to Karachi.
to: The boy went to Karachi. (yesterday)
or: The boy will go to Karachi. (tomorrow)
 Phrase
 A phrase consists of a main word plus words
closely associated with it, and the name of the
phrase is based on the main word.

 Thus, we have noun phrases based on a noun,

prepositional phrases based on a preposition, verb
phrases based on a verb, adjective phrases based
on an adjective, and adverb phrases based on an
adverb.
Importance of study of Phrases in ESL

 Understanding Sentence Structure

 Building Vocabulary
 Improving Fluency
 Enhancing Writing Skills

It helps learners to build a strong foundation in

English grammar, vocabulary, and communication
skills.
 How to Find a Phrase
Common sense test
1. Is it true that the boy to Karachi?
2. Is it true that the boy goes to Karachi?
time test: change the time or tense of the sentence
The boy goes to Karachi.
to: The boy went to Karachi. (yesterday)
or: The boy will go to Karachi. (tomorrow)
 Conti…

 A phrase consists of a main word plus words

closely associated with it, and the name of the
phrase is based on the main word.

 Thus, we have noun phrases based on a noun,

prepositional phrases based on a preposition, verb
phrases based on a verb, adjective phrases based
on an adjective, and adverb phrases based on an
adverb.
 Types of Phrases
Noun Phrase (NP)

A noun phrase consists of a determiner, an optional

adjective phrase, a noun, and optional prepositional
phrases. We can write this structure as a formula:

NP= DET (AdjP) N (PP)n

 Noun Phrase
a large black chicken DET + ADJ + ADJ + N
two healthy girls DET + ADJ + N
the sound of a train in DET + N + PP + PP
the night
cold water DET [0] + ADJ + N
they Pronoun
 Prepositional Phrase (PP)
 A prepositional phrase consists of a
preposition and a noun phrase.

 In fact, the name preposition (meaning

"before position") describes the fact that
prepositions always come before the other words in
a prepositional phrase. The formula for this
structure is:
PP PREP NP
 Prepositional Phrase (PP)
under a tree PREP + NP [DET + N]
in the morning PREP + NP [DET + N]

in the corner of the room PREP + NP [DET +N + PP]

at her house in the country PREP + NP [DET (her) + N + PP]

 Verb Phrase (VP)
 A verb phrase consists of a verb plus all the words that
follow it in a simple sentence.

 Since it includes everything in the sentence except the

subject, another term for verb phrase in English is predicate

VP: V (NP) (PP)n

 Verb Phrase (VP)
[Mary] teaches. V
[Mary] teaches two classes. V + NP
[Mary] teaches in the summer. V + PP
[Mary] teaches two classes in the summer. V + NP + PP

[Mary] teaches two classes at Harvard in the summer.

V + NP + PP + PP
 Adjective Phrase (AdjP)
An adjective phrase consists of any number of adjectives
plus any of their adverb modifiers.
There are two types of adjective phrases: attributive and
predicate.
AdjP (ADV)n ADJn

That scratched old yellow bus belongs to my aunt.

A cactus is an amazingly vigorous plant.
The man's face was deeply, painfully scarred.
 Adverb Phrase (AdvP)
 An adverb phrase consists of an adverb plus any
number of its adverb modifiers.

 Adverb phrases usually come at the end (or the

beginning) of a sentence, where they show time, place,
manner, degree, etc., as adverbs typically do. Head Adverb is
shown as underline.

AdvP (ADV)n ADV.

 Adverb Phrase (AdvP)

The train is leaving right now.

Sheila finished the exam extremely quickly.
Very gently, the nurse turned out the light.
Ali wrote, much too angrily, a letter to his friend.
 Review
 What is a Phrase
 Importance of study of Phrase
 Types of Phrases
 Let Identify the Phrase
 The big brown dog
 Incredibly smartly
 A delicious slice of pizza
 She is reading a book.
 They have been playing soccer for hours.
 Very slowly
 Very happy
 With my friends
 My favorite book
 Let Identify the Phrase
 On the table
 Extremely tall
 Quickly running
 In the park
 I will go to the store later.
 They have been playing soccer for hours.
 Quite beautiful
Thank You