Page 10 - DENG103_English - I

Unit 1: Functional Grammar: Phrase, Clause

Most phrases have an important word defining the type and linguistic features of the phrase. Notes
This word is the head of the phrase and gives its name to the phrase category. For example
the phrase the massive dinosaur is a noun phrase because its head word (dinosaur) is a noun.
The head can be distinguished from its dependents (the rest of the phrase other than the head)
because the head of the phrase determines many of the grammatical features of the phrase as
a whole.

Phrases may be classified by the type of head taken by them:
Prepositional phrase (PP) with a preposition as head (e.g. in love, over the rainbow). Languages
using postpositions instead have postpositional phrases. The two types are sometimes commonly
referred to as appositional phrases.

The Prepositional Phrase
Recognize a prepositional phrase when you see one.
At the minimum, a prepositional phrase will begin with a preposition and end with a noun,
pronoun, gerund, or clause, the “object” of the preposition.
The object of the preposition will often have one or more modifiers to describe it. These are
the patterns for a prepositional phrase:
preposition + noun, pronoun, gerund, or clause
preposition + modifier(s) + noun, pronoun, gerund, or clause
Here are some examples of the most basic prepositional phrase:

At home
At = preposition; home = noun.
In time
In = preposition; time = noun.
From Ram
From = preposition; Richie = noun.
With me
With = preposition; me = pronoun.
By singing
By = preposition; singing = gerund.
About what we need
About = preposition; what we need = noun clause.

Most prepositional phrases are longer, like these:
From my grandmother
From = preposition; my = modifier; grandmother = noun.
Under the warm blanket
Under = preposition; the, warm = modifiers; blanket = noun.
In the weedy, overgrown garden
In = preposition; the, weedy, overgrown = modifiers; garden = noun.
Along the busy, six-lane highway
Along = preposition; the, busy, six-lane = modifiers; highway = noun.

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