What are the different types of phrases?
Eight common types of phrases are: noun, verb, gerund, infinitive, appositive, participial, prepositional, and absolute. Take a look at our selection of phrase examples below.
Is an absolute phrase a noun?
An absolute phrase has a subject, but not an action verb, so it cannot stand alone as a complete sentence. It modifies the whole sentence, not just a noun. Examples are: His tail between his legs, the dog walked out the door. Picnic basket in hand, she set off for her date.
What is a phrase in English?
Updated August 09, 2019. In English grammar, a phrase is a group of two or more words functioning as a meaningful unit within a sentence or clause. A phrase is commonly characterized as a grammatical unit at a level between a word and a clause.
What is a phrase made of?
A phrase is made up of a head (or headword) —which determines the grammatical nature of the unit—and one or more optional modifiers. Phrases may contain other phrases inside them. Common types of phrases include noun phrases (such as a good friend), verb phrases (drives carefully), adjective phrases (very cold and dark), ...
What is a prototypical phrase?
A prototypical phrase is a group of words forming a unit and consisting of a head or "nucleus" together with other words or word groups clustering around it. If the head of the phrase is a noun, we speak of a noun phrase (NP) (e.g. all those beautiful houses built in the sixties).
Types of Phrases with Examples
- Noun Phrase "Buy a big bright green pleasure machine!" — Paul Simon, "The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine," 1966
- Verb Phrase "Your father may be going away for a little while." — Ellen Griswold in the movie "Vacation," 1983
- Adjective Phrase "It is always the best policy to speak the truth—unless, of course, you are a…
- Noun Phrase "Buy a big bright green pleasure machine!" — Paul Simon, "The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine," 1966
- Verb Phrase "Your father may be going away for a little while." — Ellen Griswold in the movie "Vacation," 1983
- Adjective Phrase "It is always the best policy to speak the truth—unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar." — Jerome K. Jerome, "The Idler," February 1892
- Adverb Phrase "Movements born in hatred very quickly take on the characteristics of the thing they oppose." — J. S. Habgood, "The Observer," May 4, 1986
An Expanded Definition of Phrase
- A prototypical phrase is a group of words forming a unit and consisting of a head or "nucleus" together with other words or word groups clustering around it. If the head of the phrase is a noun, we speak of a noun phrase (NP) (e.g. all those beautiful housesbuilt in the sixties). If the head is a verb, the phrase is a verb phrase (VP). In the following sentence, the VP is in italics and the verb …
Phrases, Nesting Phrases, and Clauses
- Hurford notes two ways that phrases can appear inside other phrases: 1. Conjoining smaller phrases by a conjunction, such as and, but or or 2. Nestinga smaller phrase inside a larger one Hurford's examples of nesting a smaller phrase inside a larger one as an integral part of it [the nested phrase is in italics]: 1. Might in all probabilitybe coming 2. Ran away home quickly to his …
Sources
- Van Gelderen, Elly. "An Introduction to the Grammar of English: Syntactic Arguments and Socio-Historical Background." John Benjamins, 2002, Amsterdam.
- Ballard, Kim. "The Frameworks of English: Introducing Language Structures," 3rd ed. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, Basingstoke, UK, New York.
- Declerck, Renaat; Reed, Susan, and Cappelle, Bert. "The Grammar of the English Tense Syste…
- Van Gelderen, Elly. "An Introduction to the Grammar of English: Syntactic Arguments and Socio-Historical Background." John Benjamins, 2002, Amsterdam.
- Ballard, Kim. "The Frameworks of English: Introducing Language Structures," 3rd ed. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, Basingstoke, UK, New York.
- Declerck, Renaat; Reed, Susan, and Cappelle, Bert. "The Grammar of the English Tense System: A Comprehensive Analysis." Mouton de Gruyter, 2006, Berlin, New York.
- Hurford, James R. "Grammar: A Student's Guide." Cambridge University Press, 1994, Cambridge.