English Translation Department

Grammar Basics 2
First Year
Ms. Rana Dakhel
Basic Phrases

Phrases are grammatical building blocks (typically, but not always, multiword
constructions) that act as a single part of speech unit. There are four types of
phrases: noun phrases, appositive phrases, verb phrases, and prepositional
phrases.

• Noun Phrases

There is a distinction between a noun and a noun phrase in the sense that the
simple subject (one word) is called a “head noun” and the complete subject
(more than one word) is called a “noun phrase”

In the examples that follow, the head is in italics and the noun

phrase is underlined:

The well-dressed young woman glanced in the mirror.

The sleek new car in the driveway belongs to my grandmother.

The chilly November rains never seemed to let up.

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 • Appositive Phrases

An appositive phrase is a phrase headed by an appositive. An appositive is a

noun that follows another noun or pronoun to identify or explain it. Here is an
example of a sentence containing an appositive (in italics):

She is going out with Richard, a guy in her exercise class.

The appositive is used to give information that helps identify who Richard is.

Appositive phrases are essentially special-purpose noun phrases. The

appositive is the head noun, and the rest of the appositive phrase consists of
modifiers of the noun, adjectives in front of the appositive noun, and
modifying prepositional phrases following the appositive noun. Here are some
examples with the appositive phrases in italics and the appositive heads in
bold:

Atolls, small coral islands, cover shallow tropical waters.

His car, a hulking SUV, costs a fortune to fill up and rides like a tank.

The police went to his last address, an old hotel in Denver.

Appositive phrases moved out of their normal position following the noun
phrase are sometimes called inverted appositives. Following is an example of
a sentence containing an appositive phrase (in italics) that can be inverted:

Sara, the only child in this room, smiled profoundly.

The only child in this room, Sara smiled profoundly.

There is one situation in which it is normal to invert the appositive phrase:

when the subject noun phrase is a pronoun. Here are two examples (appositive
phrases in italics):
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A hopeless romantic, I always want movies to have a happy ending.

Always a sucker for a smile, he gave in to his daughter’s request.

Essential and Nonessential Appositive Phrases

Nonessential appositive phrases are not required to define the noun phrase
they follow. That is, the appositive phrases can be deleted and still be left with
a meaningful noun phrase. For example, in the following sentence:

Noel Coward wrote Private Lives, his best-known play, in 1930.

the appositive phrase his best-known play can be deleted without affecting
the basic identity of the noun it follows:

Noel Coward wrote Private Lives in 1930.

Compare this example of a sentence containing a nonessential appositive with

the following sentence, which contains an essential appositive:

My friend Tim works in the city.

Presumably, the writer of this sentence has more than one friend, so when
the appositive phrase Tim is deleted, information critical to establishing the
meaning of the noun phrase my friend is lost:

My friend works in the city.

The idea, which of the writer’s friends works in the city, is not clear.

• Verb Phrases

A verb phrase is a phrase headed by a verb. There is a distinction between a

verb head and verb phrase, that is the simple predicate (one word) is called a

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“verb head” and the complete predicate (more than one word) is called a “verb
phrase”.

In the examples that follow, the verb head (simple predicate) is in italics and
the verb phrase (complete predicate) is underlined:

The well-dressed young woman glanced in the mirror.

The sleek new car in the driveway belongs to my grandmother.

The chilly November rains never seemed to let up.

Most verb phrases consist of a verb head together with that verb’s
complement. A verb complement is whatever is required by a particular verb
to make a complete sentence. For example, here is a sentence with the verb in
italics and the complement in bold:

A truck driver saw the accident.

Linking Verbs and Their Complements

The term linking refers to the relation between the complement of the linking
verb and the subject. In linking verb sentences, the verb “links” the
complement back to the subject. In other words, the complement must give
some information about or description of the subject. Here are the three
examples of linking verb sentences again:

Donald is funny.

The novel became a bestseller.

The soup smelled wonderful.

The complements of linking verbs are collectively called subject

complements. The term subject complement comes from the fact that the
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complements of linking verbs must refer back to and describe the subjects.
Two common subject complements are adjectives (called predicate
adjectives) and noun phrases (called predicate nominatives). Here are
examples of sentences that illustrate each type of subject complement (subject
complements in italics):

Sara is happy. (predicate adjective)

Suzan is a bully. (predicate nominative)

Linking verbs have a unique grammatical feature that distinguishes them from
all action verbs: only linking verbs can have predicate adjectives as
complements.

Linking verbs can also be followed by noun phrases. But even here, predicate
nominatives, the type of noun phrase that follows a linking verb, are
functionally different from the type of noun phrase that follows an action verb.
Here is a pair of examples:

Alice became a successful writer. (linking verb)

Alice met a successful writer. (action verb)

The same noun phrase a successful writer follows the verbs in the two
examples, the complements are completely different in their relationship to
their subjects. In the linking verb example, the predicate nominative a
successful writer and the subject Alice must be one and the same person.

Action Verbs and Their Complements

Action verbs that have complements are called transitive verbs. Action verbs
that have no complements are called intransitive verbs. A transitive verb
“goes across” to its object. An intransitive verb does not “go across” because
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it does not have any object to go to. Here are some examples of intransitive
verbs:

Sam snores.

Sally sneezed.

All of the flowers wilted in the sun.

What are the various types of complements that transitive verbs can be used
with?

The noun phrase complement of an action verb is called an object or direct

object.

Simon met a pie-man, going to the fair.

Simon bought a pie.

Simon really liked it.

Indirect and Direct Objects.

A small but important subgroup of transitive verbs has not one but two objects.
For these verbs, it is necessary to distinguish between an indirect object
(abbreviated as IO) and a direct object (abbreviated as DO). When there are
two objects, the indirect object always occurs before the direct object.

Sally gave the boss her report. (IO, DO)

Objects and Object Complements.

A few action verbs can have an object and an object complement. An object
complement is a noun or descriptive adjective that follows an object and refers

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back to that object. Here are some examples: Noun as object complement
(object complements in italics, objects in bold)

Sally considered John a fool. (a fool = John)

The board named him the new vice president for sales. (the new vice
president for sales = him)

Descriptive adjective as object complement (object complements in italics,

objects in bold).

Keep the room clean. (Clean refers to room.)

They painted the house white. (White refers to house.)

The jury believed him innocent. (Innocent refers to him.)

• Prepositional Phrases

A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition head followed by a noun

phrase object. Here is a way to represent the structure of a prepositional
phrase: prepositional phrase = preposition + noun phrase

The noun head inside the object noun phrase is called the object of the
preposition. Here are several examples with the prepositions in italics and the
object of the preposition in bold:

by the way

after the meeting

since this afternoon

from you

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Prepositional phrases used as adjectives modify nouns. Prepositional phrases
used as adverbs modify verbs, predicate adjectives, or (occasionally) other
adverbs.

Prepositional Phrases Used as Adjectives

prepositional phrases used as adjectives are called adjective prepositional

phrases. Adjective prepositional phrases can only be used to modify nouns.
Here are two examples of adjective prepositional phrases (in italics) used to
modify nouns (in bold):

The book on the top shelf needs to go back to the library tomorrow.

I hated the muggy summers in Florida.

Prepositional Phrases Used as Adverbs

Prepositional phrases used as adverbs are called adverb prepositional phrases.

Adverb prepositional phrases modify verbs, predicate adjectives, and other
adverbs.

We all went to a movie after dinner. (It modifies the verb.)

Adverb Prepositional Phrases Used to Modify Predicate Adjectives

Predicate adjectives are often modified by adverb prepositional phrases. Here

are some examples with the adverb prepositional phrases in italics and the
predicate adjectives in bold:

He is unlucky at love.

I am happy with my current job.

We are all ready for dinner.

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They were wise beyond their years.

Adverb Prepositional Phrases Used to Modify Other Adverbs

Adverbs are sometimes modified by adverb prepositional phrases. Here are

some examples with the adverb prepositional phrases in italics and the adverbs
being modified in bold:

We got there late in the evening.

Our team scored early in the first quarter.