Constituents Ans Phrases

Constituents and Phrases

I. INTRODUCTION

In everyday speech, a phrase may refer to any group of words. In linguistics, a phrase is a group of words (or sometimes a single word) that form a constituent and so function as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence. As we proceed to our discussion, let’s find out the different phrases and learn how to make a diagram on it.

II. EXPECTATIONS

After the analysis and comprehension on this study guide, we are expected to:

* Define constituents, noun phrase, prepositional phrase, adjective phrase and adverb phrase;

* Divide the sentences into constituents;

* Identify the different phrases in the sentence;

* Make a tree diagram of noun phrase, adjective phrase, adverb phrase and prepositional phrase.

III. DISCUSSION GUIDE

A. Phrase

* Phrase is a construction of some kind. By construction we mean a syntactic arrangement that consists of parts.

Example:

1. The man

2. traveled slowly

Travelled slowly

Travelled slowly

The man

The man

slowly

slowly

traveled

traveled

the

the

man

man

* The sentence The man traveled slowly can be analyzed as a construction with constituents with each of these constituents also being a construction. There are therefore constructions within constructions.

Example:

The man traveled slowly.

The man traveled slowly.

The man traveled slowly.

traveled slowly

traveled slowly

The man

The man

slowly

slowly

Traveled

Traveled

man

man

The

The

Test Yourself!

Divide the sentences into constituents.

* Possibly, his young sister will go to the fish market tomorrow.

* Love makes the world go round.

* Marrying him was a mistake.

B. Noun Phrase

* A noun phrase is a construction that typically has either a noun (N) or a pronoun (Pro) as its central constituent.

* The noun or pronoun must be regarded as the “head” or most important element in the phrase.

Example:...