XXVII. Classification of Phrases

There are several classifications of phrases by different linguists. The traditional classification is based on the part of speech status of the phrase constituents. So, there are “noun+noun”, “adjective+noun”, “verb+noun”, “verb+adverb”, “adverb+adjective”, “adverb+adverb” types of phrases. Phrases are made up not only by notional words but also by functional words, e.g.: “in accordance with”, “due to”, “apart form”, “as soon as” – such phrases function in the sentence like prepositions and conjunctions.

Phrases can also be classified according to the nominative value of their constituents. As a result three major types of phrases are identified: notional (consisting of grammatically connected notional words), formative (made up by notional and functional words – natural for us to expect) and functional, consisting of functional words alone. Notional phrases are subdivided into two groups on the principle of the constituent rank: equipotent phrases (the constituents are of equal rank – young and charming- co-ordinating) and dominational phrases (the syntactic ranks of the constituents are not equal as they refer to one another as the modifier and the modified - subordinating). Dominational phrases can be semi-predicative (a cat walking by himself), objective – bought a house (direct), think of a reason (indirect), qualifying: attributive – famous people, and adverbial – seriously ill, surprisingly intelligent.

Phrases can also be divided according to their function in the sentence into (1) those which perform the function of one or more parts of the sentence, for example, predicate, or predicate and object, or predicate and adverbial modifier, etc., and (2) those which do not perform any such function but whose function is equivalent to that of a preposition, or conjunction (in accordance with, in favour of, in spite of the fact that) and which are, in fact, to all intents and purposes equivalents of those parts of speech. The former of these two classes comprises the overwhelming majority of English phrases, but the latter is no less important from a general point of view.

Glossary of linguistic terms:

1. equipotent - равносильный

2. dominational – с преобладанием одной из частей

3. semi-predicative – полу-предикативный

Additional Reading:

1. стр. 177-179

2. стр. 104-118

3. –

4. стр. 248-254

5. стр. 247-265