In grammar, a phrase is a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence. Grammar is the field of Linguistics that covers the Rules governing the use of any given natural language. A word is a unit of Language that carries meaning and consists of one or more Morphemes which are linked more or less tightly together and has a Phonetic In Linguistics, syntax (from Ancient Greek grc συν- syn-, "together" and grc τάξις táxis, "arrangement" is the In Linguistics, a sentence is a grammatical unit of one or more words bearing minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it often preceded and followed

For example the house at the end of the street (example 1) is a phrase. It acts like a noun. It contains the phrase at the end of the street (example 2), a prepositional phrase which acts like an adjective. Example 2 could be replaced by white, to make the phrase the white house. Examples 1 and 2 contain the phrase the end of the street (example 3) which acts like a noun. It could be replaced by the cross-roads to give the house at the cross-roads.

Most phrases have a or central word which defines the type of phrase. This word is called the head of the phrase. In linguistics the head is the word that determines the syntactic type of the Phrase of which it is a member or analogously the stem that determines the In English the head is often the first word of the phrase. Some phrases, however, can be headless. For example, the rich is a noun phrase composed of a determiner and an adjective, but no noun.

Phrases may be classified by the type of head they take

• Prepositional phrase (PP) with a preposition as head (e. An adpositional phrase is a Linguistics term that includes (a prepositional phrase(s (which are usually found in head-first languages like English) and In Grammar, a preposition is a Part of speech that introduces a prepositional phrase. g. in love, over the rainbow). Languages that use postpositions instead have postpositional phrases. In Grammar, a preposition is a Part of speech that introduces a prepositional phrase. An adpositional phrase is a Linguistics term that includes (a prepositional phrase(s (which are usually found in head-first languages like English) and The two types are sometimes commonly referred to as adpositional phrases. An adpositional phrase is a Linguistics term that includes (a prepositional phrase(s (which are usually found in head-first languages like English) and
• Noun phrase (NP) with a noun as head (e. In grammatical theory, a noun phrase (abbreviated NP) is a Phrase whose head is a Noun or a Pronoun, optionally accompanied g. the black cat, a cat on the mat)
• Verb phrase (VP) with a verb as head (e. In Linguistics, a verb phrase or VP is a syntactic structure composed of the predicative elements of a sentence and functions For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs. g. eat cheese, jump up and down)
• Adjectival phrase with an adjective as head (e. An adjectival phrase or adjective phrase (AP is a Phrase with an Adjective as its head. In Grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a Noun or Pronoun, giving more information about the g. full of toys)
• Adverbial phrase with adverb as head (e. An adverbial or adverbial phrase is a linguistic term for a single adverb or a group of more than one word operating adverbially when viewed in terms of their g. very carefully)

Formal definition

A phrase is a syntactic structure which has syntactic properties derived from its head. In Linguistics, syntax (from Ancient Greek grc συν- syn-, "together" and grc τάξις táxis, "arrangement" is the In linguistics the head is the word that determines the syntactic type of the Phrase of which it is a member or analogously the stem that determines the

Complexity

A complex phrase consists of several words, whereas a simple phrase consists of only one word. This terminology is especially often used with verb phrases:

• simple past and present are simple verb, which require just one verb
• complex verb have one or two aspects added, hence require additional two or three words

"Complex", which is phrase-level, is often confused with "compound", which is word-level. For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs. In Linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a Verb defines the temporal flow (or lack thereof in the described event or state In Linguistics, a compound is a Lexeme (less precisely a Word) that consists of more than one stem. A word is a unit of Language that carries meaning and consists of one or more Morphemes which are linked more or less tightly together and has a Phonetic However, there are certain phenomena that formally seem to be phrases but semantically are more like compounds, like "women's magazines", which has the form of a possessive noun phrase, but which refers (just like a compound) to one specific lexeme (i. For its use in the context of Computer Science see Lexical analysis. e. a magazine for women and not some magazine owned by a woman).

Semiotic approaches to the concept of "phrase"

In more semiotic approaches to language, such as the more cognitivist versions of construction grammar, a phrasal structure is not only a certain formal combination of word types whose features are inherited from the head. Semiotics, semiotic studies, or semiology is the study of sign processes (semiosis or signification and communication signs and Symbols both The term construction grammar (CxG covers a "family" of theories or models of Grammar that are based on the idea that the primary unit of grammar is the Here each phrasal structure also expresses some type of conceptual content, be it specific or abstract. The term "concept" is traced back to 1554–60 ( l conceptum - something conceived but what is today termed "the classical theory of concepts" is the theory of Aristotle

See also

• Phrase structure rules

External links

• Online utility - which finds most frequent phrases and words from arbitrary text. Phrase-structure rules are a way to describe a given language's Syntax.
• PhraseExpress Autotext - Windows Freeware which manages common phrases