The theory of the phrase

To know how a sentence is constructed we are to see how its constituents are built and classified. Theoretical syntax describes free word-combinations of the type ( a beautiful girl, ladies and gentlemen, run quickly, on account of etc.). Here the elements are separable, whereas in a phraseological unit, especially in an idiom (to smell a rat ) the globality of nomination reigns supreme over the formal separability of units.

There exist various terms to name a group of words (a word group, a word combination, a cluster of words, a syntagmatic grouping, a phrase, etc.). Russian linguists prefer to use the term “word combination”, Western linguists resort to the term “phrase”. The constituents of a phrase are the head element, the modified one, the governing element; an adjunct, a modifier, the governed element ( in the phrase “a beautiful girl” a girl is the head, while “beautiful” is an adjunct).

Devices of Connecting Words in a Phrase

Main grammatical devices of connecting words within a phrase are agreement, government, adjoinment (примыкание), incorporation, enclosure (включение).

Agreement consists in combining a head and its adjunct by means of morphological categories they both share. The adjunct assumes the grammatical form of the head (in synthetical languages : Над седой равниной моря , etc. In these languages nouns and adjectives agree in number, gender and case; nouns and verbs agree in gender, person and number).

In English agreement is practically non-existent, we find it only in this book – these books, that book – those books.

On the level of a simple sentence we find formal agreement (he goes).

In government an adjunct assumes a certain grammatical form under the influence of its head word. Government is insignificant in English, observed mostly between nouns and verbs ( help her, help him). Inflectional government occurs between a head noun and a noun in the possessive case ( the student’s answer). Government in English is expressed primarily by prepositions (to arrive at, to rely upon, to result in, to refer to, etc.).

In adjoinment an adjunct is placed before or after the head word without changing its form (cf. isolation). It’s characteristic of analytical and isolated languages (N+N Algebra problem, A+N a wise teacher, D+V run quickly, Adv+Adv very quickly, etc.).

Incorporation consists in enclosing a syntactic structure between parts of a phrase (a life-and-death question). The incorporated formations are studied by morphology, syntax and word-building. It’s an example of overlapping between syntax and morphology. These formations are termed differently: a word syntagm, a word – sentence, a composite word, etc.

Adjoinment is prevalent in English. Agreement and government are insignificant, as to incorporation it is progressing, but remains to be exotic. It’s more frequently used in newspapers( while-you-wait shoe repairs).

Debated Problems within the Theory of the Phrase

There are several debated problems within the theory of the phrase. Most essential are the predicative character of the phrase, the problem of criteria of classifying phrases, the number of elements within a phrase.

Most scholars hold that every combination of two or more words which is a grammatical unit constitutes a phrase: hot weather, very hot, at least, on account of.

We can distinguish phrases comprising notional and functional words (N+N Algebra problem, A+N wise teacher, V+ D run quickly, A+ D very quickly, etc.). They are grammatical units; each constituent of a phrase can undergo different grammatical changes. The grammatical variation of a phrase constitutes its paradigm ( to read a book, to be reading a book, to have been reading a book, etc.).

There are phrases equivalent to prepositions, these are prepositional phrases( instead of). There are also conjunctional phrases (as long as, as soon as). We are to discriminate between analytical forms of words and phrases. To write a letter is a phrase , while would have been writing is the analytical form of the word write).

Home scholars hold that a phrase is a non-predicative unit, it’s more like a word, as it names actions, things, qualities (very beautiful), it names also qualities of qualities (very quickly); they believe that predication is the prerogative of a sentence.

Western scholars make no difference between subject-predicate combinations and non-predicative combinations, calling both phrases (John runs away, to run away).