Phrase Structure

Phrase Structure

A phrase is a group of words (or sometimes a single word) that functions as a grammatical unit within a clause. Every phrase has a head word that determines the type of phrase — a noun phrase is headed by a noun, a verb phrase by a verb, and so on. Understanding phrase structure is essential for A-Level English Language because it allows you to analyse how writers and speakers build up meaning within their sentences.

The five main phrase types in English are: noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases, adverb phrases, and prepositional phrases.

Noun Phrases

A noun phrase (NP) consists of a noun (the head) together with any words that modify or determine it. Noun phrases can be extremely simple (a single pronoun like she) or highly complex, with multiple layers of modification.

The structure of a noun phrase can be broken down as follows:

• Determiner — specifies the noun: the, a, this, my, every, some
• Pre-modification — elements that come before the head noun
• Head noun — the core noun
• Post-modification — elements that come after the head noun

Pre-modification in Noun Phrases