Saturday, 17 May 2014

The Phrase

By means of learning grammar is to write beautifully with no mistake and in order to make the sentence right and no grammar mistake, the lesson of phrase and clause is an inevitable part. Before going to discussion in details we need to know the definition. So here I start my lesson with definition.


A phrase is a group of words which has no subject and finite verb and acts as a small element of a sentence.

Milk is good for health
The subject of the sentence is “milk” that is a single word used as subject. But if I write “Drinking some milk regularly” in place of the word “milk” which in together would act as the subject of the sentence. Such as –

Drinking some milk regularly (in place of “milk”) is good for health.

Therefore, we ca say – a phrase is a group of words which is used as a parts of speech in a sentence.

Kinds of Phrase:
1)     Noun Phrase
2)     Adjective Phrase
3)     Verbal Phrase
4)     Adverbial Phrase
5)     Prepositional Phrase
6)     Conjunctional Phrase
7)     Interjectional Phrase
Bear in mind before going into discussion in details:

(a)   Noun phrase is used to act as noun
(b)   Adjective phrase is used to act as adjective
(c)    Verbal phrase is used to act as verb
(d)   Adverbial phrase is used to act as adverb
(e)   Prepositional phrase is used to act as preposition
(f)     Conjunctional phrase is used to act as conjunction
(g)   Interjection phrase is used to act as interjection



1) Noun Phrase: The noun phrase is used to denote noun and used as subject, object, and complement of the verb or object of the preposition in the sentence. And in the following ways the noun phrase is used given below -

a)      Noun Phrase as Subject:

Swimming in the river is dangerous.
To walk in the morning is a good exercise.
To rise early is a good habit.
His coming here is uncertain.

b)     Noun Phrase as An Object of Verb:

I know the ins and outs of it
The man gave him food and clothing.
She wanted to have a cup of tea.

c)      Noun phrase as complement of subject: “The ass is a beast of burden”. (The ass = beast of burden)

Jonathon seems to be a thief.
He is a full-time worker.
I am not a part-time worker.

d)     Noun phrase as object of preposition:

He came with one of his friends. (“With” is preposition and “one of his friends” is object)

This prize is for the best boy of the class. (“For” is preposition and “the best boy of the class” is object)

We could not see him at the time of his arrival.


2) Adjective Phrases: This type of phrase is used as adjective to modify noun, pronoun, or noun phrase.

The girl in white dress is my lover (in white dress = adjective)
The fox without a tail caught yesterday (without a tail = adjective)
The boy playing with the toy is my brother (playing with the boy = adjective)

3) Verbal phrases: When being combined one or more words act as verb is called verbal phrase.

She looked at the moon (looked at = verb)
We looked for a smart boy (looked for = verb)
Do on your shirt (do on = verb)
He gave up smoking (gave up = verb)

4) Adverbial Phrase: This type of phrase is used as adverb and do you remember what adverb does? The adverb answers of where? When? And how?

He beat the dog black and blue (black and blue = adverb)
He left me for ever/ for good (for ever/ for good = adverb)
We ran with a high speed (with a high speed = adverb)

5) Prepositional Phrase: The phrase which is acted as preposition is called prepositional phrase.

There is a garden before my house (before = preposition)
                        But
There is a garden in front of my house (in front of = preposition)

Note: “before = in front of”

I could not go to school on account of illness (on account of = preposition)
The boy shouted at the top of his voice (at the top of = preposition)


6) Conjunctional Phrases: This type of phrase is used as conjunction.

(He helped me + his brother helped me) = (Not only he but also his brother helped me)
                                                                        Conjunctional Phrase/ conjunction
Rani as well as Pani has come.
He talks as if/ as though he were mad.

7) Interjectional Phrase: This type of phrase used as interjection.

What a pity! You have failed.
Good heavens! What does he say?
By god! I will kill you.


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