PhrasesUnfortunately in Unfortunately, he didn’t make it back requires not only that
he didn’t make it back, but also that (the speaker feels that) it is unfortunate
that he didn’t (cf. Sadly, she’s no longer with us, Hopefully, it won’t happen
again).
Nouns may be restrictively modified by clauses, called relative, adjective,
or defining clauses, bolded in the man who knew too much. Notice that
there is no comma between the noun man and the beginning of the re-
strictive relative clause. Sentences may be restrictively modified by adverbial
clauses, bolded in Though he liked her a lot, he was afraid to ask her for a
date. Here a comma is preferred, especially if the adverbial clause is relatively
long.
Notice that none of the modifiers are required or implied by the words,
phrases, or sentences they modify. These words, phrases, and sentences
would be grammatically complete without the modifiers—though of course
adding or removing modifiers affects the meaning and potential referents of
the modified elements.
Non-restrictive modifiers, or appositives, add information that is not
essential for the identification of the referent of the phrase so modified.
In written English, appositives are set off by commas—The President of the
US, who is in his 7th year in office, has only one more year to serve. In cases
like this, the writer assumes that the reader will know who the President of
the US is and so does not need the appositive information to identify him.
Nonetheless, the writer adds the information that the President is in his
7 th year in office as a sort of secondary predicate in addition to the primary
one, namely, that he has only one more year to serve. In spoken English,
appositives are set off from the remainder of the sentence by brief pauses
(hence the commas) and a drop in pitch. From a writer’s or speaker’s point
of view, it is essential to decide whether the audience does or does not need
the modifier to identify the referent of the phrase.
the adverb phrase (advp)
The following are examples of adverb phrases:
(4) a. adamantly (adverb alone)
b. quite reluctantly (adverb modified by intensifier)
c. extremely clumsily (adverb modified by degree adverb)
From a functional point of view, each AdvP must contain a head, which
must be an adverb; this adverb may be modified by an intensifier, as in
(4b), or by a degree adverb, as in (4c). Examples of these are listed in Table 1.