A Skeletal Introduction to English Grammard. Come out with your hands up!
e. The administration should have performed better.
f. Question:
g. What do you call a group of chess grand masters who are bragging
to each other in a hotel lobby?
h. Answer:
i. Chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.
Phrases are constructed around a head word, that is, the main word of
the phrase. This may be the only word in the phrase, like Cats and purr in
Cats purr. Phrases may also include modifiers, objects/complements.
the café (Head: café, Modifier: the)
the all-night café (Head: café, Modifiers: the, all-night)
in the all-night café (Head: in, Object/Complement: the all-night café)
the old man in the all-night café (Head: man, Modifiers: the, old, in the
all-night café)
important work (Head: work, Modifier: important)
do important work (Head: do, Object/Complement: important work)
the wood-shed (Head: wood-shed, Modifier: the)
to the wood-shed (Head: to, Object/Complement: the wood-shed)
Exercise
For each of the following phrases, mark the head word with H, any
modifiers with M, and any objects/complements with O. Make sure to
identify the entire expression in each instance.
For example, [The] [cat] [in the hat].
(M) (H) (M)
a. Happy Christmas
b. a steep hill
c. the experts in the government
d. a meeting in the new conference room
e. free appraisal
f. the only word in the phrase
g. celebrating our 20th anniversary
h. to the mountains