PhrasesLiles, Bruce. 1987. A Basic Grammar of Modern English. 2nd ed. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Matthews, Peter. 1997. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics. Oxford,
UK: Oxford University Press.
glossary.
adjective phrase:phrase headed by adjective.
adverb phrase: phrase headed by adverb.
adverbial: an expression that functions like an adverb phrase, namely as a
modifier of a verb, verb phrase, adjective, adverb, clause, or sentence.
appositive noun phrase: NP that occurs as a “parenthetical aside” after its
head noun.
auxiliary verb (also called aux or helping verb): verb that accompanies a
main verb in a clause.
bitransitive (also called ditransitive): verb phrase having a direct and an
indirect object.
complement: one expression that grammatically completes another.
degree adverb: adverb indicating the extent to which an adjective or adverb
applies.
ditransitive: See bitransitive.
do-so test: a substitution test used to identify a verb phrase.
embed: to include one structure inside another structure.
finite: a clause whose verb is marked as present or past tense or which con-
tains a modal. See non-finite.
function: role played by one expression in another.
gerund: a non-finite verbal phrase whose first verb is in its Ving form and
which functions in the range of NPs.
helping verb: See auxiliary verb.
infinitive: a non-finite verbal phrase that functions in the range of NPs,
modifiers, or complements.
intensifier: member of a small word class which intensifies the meaning of
its head word.
intransitive: verb that cannot take a direct object.
logical subject: in traditional grammar, a word or phrase referring to either
the agent of an action or the understood subject of a sentence.
modal auxiliary: one of the auxiliaries will, would, can, could, shall, should,
may, might and must.
non-finite: a clause which is not marked for tense nor includes a modal.
See finite.
noun modifier: a noun that modifies a head noun.