Classification of the phrase according to the head component

According to the head component all phrases maybe subdivided into “headed” and “non-headed”. Headed are phrases containing a headword. Non-headed are phrases, the elements of which are either equal (coordination, cumulation), or stand in a predicative relation to each other (predication). Headed subordinate phrases are subdivided into regressive and progressive types.

Regressive are phrases the headword of which follows the adjuncts:

1. An adverb phrase, the headword is expressed by an adverb, e.g.: Art opened his eyes again, looked wonderingly at the face so urgently near his own (S.Chaplin).

2. An adjective phrase, the head-word is expressed by an adjective, e.g.: Pekinese are terribly sensitive – just as sensitive as children (A.Christie).

3. A noun phrase, the headword is expressed by a noun – She suddenly let the conversation end, simply giving him another long, searching enigmatic smile(H.E.Bates).

Progressive are phrases the headword of which stands before the adjuncts. There are four types of headed subordinate progressive phrases:

- A noun phrase, the head-word is expressed by a noun, e.g.: The slant of the roof, veering toward him so abruptly, must have given an impression of closing in (S.Chaplin).

- An adjective phrase, the headword is expressed by an adjective, e.g.: She was shy, of course, but cool enough, and when I said something to her she gave me a smile. Maugham

- A preposition phrase, the headword is expressed by a preposition – He turned unwillingly, with dragging feet, towards the cab, and got in beside the driver (S.Chaplin).

- A verb phrase, the headword is expressed by a verb (or verbal), e.g.: Then, indeed, I hardly knew whether I had anything to offer with sincerity. … We were poles apart, and moved though I was; his need had not succeeded in bridging the gap. (S.Chaplin).

Non-headed phrases are subdivided into:

1. Non-headed predicative phrases:

- Scholars have different opinions on the notion Primary predication: some of them consider it to be a phrase, others consider it to be a sentence consisting of a subject and predicate. We share the latter opinion, e.g.: So we took him out bye. (S.Chaplin).

- Secondary predication is a phrase expressed by any predicative construction, e.g.: … Geordie went through first, then returned, heads towards me, his hands reaching out for the handles (S.Chaplin).

1. Non-headed coordinative phrases are subdivided into syndetically and asyndetically connected phrases, that is according to the presence (syndetical) or absence (asyndetical) of a conjunction between the elements of the phrase:

- Syndetical, e.g.: I had been counting on a sponge, food and lodging with some junior who would be proud to know me and house me (L. Durrell).

- Asyndetical, e.g.: Well, I walked round to try and raise the wind at Goupil, the Crillon, the Ritz and so on (A.Christie).

2. Non-headed cumulative phrases are subdivided into:

- One-class phrases are those, which contain adjuncts belonging to the same part of speech, e.g.: … A dear little mite. Such lovely rosy cheeks (A.Christie). The words “dear, little” and “lovely, rosy” – belong to the same part of speech – adjective.

- Multi-class phrases are those which contain adjuncts belonging to different parts of speech, e.g.: Just think if those two little brats were yours (W.S.Maugham). The word “those” is a pronoun, the word “little” is an adjective, the word “two” is a numeral, and so they belong to different parts of speech.

The English sentence, its structure and semantics

The main object of study in syntax is the sentence, its structure and, what is more important, its semantics. Semantically, the sentence comprises two aspects: the nominative aspect, which is the way the sentence reflects the situation named, and the predicative aspect, which is connected with the expression of various relations between the nominative content of the sentence and reality.

Traditionally, the sentence has been studied from the point of view of its nominative aspect in terms of so-called grammatical division, or nominative division into nominative (positional) parts, or members of the sentence: the principal parts - the subject and the predicate, and the secondary parts - the object, the attribute, the adverbial modifier, the apposition, the parenthesis (parenthetical enclosure), the address (addressing enclosure), and the interjection (interjectional enclosure). They reflect the basic components of the situation named: a certain process as its dynamic center, the agent of the process, the objects of the process, various conditions and circumstances of the process.

In the middle of the 20th century, new approaches to the analysis of the nominative semantics of the sentence were developed. The American linguist Noam Chomsky proposed the distinction between the level of the deep, semantic, or conceptual structure of the sentence and the level of its surface, or syntactic structure, different types of constructions being connected by various transformations. Chomsky’s transformational grammar theory in the sphere of the nominative division of the sentence was further developed by C. J. Fillmore, who formulated the theory of case grammar: its central idea is that each notional part of the sentence correlates with one element of the underlying semantic level and possesses a ‘semantic case’ which represents its semantic role in the situation named. In traditional linguistics, only adverbial modifiers enjoy a detailed semantic sub-classification into adverbial modifiers of time, place, manner, attendant circumstances, etc. In the classification of semantic roles, all semantic components of the situation are taken into consideration. For example, the “Agent” is the personal doer of the action, the “Power” the impersonal doer of the action, the “Patient” the direct object of the action, the “Instrument” the object with the help of which the action is fulfilled, the “Locative” some point or location in space, etc. It must be noted, though, that there is no definite list of semantic cases in modern linguistics; their number, descriptions and names differ from one author to another. The classification of semantic roles in modern linguistics is used as complementary to the classification of notional parts of the sentence, and the two classifications are often employed together to better describe the nominative aspect of the sentence. For instance, the subject can be described as subject-agent, e.g.: I opened the door; as subject-patient, e.g.: The door was opened; subject-power, e.g.: The wind opened the door; subject-instrument, e.g.: The key opened the door; subject-locative, e.g.: Moscow hosted a summit, etc.