Ways for Identifying Phrases

Many students are still confused with ways for identifying Phrases. Here, I will give you some explanation about ways for identifying phrases. There are several ways to identify a phrase.

·         Adjective Phrase (AP)

ADJECTIVE PHRASE (AP) can be identified by some ways. One of the characteristic is the Head word is an adjective.

Here are some examples:

Diana is [AP clever]
The nurse is [AP very late]
My niece is [AP fond of animals]

There also another way to identify phrases, especially adjective phrases. The pre-Head string in an AP is most commonly an adverb phrase such as very or extremely. Adjective Heads may be followed by a post-Head string:

[AP happy to meet you]          
[AP ready to go]
[AP afraid of the dark]

A small number of adjective Heads must be followed by a post-Head string. The adjective Head fond is one of these. Compare:

My sister is [AP fond of animals]
*My sister is [fond]

·         Adverb Phrase (AdvP)

Adverb phrase can also be identified by two ways. In an ADVERB PHRASE, the Head word is an adverb. Most commonly, the pre-Head string is another adverb phrase:

Shinta graduated [AdvP very recently]
Ashley left [AdvP quite suddenly]

In AdvPs, there is usually no post-Head string, but here's a rare example:

[AdvP Unfortunately for him], his wife came home early

·         Prepositional Phrase (PP)

There also some ways for identifying prepositional phrases.

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES usually consist of a Head -- a preposition -- and a post-Head string only. Here are some examples:

[PP through the window]
[PP over the bar]
[PP across the line]
[PP after midnight]

This makes PPs easy to recognize -- they nearly always begin with a preposition (the Head). A pre-Head string is rarely present, but here are some examples:

[PP straight through the window]
[PP right over the bar]
[PP just after midnight]

I think those is some ways for identify phrases in English. For more information, please feel free to contact me or visit here again at www.enjoy2learn-english.blogspot.com