McGraw-Hill Handbook of English Grammar and Usage, 2nd Edition (2013)

Part I. Grammar 101

Chapter 2. Basic Phrases

Phrases are grammatical building blocks (typically, but not always, multiword constructions) that act as a single part of speech unit. (As you will see, this definition of phrase differs a little from the definition of a phrase in traditional grammar.) In this chapter, we will examine four types of phrases: noun phrases, appositive phrases, verb phrases, and prepositional phrases.

All phrases contain a head that determines the nature of the phrase. The head of a noun phrase is a noun; the head of an appositive phrase is an appositive; the head of a verb phrase is a verb; and the head of a prepositional phrase is (surprise!) a preposition.

Noun Phrases

The term noun phrase is not widely used in traditional grammar. However, the distinction between a noun and a noun phrase is quite clearly made in traditional grammar, though in different terminology: simple subject and complete subject. A simple subject in traditional grammar corresponds to a head noun in modern grammar, and a complete subject corresponds to a noun phrase.

In the examples that follow, the head (simple subject) is in italics and the noun phrase (complete subject) is underlined:

The well-dressed young woman glanced in the mirror.

The sleek new car in the driveway belongs to my grandmother.

The chilly November rains never seemed to let up.

Appositive Phrases

An appositive phrase is a phrase headed by an appositive. An appositive is a noun that follows another noun or pronoun to identify or explain it. Here is an example of a sentence containing an appositive (in italics):

She is going out with Richard, a guy in her exercise class.

The appositive is used to give information that helps identify who Richard is.

Appositive phrases are essentially special-purpose noun phrases. The appositive is the head noun, and the rest of the appositive phrase consists of modifiers of the noun, adjectives in front of the appositive noun, and modifying prepositional phrases following the appositive noun. Here are some examples with the appositive phrases in italics and the appositive heads in bold:

Atolls, small coral islands, cover shallow tropical waters.

His car, a hulking SUV, costs a fortune to fill up and rides like a tank.

The police went to his last address, an old hotel in Denver.

Notice that all the appositive phrases are set off from the rest of their sentences by commas: a pair of commas if the appositive phrase is in the middle of a sentence or a single comma if the appositive phrase is at the end of the sentence (as in the last example).

If the appositive phrase follows the subject noun phrase, we can move the appositive phrase to the beginning of the sentence. Appositive phrases moved out of their normal position following the noun phrase are sometimes called inverted appositives. Following is an example of a sentence containing an appositive phrase (in italics) that can be inverted:

There is one situation in which it is normal to invert the appositive phrase: when the subject noun phrase is a pronoun. Here are two examples (appositive phrases in italics):

A hopeless romantic, I always want movies to have a happy ending.

Always a sucker for a smile, he gave in to his daughter’s request.

If we were to leave the inverted appositive phrases in their normal position following the nouns they explain, the results might or might not be grammatical, but they would certainly be odd:

? I, a hopeless romantic, always want movies to have a happy ending.

? He, always a sucker for a smile, gave in to his daughter’s request.

The ? at the beginning of a sentence indicates that the sentence is only marginally grammatical.

Essential and Nonessential Appositive Phrases

Up to this point, all the appositive phrases we have examined have been nonessential. Nonessential appositive phrases are not required to define the noun phrase they follow. That is, we can delete the appositive phrases and still be left with a meaningful noun phrase. For example, in the following sentence

Noel Coward wrote Private Lives, his best-known play, in 1930.

the appositive phrase his best-known play can be deleted without affecting the basic identity of the noun it follows:

Noel Coward wrote Private Lives in 1930.

Private Lives would still have been written by Noel Coward in 1930 even if we were not told that it is his best-known play. Even if the play were to be largely forgotten, it still would have been written by Noel Coward in 1930. Compare this example of a sentence containing a nonessential appositive with the following sentence, which contains an essential appositive:

My friend Tim works in the city.

Presumably, the writer of this sentence has more than one friend, so when we delete the appositive phrase Tim, we lose information critical to establishing the meaning of the noun phrase my friend:

My friend works in the city.

We have no idea which of the writer’s friends works in the city.

The distinction between essential and nonessential appositive phrases is not so much a grammatical distinction as a judgment about what we can reasonably expect the reader to know. For example, compare the following sentences:

In the first sentence, the appositive phrase the Greek poet is nonessential because we can reasonably assume that everyone who can read without moving their lips knows who Homer was. The reader does not need the information in the appositive phrase to identify Homer. In the second sentence, on the other hand, the appositive phrase Homer is essential because the reader would not have any way of knowing which Greek poet the sentence was about:

? The Greek poet was blind.

A simple and reliable way to test whether an appositive phrase is essential or nonessential is to delete the appositive and see the effect on the noun phrase preceding the appositive phrase. If that noun phrase is still meaningful, then the appositive phrase is nonessential. If the meaning of that noun phrase is now inappropriately ambiguous, then the appositive phrase is essential.

Essential and nonessential appositive phrases are always distinguishable by their punctuation. Essential appositive phrases are never set off with commas. Nonessential phrases are always set off with commas.

Verb Phrases

A verb phrase is a phrase headed by a verb. The distinction between a verb head and verb phrase is quite clearly made in traditional grammar, though in different terminology: simple predicate and complete predicate. A simple predicate in traditional grammar is a verb head, and a complete predicate is a verb phrase.

In the examples that follow, the verb head (simple predicate) is in italics and the verb phrase (complete predicate) is underlined:

The well-dressed young woman glanced in the mirror.

The sleek new car in the driveway belongs to my grandmother.

The chilly November rains never seemed to let up.

Most verb phrases consist of a verb head together with that verb’s complement. A complement is whatever is required by a particular verb to make a complete sentence. For example, here is a sentence with the verb in italics and the complement in bold:

A truck driver saw the accident.

If we delete the complement, we get either a totally ungrammatical sentence or a new, unrelated sentence that does not mean the same thing as the original:

X The truck driver saw.

In other words, when we use the verb see with the meaning of “to observe,” we need to express what it was that the subject saw.

As you recall from Chapter 1, the traditional definition of verb is “a word used to express action or describe a state of being.” As the definition implies, there are two different types of verbs: action verbs and linking verbs that describe the subjects. Here are the examples from Chapter 1:

The terms action and linking are not very transparent. Part of the problem is with the term action. Certainly many action verbs express action. In the first example, Donald engaged in the action of laughing. In the second example, Jane engaged in the action of writing a novel. In the third example, Erma engaged in the action of making soup. So far, so good. However, many action verbs do not express action in any normal sense of the word. Here are some examples of actionless action verbs:

Fred has a new car.

Pat forgot his keys.

The garden swarmed with bees. (A classic example from a nineteenth-century grammarian.)

In the first example, Fred is not engaging in any overt action. The verb has seems to describe what Fred owns or possesses rather than tell us what Fred does. Compare that sentence with this sentence: Fred bought a new car. Here, Fred is clearly engaged in the action of buying. In the second example, the meaning of forgot is almost the opposite of any kind of action. Poor Pat didn’t engage in the action of bringing his keys. In the third sentence, the garden is not engaged in the action of swarming—the bees are. The garden is not doing anything at all, yet this is still an action verb.

The problem these examples illustrate is that there is no good way to define the class of action verbs by meaning alone. Because action verbs constitute such a large and diverse class (99.9 percent of all verbs), it is impossible to find a single defining characteristic that will hold equally well for all action verbs.

The only really accurate definition is a negative one: action verbs are those verbs that are not linking verbs. Beginning with linking verbs works because the class of linking verbs is very small and has certain distinguishing characteristics, making it relatively easy to define. So, we will begin with linking verbs and then turn to action verbs.

Linking Verbs and Their Complements

The term linking refers to the relation between the complement of the linking verb and the subject. In linking verb sentences, the verb “links” the complement back to the subject. In other words, the complement must give some information about or description of the subject. Here are the three examples of linking verb sentences again:

Donald is funny.

The novel became a bestseller.

The soup smelled wonderful.

In the first example, the predicate adjective funny describes Donald’s personality. In the second example, the noun phrase a bestseller tells us something about the success of the novel. In the third example, the predicate adjective wonderful tells us something about the nature of the soup.

Sometimes linking verbs are compared to equal signs. That is, we can replace the linking verbs with equal signs:

Donald = funny
the novel = a bestseller
the soup = wonderful

While the analogy of linking verbs to equal signs is not perfect, it does convey a sense of the special relationship between the complement and the subject in sentences with linking verbs. This relationship is completely absent in action verbs.

The complements of linking verbs are collectively called subject complements. The term subject complement comes from the fact that the complements of linking verbs must refer back to and describe the subjects. Two common subject complements are adjectives (called predicate adjectives) and noun phrases (called predicate nominatives). Here are examples of sentences that illustrate each type of subject complement (subject complements in italics):

Linking verbs have a unique grammatical feature that distinguishes them from all action verbs: only linking verbs can have predicate adjectives as complements.

If a verb can be used with a predicate adjective complement, then we know for certain that the verb is a linking verb. This extremely useful fact gives us a simple way to distinguish linking verbs from action verbs. If a verb can take a predicate adjective as a complement, then it must be a linking verb.

Linking verbs can also be followed by noun phrases. But even here, predicate nominatives, the type of noun phrase that follows a linking verb, are functionally different from the type of noun phrase that follows an action verb. Here is a pair of examples:

The same noun phrase a successful writer follows the verbs in the two examples, so how can the complements be different? The complements are completely different in their relationship to their subjects. In the linking verb example, the predicate nominative a successful writer and the subject Alice must be one and the same person:

Alice = a successful writer

In the action verb example, the object a successful writer and the subject Alice cannot be the same person:

Alice ≠ a successful writer

By definition, predicate nominatives have two distinctive characteristics:

1. They are always complements of linking verbs.

2. They must identify or rename the subject—i.e., they must refer to the same person or thing as the subject.

There are only a handful of verbs that can be used as linking verbs. By far the most common is the verb be. Because the verb be is the most wildly irregular verb in English, it might be helpful to review its various forms:

FORMS OF BE

Present Tense

Past Tense

Future Tense

Many common linking verbs are verbs of appearance or sense perception, for example:

The remaining common linking verbs describe the nature or condition of the subject, for example:

The cook always gets upset when someone complains about the food.
The kittens soon grew strong.
The patient remained weak.
Tarzan stayed angry about the incident with the coconuts.
The explorer became faint with hunger.
I feel terrific.
His face turned bright red.

Although all the verbs used in the preceding examples are linking verbs, some can also be used as action verbs. When they are used as action verbs, their meanings are completely different from when they are used as linking verbs. Here is an example using the verb feel:

In the first example, the linking verb felt is used to describe the detective. In the second example, the action verb felt tells us what the detective did: he or she engaged in the action of searching the body.

Notice also that the linking verb is followed by the predicate adjective sick, while the action verb is followed by an ordinary noun phrase object the victim’s body. The noun phrase the victim’s body cannot be a predicate nominative because it does not refer back to detective:

detective ≠ the victim’s body

Action Verbs and Their Complements

Traditional grammar has a well-established terminology for the more common complements used with action verbs. Action verbs that have complements are called transitive verbs. Action verbs that have no complements are called intransitive verbs.

The distinction between transitive and intransitive verbs is widely recognized. For example, when you look up an action verb in the dictionary, you will find the following symbols right after the entry: vt or vi. The vt stands for transitive verb; the vi stands for intransitive verb. The only trouble with the terms is that it is easy to forget which is which. It may help to know that the terms come from the Latin preposition trans, which means “across.” Trans also appears in the English words transportation and transit. A transitive verb “goes across” to its object. An intransitive verb does not “go across” because it does not have any object to go to.

Here are some examples of intransitive verbs (verbs in italics):

Sam snores.
Sally sneezed.
The children snickered.
All of the flowers wilted in the sun.

Notice the last example. In the sun is an optional adverb prepositional phrase. Because in the sun is not required by the verb to make a complete sentence, it cannot be a complement. Intransitive verbs can be followed by any number of optional adverbs.

We will now turn to a discussion of the various types of complements that transitive verbs can be used with.

Objects. By far the most frequent complement of a transitive verb is a noun phrase. (Recall that the term noun phrase is a collective term covering single nouns, nouns and their modifiers, and pronouns.) The noun phrase complement of an action verb is called an object. (The term direct object is also sometimes used. The two terms, object and direct object, are used interchangeably in most contexts.)

Here are some examples of transitive verbs with objects (transitive verbs in italics, objects in bold):

Simple Simon met a pie-man, going to the fair.
Simple Simon bought a pie.
Simple Simon really liked it.
Unfortunately, Simple Simon didn’t have any money to pay for it.

Indirect and Direct Objects. A small but important subgroup of transitive verbs has not one but two objects. For these verbs, it is necessary to distinguish between an indirect object (abbreviated as IO) and a direct object(abbreviated as DO). When there are two objects, the indirect object always occurs before the direct object. Here are some examples with both object noun phrases underlined and labeled:

When a sentence contains only a single object (as is the case with most transitive verbs), that object can also be called a direct object. However, an indirect object can never be used as the sole object in a sentence. That is, we can only have an indirect object when there is also a direct object.

Sentences with indirect objects have a somewhat peculiar feature that makes indirect objects (relatively) easy to identify.

The to/for Test for Indirect Objects

An indirect object can be turned into a prepositional phrase beginning with either to or for (depending on the verb). That prepositional phrase is then moved after the direct object.

Here is the to/for test applied to the two preceding example sentences:

Notice that in both examples two things have happened: (1) the two noun phrase objects have switched places: what was the indirect object now follows the original direct object; and (2) the preposition to or for has been inserted in between the two reversed noun phrases.

Objects and Object Complements. A few action verbs can have an object and an object complement. An object complement is a noun or descriptive adjective that follows an object and refers back to that object. Here are some examples:

Noun as object complement (object complements in italics, objects in bold)

Sally considered John a fool. (a fool = John)

The board named him the new vice president for sales. (the new vice president for sales = him)

They elected Elaine treasurer. (Elaine = treasurer)

Descriptive adjective as object complement (object complements in italics, objects in bold)

Keep the room clean. (Clean refers to room.)

They painted the house white. (White refers to house.)

The jury believed him innocent. (Innocent refers to him.)

Summary of Verb Complements in Traditional Grammar. Here is a summary, with examples, of the seven types of complements recognized in traditional grammar. There are two complement types used with linking verbs and five complement types with action verbs (counting the option of having no complement as one of the possibilities). The verbs are in italics, and complements are in bold:

Linking Verbs

Subject Complements:

1. Predicate nominative (a noun phrase that must refer back to the subject)

Butch became a football coach.

2. Predicate adjective (a descriptive adjective that must refer back to the subject)

Butch was aggressive.

Action Verb Complements:

3. No complement (an intransitive verb)

Rudolph smiled.

4. Object or direct object (a single noun phrase)

Santa fed the reindeer.

5. Indirect and direct object (two noun phrases)

6. Object and noun phrase (NP) object complement (two noun phrases that must refer to the same person or thing)

7. Object and adjective object complement (noun phrase object and an adjective that must refer back to that object)

Prepositional Phrases

A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition head followed by a noun phrase object. Here is a way to represent the structure of a prepositional phrase:

prepositional phrase = preposition + noun phrase

The noun head inside the object noun phrase is called the object of the preposition. Here are several examples with the prepositions in italics and the object of the preposition in bold:

by the way
after the meeting
since this afternoon
from you

Here is a list of fifty common single-word prepositions:

In addition to the preceding list of common single-word prepositions, there are many multiple-word prepositions sometimes called compound or phrasal prepositions. Here are some examples of multiple-word prepositions with objects (prepositions in italics):

as of today
in addition to the assignment
next to me
in spite of your concerns
because of the budget
aside from all that
in place of Alice
on account of bad weather
in case of accident
on behalf of my friends

For the remainder of the chapter, we will concentrate on how prepositional phrases are used. In traditional grammar, prepositional phrases are always modifiers; that is, they are used as adjectives or as adverbs. Prepositional phrases used as adjectives modify nouns. Prepositional phrases used as adverbs modify verbs, predicate adjectives, or (occasionally) other adverbs.

Prepositional Phrases Used as Adjectives

We will call prepositional phrases used as adjectives adjective prepositional phrases. Adjective prepositional phrases can only be used to modify nouns. Here are two examples of adjective prepositional phrases (in italics) used to modify nouns (in bold):

The book on the top shelf needs to go back to the library tomorrow.
I hated the muggy summers in Florida.

You recall that, by definition, a noun phrase consists of a noun head together with all of its modifiers. When a prepositional phrase modifies a noun, then that prepositional phrase must also be part of the noun phrase that it modifies.

The following diagram shows how noun phrases are built with adjectives in front of the noun and prepositional phrases after the noun. The parentheses around adjectives and adjective prepositional phrases mean that they are optional. That is, a noun phrase must have a noun, but adjectives and prepositional phrases are optional.

Because adjective prepositional phrases are part of the noun phrase, adjective prepositional phrases will also be scooped up and replaced along with the head noun by the third-person pronoun test. Here is the third-person pronoun test for noun phrases specifically tailored for prepositional phrases used as adjectives:

The Third-Person Pronoun Test for Adjective Prepositional Phrases

If a noun and a following prepositional phrase together can be replaced by a single third-person pronoun, then that prepositional phrase must be a modifier of that noun.

Here is the third-person pronoun test applied to the two earlier example sentences:

The book on the top shelf needs to go back to the library tomorrow.
It needs to go back to the library tomorrow.

I hated the muggy summers in Florida.
I hated them.

Here is a somewhat more complicated example that shows how useful the third-person pronoun test is for identifying adjective prepositional phrases:

We should eat the apples in the refrigerator first.

What is slightly tricky about this example is the word first. Is first part of the prepositional phrase or not? When we apply the third-person pronoun test, we can see that first is not part of the prepositional phrase because it is not replaced by the third-person pronoun them:

We should eat the apples in the refrigerator first.
We should eat them first.

Adjective Prepositional Phrases and Subject-Verb Agreement Errors. The ability to recognize adjective prepositional phrases modifying the subject noun is especially important in spotting and correcting a common source of subject-verb agreement errors. Here is an example:

X A group of middle-management leaders are to directly supervise employees.

The writer has erroneously made the verb (are) plural to agree with the nearest noun, leaders. This error occurred in part because the writer did not recognize that leaders is locked up inside the adjective prepositional phrase of middle-management leaders. Leaders is the object of the preposition of and as such cannot serve as the subject of a verb. The actual subject, of course, is the noun group, which is singular. Here is the third-person pronoun test applied to the corrected sentence:

A group of middle-management leaders is to directly supervise employees.

It is to directly supervise employees.

The third-person pronoun test makes it easy to see that the verb must be singular to agree with the third-person pronoun it. Learning to spot adjective prepositional phrases used to modify subjects is an important step in eliminating subject-verb agreement errors.

Prepositional Phrases Used as Adverbs

We will call prepositional phrases used as adverbs adverb prepositional phrases. Adverb prepositional phrases modify verbs, predicate adjectives, and other adverbs. Adverb prepositional phrases behave very much like ordinary, single-word adverbs. Nearly everything that we said about identifying single-word adverbs also applies to adverb prepositional phrases.

Adverb Prepositional Phrases Used to Modify Verbs. This is by far the most common use of adverb prepositional phrases. Here is the adverb movement test for adverbs adapted to adverb prepositional phrases:

The Adverb Movement Test for Adverb Prepositional Phrases

If a prepositional phrase can be moved to a different position in the sentence, then that prepositional phrase is an adverb that modifies the verb.

Following are some examples of sentences containing adverb prepositional phrases (in italics) that modify the verb with the adverb movement test applied:

They have classes in accounting at our local community college.
At our local community college, they have classes in accounting.

We all went to a movie after dinner.
After dinner, we all went to a movie.

The kids quit playing early because of the heat.
Because of the heat, the kids quit playing early.

Notice the use of commas in these three examples. When single-word adverbs or adverb prepositional phrases have been moved to the beginning of the sentence, we can set them off with commas. This use of commas with introductory elements is not strictly required. The general rule of thumb is to use commas with long and/or complicated introductory elements. However, it is never wrong to use the comma, and it is always helpful to the reader to do so. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you routinely use the comma with introductory elements, especially with adverb prepositional phrases.

Adverb Prepositional Phrases Used to Modify Predicate Adjectives. Predicate adjectives are often modified by adverb prepositional phrases. Here are some examples with the adverb prepositional phrases in italics and the predicate adjectives in bold:

He is unlucky at love.
I am happy with my current job.
We are all ready for dinner.
They were wise beyond their years.

Adverb prepositional phrases that modify predicate adjectives are easy to recognize. They cannot be mistaken for adjective prepositional phrases because there are no nouns for them to modify. They can’t be mistaken for verb modifiers because they cannot be moved without sounding unnatural or odd. If they are moved, we would know what was meant, but we would just never say it that way:

? At love, he is unlucky.
? With my current job, I am happy.
? For dinner, we are all ready.
? Beyond their years, they were wise.

Adverb Prepositional Phrases Used to Modify Other Adverbs. Adverbs are sometimes modified by adverb prepositional phrases. Here are some examples with the adverb prepositional phrases in italics and the adverbs being modified in bold:

We got there late in the evening.

Our team scored early in the first quarter.

As you can see, this construction is limited. We can distinguish adverb prepositional phrases that modify adverbs from the much more common adverb prepositional phrases that modify verbs by the fact that the ones that modify adverbs cannot be moved without sounding unnatural:

? In the evening, we got there late.
? In the first quarter, our team scored early.

Again, we would probably understand what was meant by these sentences, but we would not normally say it that way.