CHAPTER XXIII THE PHRASE 192. A group of related words expressing a single idea is called a phrase. As a phrase has neither subject nor predicate, it cannot express a complete thought. This is its distinction from clauses and sentences. Many phrases have no special grammatical significance. Such are " the old man eloquent,' ups and downs," "sweet and low." 99.66 193. Some phrases serve definite purposes in the expression of thought, giving special speech forms and speech modifications. There are four such phrases verb phrases, participial phrases, infinitive phrases, and prepositional phrases. 194. The verb phrase is so called because it consists of various verb forms used to express variations of voice, mode, and tense. These have been treated under the conjugation of the verb. The verb phrase has become important in English with the loss of mode and tense endings. The English phrase "shall be seen," for example, serves the same purpose as the ending -bitur in the Latin verb videbitur. 1. The verb phrases formed with may, might, can, could, should, and would are sometimes called potential verb phrases. These were studied in Chapter XVII under defective verbs. 2. The progressive verb phrase consists of the various forms of the verb be and any present participle. Its purpose is to express action going on at the time indicated by the tense of the verb. It is found in all tenses; as, 3. The emphatic verb phrase is formed by the use of the verb do with the simple form of any verb. The emphatic form has only two tenses, the present and the past: Singular Present: I do praise Past: I did praise Plural 195. The participial phrase is fully treated in §§ 131-138; and the infinitive phrase in §§ 139151. 196. The prepositional phrase consists of a preposition and a substantive. The substantive is in the objective case, object of the preposition. The object may be a noun or pronoun, or any word which performs the office of a noun. 197. Prepositional phrases serve to make clear and specific the ideas expressed by verbs and substantives. They describe, limit, and define the words they modify, just as adjectives and adverbs do. With the loss of inflected noun forms in English, the preposi tional phrase has become important. Inflected languages often express by change of noun-ending what the English expresses by a phrase; as, Latin, dignitatis = English, of dignity. Latin, servo = English, to a servant. The prepositional phrase therefore has various adjective and adverbial functions and may also be used substantively. 198. The prepositional phrase may perform the office of a noun. 1. It may be the subject of a verb; as, (1) Out of the woods signifies the solution of difficulties. (2) Out of doors is the best playground. 2. It may be the object of a preposition, a phrase within a phrase; as, (1) You broke in upon my reveries. (2) I heard a sound from among the trees. 3. It may be a predicate complement; as, (1) The road is over the meadows. (2) My reward is in a clear conscience. You can always recognize the predicate substantive phrase by the fact that it gives the subject under another name. (See the predicate adjective phrase, § 199, 2.) 199. The prepositional phrase may describe, limit, or define a substantive, and is then an adjective phrase. 1. It may be an attributive phrase, describing the noun as regards place, time, origin, etc.; as, (1) The house on the hill is occupied by a poet. (2) The journey by night was exceedingly tedious. (4) We live in a house of cement. 2. It may be a predicate adjective phrase after the copula or copulative verbs. In this use the phrase denotes a quality of the subject (see also § 198: 3); as, (1) You appear in good health. (2) The machine is of steel. 3. It may be an appositive phrase, limiting a substantive; as, (1) The character of Hamlet interests me. (2) The state of New York ranks first in population. 200. The prepositional phrase may modify a verb, adjective, or adverb. It is then an adverbial phrase. The same preposition is used in the adverbial and in the adjective phrase, so that use instead of form determines which it is. The adverbial prepositional phrase expresses place, time, manner, cause, agency, means, accompaniment, degree, purpose; as, Place: Time: Manner: Cause: Agency: Means: Yonder in the meadow grow the butter cups. It rained during the night. He played with a master hand. This house was built by an architect. Always write your letters with pen and ink. Accompaniment: I came to school with Marjorie EXERCISE 32 Write (1) five sentences containing prepositional adjective phrases; (2) five sentences containing prepositional adverbial phrases; (3) two sentences containing emphatic verb phrases; (4) two sentences containing progressive verb phrases; and (5) two sentences containing prepositional noun phrases. EXERCISE 33 Classify the prepositional phrases, progressive verb phrases, and emphatic verb phrases in the following sen tences: MODEL: He played with a master hand. With a master hand is a prepositional phrase; it is used as an adverb of manner, modifying the verb played. With is a preposition, governing the object hand. Hand is a noun, modified by the adjectives a and master. 1. He either delivered it in person or sent it by some one. 2. Soon after parting from him, I fell in with Cutler himself. 3. I lowered my gun to the left, and there, along the ridge within a few rods, stood a heavy skirmish line with uplifted guns. 4. By my faith, they do look different. 5. The boys are skating on the pond. 6. I heard a shout for help and ran toward the lake. On reaching the water, I found Charles had preceded me by five minutes. 7. Around the world in eighty days is no longer rapid trav eling. 8. You will be writing a letter to me, I hope, before you re turn. |