In the process of mental and then speech activity of a person, words are combined into phrases and sentences. In linguistics, there is a whole section that deals with the study of phrases and sentences, as well as their structure. This section is called syntax, which in Greek means "construction, combination, order." By studying the syntax, you can get an idea of what a phrase is and, in particular, what a whole phrase is.
Phrase
The phrase is the minimum unit of syntax and is a combination of two or more significant words related to each other on the basis of a subordinating connection (a beautiful evening, a house by a pond, it is difficult to explain, etc.). Every phrase has a main word and a dependent word. From the main word it is always possible to ask a question to the dependent. For example, a toy (what?) for children, to walk (where?) in the park. Unlike the word, the phrase names the phenomenon of reality more specifically and accurately (house - a cozy house). A phrase differs from a sentence in that it cannotexpress a complete thought and, as a result, does not carry the intonation of the message. Combined in meaning, phrases become material for constructing a sentence.
Words in a phrase establish a semantic and grammatical connection between themselves. Grammar is expressed by ending (an interesting book) or ending with a preposition (swim in the pool). There are also phrases in which only a semantic connection is expressed. In such cases, the dependent word is immutable. It can be an adverb (read thoughtfully), an indefinite form of the verb (the desire to win), or a gerund (read without stopping).
It is important to remember that the following combinations of words are not word combinations:
- subjects with predicate (the girl writes);
- homogeneous members connected by a connecting link (table and chair; beautiful but evil);
- combination of a significant word with a service word (near the forest, as if in a dream);
- complex forms of words (I will sing, less exciting, the most beautiful);
- phraseologisms (rain like a bucket, roll up your sleeves).
Types of relationships in phrases
Types of subordinating connection, with which words are connected in phrases, are called coordination, control and adjacency. In the first case, the dependent word takes the form of the main one, that is, it agrees with it in gender, number, case or person (blue skirt, blue skirt, blue skirt). When controlled, the dependent word takes a certain form and does not change it when the form of the main word changes.(write with a pen, write with a pen, write with a pen). When adjoining, the dependent word is immutable and is connected with the main word only semantically (pleated skirt, look strictly, desire to hide).
Types of phrases
According to their structure, phrases are divided into simple and complex. The first ones consist of two independent words (evening walk, it's scary to remember). Difficult ones are extended by additional words (I had a rest in the summer in the camp, I watched an interesting movie).
Depending on the part of speech of the main word, verbs (fly high, send a letter), nominal (tree house, written answer) and adverbs (close to the river, high in the sky) are distinguished.
According to the type of semantic coherence, free and non-free (solid) phrases are distinguished. In free phrases, independent words are combined, each of which has a full-fledged lexical meaning. Such phrases can be easily decomposed. Whole phrases are characterized by indecomposability into components.
Whole phrases
Whole phrases, examples of which are quite common, are a combination of words, one of which (usually the main one) has a weakened lexical meaning, and the other complements it. Thus, the dependent word becomes the main one in terms of meaning. As a result, a close connection is formed within such a phrase. As members of a sentence, whole phrases are not divided into separate ones, but are one member of the sentence.
Examples of wholephrases: three cats, seven kids, each of those present, a glass of water, father and son.
Whole phrase patterns
Several models of integral phrases in Russian are distinguished by the nature of the relations between the components.
- Quantitative-nominal. Here the main word carries a quantitative characteristic, and the dependent word denotes an object and is used in the genitive case (three tankmen, one hundred rubles, so much time).
- A phrase with the meaning of selectivity. Here the main word is a pronoun or numeral, and the dependent is a noun or pronoun in the genitive case with the preposition “of” (one of the friends, each of the speakers, someone from the crowd).
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Phrases with metaphorical meaning. In this case, the main word is used in a figurative sense and only indicates the similarity of the object with something, and the dependent word is used in its direct meaning (mirror of a pond, shock of hair).
- A phrase with the meaning of uncertainty. The main word is expressed by an indefinite pronoun, and the dependent word is expressed by an agreed adjective or participle (something pleasant, someone dancing).
- Phrases with the meaning of compatibility. The main word is a noun or pronoun in the nominative case, and the dependent word is a noun in the instrumental case with the preposition "with". It is important to remember here that such phrases can be considered an example of whole phrases only in thatthe case when they are the subject in the sentence, and the predicate is used in the plural (mother and daughter go for a walk, my brother and I played chess).
- Contextually-solid phrases. Such phrases become solid only in a certain context (a guy with brown eyes, a man of short stature).
- Phrases in compound predicates (began to talk, looked rested, wanted to come).
Models of solid phrases, examples of which are given above, are the main ones in the classification of indivisible phrases.
Method of defining a whole phrase
Sentences with whole phrases are constantly encountered, so it is important to be able to distinguish between free and non-free phrases. To do this, it is necessary to convert the phrase with the adjacency relationship into a phrase with the agreement relationship. If at the same time the lexical meaning of the phrase does not change, then it should be considered free (herd of horses - horse herd, parents' apartment - parental apartment). If the meaning of the phrase changes during such a transformation, the phrase can be considered integral (tea mug - tea mug). It should be noted that some phrases do not lend themselves to such changes at all (a kilogram of cucumbers, a meter of velvet).
Thus, knowing what a whole phrase is, and determining the nature of the relationship between words inphrases become the basis for a correct analysis of not only a simple, but also a complex sentence.
