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verbal predicate which can be neither a predicative complex nor a clause.
Word-forms
§ 33. A word-form is any form of the grammatical paradigm of the word. Girl, girls, girl’s, girls'; to write,
writes, wrote, is writing, has been written, will have been writing, etc.; pale, paler; brilliant, more brilliant,
most brilliant are all word-forms.
As seen from the above a word-form may contain either one component or more than one. One-component
word-forms are various synthetic forms of the word, while multi-component word-forms are
analytical forms of the word which are composed of
ne or more auxiliary
components and one notional component. The auxiliary components may be verbs (be,
have, do, shall, will), adverbs (more, most), particles (to).
Note:
In grammar we usually deal with word-forms, not words, though it is customary to make use of the term
“word” in the sense of “word-form” as well. So in the following chapters both these terms will be used in
the sense of “word-form”, “word-form” being more exact, “word” having the advantage of being shorter.
Phrases
§ 34. A phrase is a group of two or more notional words functioning as a whole. Besides notional words a
phrase may contain one or more formal words. Compare: to see her - to look at her.
Depending on the relation between its components, phrases may be divided into two kinds: phrases which
are divisible both syntactically and semantically, and phrases which are indivisible either syntactically or
semantically, or both.
Phrases which are divisible both syntactically and semantically
§ 35. Phrases of this kind contain a headword and one or more word-forms dependent on it. Here the
following kinds of phrases may be distinguished: nominal, verbal, adjectival, adverbial
and statival phrases.
1. In nominal phrases the headword is a noun, a noun-pronoun, or a numeral modified by one or
more word-forms. The latter are mostly adjectives, nouns, or pronouns with prepositions, although they may be
participles or infinitives. They may have dependent words of their own: a new way, a very good friend, a
recently built house, the years to come, etc.; something curious, anything so unexpected, everybody staying
here, all of them, nothing to say; tire first of May, the second to enter, etc. Their relation to the headword is
attributive. Phrases of this kind function as nouns treated separately.
The man sat on the sofa.
(subject and adverbial modifier expressed by
nouns)
The old man was sitting in a big armchair.
(subject and adverbial modifier expressed by nominal
phrases)
2. In verbal phrases the headword is a verbal which has one or more word-forms dependent on it.
The latter are mostly nouns, noun-pronouns, or adverbs, each of which may have its own dependent words: to
know him, to see her again, going home in the evening, speaking a foreign language. In all these phrases
syntactical relations between the headwords and dependent words are either objective (him, her, a language) or
adverbial (again, home, in the evening). Phrases of this kind function according to the nature of their
headwords, that is, in the same way as their headwords do when used separately.
To see is to believe.
(subject expressed by an infinitive)
To see you here is a real pleasure.
(subject expressed by an infinitive phrase)
Do you like swimming?
(object expressed by a gerund)
I hate swimming in cold water.
(object expressed by a gerundial phrase)