Verb phrase
In
linguistics, a
verb phrase (abbr.
VP) is a
syntactic structure composed of the
predicative elements of a
sentence and functions in providing information about the subject of the sentence.
In the
Generative grammar framework, the verb phrase is a
phrase headed by a
verb. A verb phrase may be constructed from a single verb; often, however, the verb phrase will consist of various combinations of the
main verb and any
auxiliary verbs, plus optional
specifiers,
complements, and
adjuncts. For example, consider the following sentences:
(1) a. The baby
cried. b. Mary
saw the man through the window. c. John
gave Mary a book.
Example (1a) contains the verb phrase made up only of the verb
to cry. Example (1b) contains the main verb
see, the
noun phrase (NP) complement
the man, and the
prepositional phrase (PP) adjunct
through the window. Additionally, example (1c) contains the main verb
give and two complements noun phrases,
Mary and
a book, both selected by the verb in this case.
Note that according to this definition, the verb phrase corresponds to what is commonly called the
predicate.
Verb phrases are sometimes defined more narrowly in scope to allow for only those sentence elements that are strictly considered verbal elements to form verb phrases. According to such a definition, verb phrases consist only of main verbs, auxiliary verbs, and other
infinitive or
participle constructions. For example, in the following sentences only the bolded words would be considered to form the verb phrase for each sentence:
(2) a. John
gave Mary a book. b. They
were being eaten alive. c. She
kept screaming like a maniac. d. Thou
must not
kill.
This more narrow definition is often applied in
functionalist frameworks and traditional
British and
European reference grammars.
*
linguistics*
syntax*
noun phrase*
X-bar theory*
verbal
