Lesson no. 24 PHRASES
Subject English
Grade 9th
- A phrase is a group of words which does n`t have its own subject and predicate. Such a group of words makes some sense but not complete sense. It is a part of the sentence and helps in making the sentence, as;
- A man of parts
- A man of worth
- In the corner
- On the hill
- About his failure
- On my success
- At the bus stops
- At the railway station
- At her remarks
- Aware of
- A phrase can be turned into a meaningful sentence as;
- A man of parts, He is a man of parts.
- A man of worth, Ali is a man of worth.
- In the corner, He sat in the corner.
- On the hill, The Eagle was on the hill.
- About his failure, I was worried about his failure.
- On my success, He congratulated me on my success.
- At the bus stops, He met me at the bus stops.
- At the railway station, I received him at the railway station.
- At her remarks, He was sad at her remarks.
- Aware of , I am aware of changes here.
- Further read the following sentences: as;
- This is a gold chain.
- This is a golden chain.
- This is a chain made of gold.
- This is a chain which is made of gold.
- All these sentences make the same meaning, but there is a difference of formation of the underlined words:
- ‘Gold chain’ is a group of words (Noun + Noun) without any finite verb. It acts as a unit; so it is a phrase. Here it acts as a noun; so it is a noun phrase (NP)
- ‘Golden chain’ is also a group of words (Adjective ‘golden’ takes a noun ‘chain’ without any finite verb. But it is a natural construction of adjective and noun, not a unit of group, so it is not a Phrase.
- ‘Made of gold’ is a group of word without a finite verb and it acts as a unit. Furthermore, it qualifies the previous word ‘chain’. Hence, ‘chain’ made of gold is an Adjective Phrase.
- ‘Which is made of gold’ is also a group of words but it has a finite verb ‘is’. Hence it is a clause, not a phrase.
- So we can say:
- A phrase is a group of words which acts as a unit and which has no finite verb. A clause is a group of words that has a finite verb, so phrases are of eight kinds in number which are as follows:
