3. The classification of phrases according to part-of-speech, functional and positional criteria.
Besides the classification of word groupings on the basis of the major syntagmatic connections outlined above, there are further approaches possible in the description of the phrase.
1) The traditional classification of phrases is based on the part-of-speech characteristics of their constituents (on the part of speech of the kernel in dominational phrases); there are noun phrases (NP): a beautiful girl; men, women and children; verbal phrases (VP): went home; came and went; adjective phrases (AP): nice and quiet; adverbial phrases (DP): quite unexpectedly.
2) On the base of kernel-adjunct relations, subordinative phrases can be divided into those with objective connections (direct objective and indirect objective) and qualifying connections (attributive and adverbial): to see a child (direct objective); put on the table (indirect objective); a beautiful girl (attributive); came soon (adverbial).
3) On the base of the position of the adjunct in relation to the kernel, subordinative phrases are characterized as regressive or progressive: in regressive phrases, the adjunct precedes the kernel: a beautiful girl; in progressive phrases, the adjunct follows the kernel: came home.
The phrase, like any other lingual unit consisting of several components, can be analyzed in a linear way or in a hierarchical way, in an immediate constituents analysis, which shows the levels of dependences between its components. E.g.:
that extremely beautiful girl
NP
D
et
NP
AP
D A N
that extremely beautiful girl
4. The sentence as the main communicative unit of syntax. Predication as a fundamental distinguishing feature of the sentence.
The sentence is the central object of study in syntax. It can be defined as the immediate integral unit of speech built up by words according to a definite syntactic pattern and distinguished by a contextually relevant communicative purpose.
a) The correlation of the word and the sentence shows some important differences and similarities between these two main level-forming lingual units. Both of them are nominative units, but the word just names objects and phenomena of reality. It is a purely nominative component of the word-stock, while the sentence is at the same time a nominative and predicative lingual unit: it names dynamic situations, and at the same time reflects the connection between the nominal denotation of the event, on the one hand, and objective reality, on the other hand, showing the time of the event (being real or unreal, desirable or undesirable, etc). A sentence can consist of only one word, as any lingual unit of the upper level can consist of only one unit of the lower level: Why? Thanks. But a word, making up a sentence, is turned into an utterance-unit expressing various connections between the situation described and actual reality. So, the definition of the sentence as a predicative lingual unit gives prominence to the basic differential feature of the sentence as a separate lingual unit: it performs the nominative signemic function, like the word or the phrase, and at the same time it performs the reality-evaluating, or predicative function.
b) Another difference between the word and the sentence is as follows: the word exists in the system of language as a ready-made unit, which is reproduced in speech; the sentence is produced in speech, except for a limited number of idiomatic utterances. The sentence belongs primarily to the sphere of speech. Being a unit of speech, the sentence is distinguished by a relevant intonation: each sentence possesses certain intonation contours, including pauses, pitch movements and stresses, which separate one sentence from another in the flow of speech and, together with various segmental means of expression, participate in rendering essential communicative-predicative meanings (for example, interrogation).