INTRODUCTION TO GRAMMATICAL NAMES AND FUNCTIONS
Grammatical hierarchy
Morphemes
A morpheme is the minimal meaningful unit into which a word can be divided; e.g. teacher is made up of 2 morphemes, namely, teach and er.
The following words could be broken down into morphemes:
1. Comes = come + s
2. Beautiful = beautiful
Words
A word is a morpheme or group of morphemes that expresses a meaning and forms an independent unit a language.
Examples: Corona, Rice, house, Car
Phrases
A phrase is a group of words, usually without a finite form of a verb, forming part of a sentence.
Examples
1. a lazy lizard (Noun phrase)
2. has been reading (Verb phrase)
3. as fast as possible ( Adverbial phrase)
4. near our teacher’s residence (prepositional phrase)
5. (as) quiet as a mouse (Adjectival phrase)
Clauses
A clause is a group of words with its own subject and predicate, forming a sentence or part of a sentence.
Examples:
1. Iyanu and Daniel are lovely children. (main clause)
2. What he wants to tell you. (Noun clause)
3. To whom I gave the note ( relative/ adjectival clause)
4. Because he lost his pen (Adverbial clause)
Sentence
A sentence is a group of words that contains a subject as well as predicate, and expresses a complete thought.
Examples
1. That is not good enough. (statement)
2. Is Blessing really your friend? (Question)
3. Shut up! (Command)
4. Would you shut the door please? ( Polite request)
5. Here comes the hag! (Exclamation)
If you are familiar with WAEC past questions, you are likely to have come across questions such as; identify the grammatical name and function in the following expressions, and you’re like “what?’’. The simple answer could be Adjectival phrase, Adverbial clause, prepositional phrase, noun clause etc.
Ø But how can I tell which one is a phrase or clause?
Do you remember that I said a ‘phrase is a group of words that does not make complete sense’ (- finite verb). While clause a clause contains a subject and a verb (+ finite verb). Phrase and Clause settled, isn’t it?
Ø The next question is how do I know if it is Prepositional phrase or Noun Clause or any other grammatical name?
The answer to this question is how well do you know your part of speech? Most especially “Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb and Preposition”. If you have explicit knowledge of these word classes. Thumbs up! We learn it too and I will share some files with you after the class.
Ø The last question is ‘how can I tell the function of the grammatical names?’
The answer is simple a noun can function as subject of the verb, object of the verb, Complement of the subject, Object or Preposition. As for Adjective functions it modifies nouns or pronouns. Just try to recollect the function of a part of speech in a sentence. ‘’Easy peasy lemon squeezy”. Isn’t it?
One more thing you need to know before we get started, what is a Finite and Non-Finite verb?
A finite form of verb is the form that shows a specific tense, person and number. It agrees with the subject of the sentence.
The finite forms of a verb are simple present and past tenses e.g. dance/dances, cook/cooks, played, danced, sat etc.
Examples
1. Quasim came here yesterday. (came is past tense)
2. Smokers are liable to die young (‘are’ is a plural Pry. Aux. verb which agrees with smokers)
3. President Buhari travels often.
4. Our politicians often travel abroad for medical checkup.
Non- Finite form of a verb is the form that does not reflect any particular tense, person or number. Non-finites are infinitives, present participle and past participle forms of verbs. They cannot occur as the verb element of a sentence (they are always aided in a sentence by auxiliary verbs); hence, they do not exhibit any agreement with the subject of the sentence.
Examples:
1. He wants to play with it. ( infinitive)
2. Koyinsola is dancing. (present participle)
3. Bhilhad has forgiven Naomi. (past participle)
4. We have forgotten our past hero ( past participle)
Let's get started with the Business of the Day!
PHRASES AND THEIR FUNCTIONS
There are six types of phrases but we will consider the first four for your level.
o Noun Phrase
o Adjective Phrase
o Adverbial Phrase
o Prepositional Phrase
o Conjunctional Phrase
o Interjectional Phrase
Definition of Noun Phrase
A noun phrase, also called a nominal phrase, is a group of related words in which the main word is a noun and which functions like a noun in a sentence or clause. It is a noun or a group of words headed by a noun or pronoun that can substitute for a noun in a sentence.
Noun phrases are formed by a noun or pronoun and any modifiers, complements, or determiners including adjectives, determiners, prepositional phrases, noun clauses, and verb phrases.
Examples:
a blue car…
the principal…
the most dreadful road accident…
a terrible storm…
Class work
1. Write three noun phrase using the format below
(i) Det + N
(ii) Det + N + post-mod
(iii) Pre-mod + N + post-mod
2. What is a noun phrase?
Functions of Noun Phrase
Noun phrase performs the following functions in the sentence:
(1). Noun Phrase as Subject: This occurs when a noun or noun phrase precedes the verb, and in some situations, is tied to the verb by an agreement of form.
Examples:
- A good boy deserves favour.
- The most dreadful road accident has happened.
- A terrible storm is forecast.
(2). Noun Phrase as direct object (DO): A noun phrase follows a transitive verb.
Examples:
- Okoro bought the book.
- We have some interesting new neighbours.
- I met a very charming woman at the party.
(3). Noun Phrase as indirect object (IO): If two nouns follow a transitive verb, one denoting the receiver and the other what was received. The first receiver is an indirect object.
Examples:
- He told Aliko Dangote the story.
- He gave the committee the report.
(4). Noun phrase as object complement: If a transitive verb is followed by two nouns one indicating what was affected or altered and the other indicating the result of the alteration, it is an object complement.
Examples:
- We elected Femi a prefect.
- Many of us considered her the best.
(5). Noun phrase as Subject complement: A single noun occurring to the right of the verb and referring to the person or thing as the subject is the subject complement.
Examples:
1. My name is Tina.
2. Schools are goldmines.
3. Edet became a doctor.
(6). Noun phrase object of preposition: A single noun ‘linked’ to some other element in a sentence by means of a preposition (for example in, on, to from, by of ,under), and immediately following the preposition, is the object of that preposition.
Examples:
- The trader brought his money to the bank.
- The box of chocolate is intended for your children.
(7). Noun phrase as appositives: If two nouns occur together and the second could substitute for the first, the second is called an appositive.
Examples:
- Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the president visits Enugu.
- Okon, the driver is reliable.
EXERCISE
Underline the noun phrase in these sentences and state their functions
1. The tall tree fell down in the storm.
2. I wish to see the Manager.
3. Mr. James is a handsome man.
4. Aliu is confident of winning the race.
Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean.
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