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In phrase structure grammars such as generative grammar, the verb phrase is one headed by a verb. It may be composed of only a single verb, but typically it consists of combinations of main and auxiliary verbs, plus optional specifiers, complements (not including subject complements), and adjuncts. For example:
In linguistic typology, a verb–subject–object (VSO) language has its most typical sentences arrange their elements in that order, as in Ate Sam oranges (Sam ate oranges). VSO is the third-most common word order among the world's languages, after SOV (as in Hindi and Japanese) and SVO (as in English and Mandarin Chinese).
For the simple sentence John runs, John is the subject, a person or thing about whom the statement is made. Traditionally the subject is the word or phrase which controls the verb in the clause, that is to say with which the verb agrees ( John is but John and Mary are ).
The linguistic meaning of valency derives from the definition of valency in chemistry. Like valency found in chemistry, there is the binding of specific elements. In the grammatical theory of valency, the verbs organize sentences by binding the specific elements.
In linguistic typology, a verb – object – subject or verb–object– agent language, which is commonly abbreviated VOS or VOA, is one in which most sentences arrange their elements in that order. That would be the equivalent in English to "Ate oranges Sam." The relatively rare default word order accounts for only 3% of the world's languages.
The subject phrase and object phrase are the two most frequently occurring arguments of verbal predicates. For instance: Jill likes Jack. Sam fried the meat. The old man helped the young man. Each of these sentences contains two arguments (in bold), the first noun (phrase) being the subject argument, and the second the object argument.
In traditional grammar, it is typically defined as a string of words that expresses a complete thought, or as a unit consisting of a subject and predicate. In non-functional linguistics it is typically defined as a maximal unit of syntactic structure such as a constituent .
In linguistics, subcategorization denotes the ability/necessity for lexical items (usually verbs) to require/allow the presence and types of the syntactic arguments with which they co-occur. For example, the word "walk" as in "X walks home" requires the noun-phrase X to be animate.
Subject–verb inversion in English is a type of inversion marked by a predicate verb that precedes a corresponding subject, e.g., "Beside the bed stood a lamp ". Subject–verb inversion is distinct from subject–auxiliary inversion because the verb involved is not an auxiliary verb. [citation needed]
Complement (linguistics) In grammar, a complement is a word, phrase, or clause that is necessary to complete the meaning of a given expression. [1] [2] Complements are often also arguments (expressions that help complete the meaning of a predicate ).