Lesson 6: Verbal Phrases

Verbal Phrases VP_al

The suffix –al of VP_al denotes “verbal”. The word “verbal” denotes the present participle, past participle and the infinitives of verbs.

The verb elements in sentences are realized by either (a) finite verbs V_f or (b) finite verb phrases VP, which is defined as

· VP = AV_1f + RVP

AV₁ denotes the only finite auxiliary verb, or the first auxiliary verb among all auxiliary verbs in V = VP = AV_1f + RVP of the auxiliary verb”.

Because the verb element can be realized in two ways, (a) V = V_f and (b) = AV_1f +RVP，there can be two sets of basic patterns of predicates as shown below :

Verbal phrases and the predicates are closely related. The only difference is:_.

· the verb element in verbal phrases are realized by (a) nonfinite verbs V_nf or (b)

non-finite verb phrases VP_nf ºAV_1nf+RVP,

Therefore, the transformation from predicates P into verbal phrases VP_al only involves the verb element, i.e.,

(a) V_f ® V_nf, or

(b) AV_1f ® AV_1nf,

we immediately obtain the following two sets of basic patterns of verbal phrases VP_al :

Transformation of Predicates P into Verbal Phrases VP_al

In view of the above, the transformation of any predicates into its corresponding verbal phrases VP_al involves only the first verb element V in the predicates. In set (a), the finite verb V_f is simply replaced by the corresponding nonfinite verb V_nf. In set (b) where the verb phrase VP= AV_1f+RVP, change A_1f into its non-finite form A_1nf.

By using the verb “give” as an example, we now can transform the verb element for twelve V_f and VP into their nonfinite forms V_nf and VP_nf as shown below:

The above results are summarized below:

Examples of Verbal Phrases Transformed from the Seven Basic Patterns of Predicates and Their Usage

Using the six methods of transformations in the previous section, we obtain unequivocally the following Seven Basic Patterns of Verbal Phrases:

In the following, we

(a) First split the illustrative sentences into their two “immediate constituents”, S and P

(b) Then, use the six methods of transformation in Table 9.4, and

(c) Finally, transform their predicates P into their corresponding verbal phrases VP_al.

I. Transformation from Basic Declarative Sentence Pattern (1): S+V+sC to its Verbal

Phrase

· Basic Declarative Sentence Pattern (1): His father became a successful entrepreneur.

(a) Plausible verb elements:

(b) Transformation of finite verb elements to plausible verbals

Basic Pattern of Verbal Phrase (1): VP_nf+sC

(c) The following are sentences in which the above verbal phrases have been embedded:

II. Transformation from Basic Declarative Sentence Pattern (2): S+V to its Verbal

Phrase

· Basic Declarative Sentence Pattern (2): Leaves fall.

(a) Subject and Predicate

(c) The following are sentences in which the above verbal phrases have been embedded:

The Use of Verbal Phrases in Combining Simple Sentences

The following are 3 simple sentences denoted by [SS]:

Next, we see how many different ways, the original three simple sentences can be rewritten.

(1) Since the three [SS] have the same subject, their predicates can be combined by means of coordination into the following simple sentence:

· People have lost everything because of the storm, are in need of food and shelter and need our help to put their lives back to normal as soon as possible.

(2) Instead of coordination, the verbal phrase {VP_al 1} can be embedded as a post-modifier in a noun phase such that the sentence reads:

· People having lost everything because of the storm are in need of food and shelter and need our help to put their lives back to normal as soon as possible.

The participle can be placed at the beginning of the sentence or at the end of the sentence, but in either case, it should be set off by a comma as

· Having lost everything because of the storm, people are in need of food and shelter and need our help to put their lives back to normal as soon as possible. Or

· People are in need of food and shelter and need our help to put their lives back to normal as soon as possible, having lost everything because of the storm.

(3) Two verbal phrases {VP_al 1}and {VP_al 2} can be embedded as post-modifiers in a noun phase such that the sentence reads:

· People having lost everything because of the storm and being in need of food and shelter, need our help to put their lives back to normal. Or

· Having lost everything because of the storm and being in need of food and shelter, people need our help to put their lives back to normal.

I. Embedding one verbal phase in the noun phrase functioning as the subject

Sentence Pattern: S+V+sC+[and]+V+dO+A

[Having lost everything because of the storm], [people][are] [in need of food and shelter] [and] [need] [our help] [to put their lives back to normal as soon as possible].

Dangling Participles

In using verbal phrases as modifiers, care must be exercised to make sure that the noun or pronoun modified by the verbal phrase is the logical party meant by the verbal phrase. If not, it becomes a dangling structure. In the case of participles, they become dangling participles. Compare the following two sentences:

· Being hungry and exhausted, the hotel gave the boys food and lodge.

The present participle phrase in italics at the beginning of the sentence modifies the subject “the hotel” of the sentence. In fact, it is the modifier of “the hungry and exhausted boys, because it is they who need food and lodge, not “the hotel”. In other words, logically, “the hotel” is not the subject to be modified. Hence, the participle phrase is a dangling participle. The correct sentence should be：

· Being hungry and exhausted, the boys were given food and lodge by the hotel.

More examples are given below:

(c) 2019 Augustine C. Chen