Search results for 'tag:Noun phrases tag:Football' matching tags 'Noun phrases' and 'Football'

Re: Verbs...

Grammar Geek — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 21:02:38 GMT

Bob is one of those people who LIKE to watch football.

Marxism is one of those theories that ARE seen as left-wing.

Nora is one of the candidates who ARE worthy of my vote'

These are all the same pattern. The blue is the main subject/main verb. The purple is just a portion of the noun phrase that has an embedded noun and verb within them. The purple embedded noun and verb agree with each other.

Read through what Doll wrote again, and let us know which part seems to contradict this pattern above.

Re: The function of "was"

Grammar Geek — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 18:39:44 GMT

Yup.

[My favorite sport] is football.

[The last sport I played] was football.

The part in brackets is the noun phrase, the subject of the sentence.

So "was" is the verb, just like Anon said.

Re: Give me some examples

Mister Micawber — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 15:18:29 GMT

They are really enthusiastic.

The adjective enthusiastic is modified by the adverb really to form the adjectival phrase. It is the complement of the verb are.

They are keen on football.

The adjective keen combines with the prepositional phrase, on football. The head of the phrase is keen, and the phrase describes the keen-ness, so itâs an adjectival phrase.

the unusually tall boy

The adjective tall is modified by the adverb unusually to form the adjectival phrase. It expands the noun phrase the boy.

Re: Walk for

paco2004 — Wed, 19 Jan 2005 21:31:44 GMT

Hello Casi

Hurmmm... that's interesting! I've waited (for) 15 minutes for the bus. Yes the second 'for' makes the use of the first 'for' awkward, as you pointed out. I think we may paraphrase it as I've awaited the bus (for) 15 minutes, but probably the use of 'await' sounds weird (too formal).

I think English is a bit messy for us concerning the use of the verb 'wait'. In my language (Japanese), we use only one word "wait" for intransitive sense as well as for transitive sense. English 'I waited (for) two hours' is 'I waited ' in Japanese. Here the is an isolated noun phrase with no case marker and with no prepositional particle. In Japanese use of noun phrases in isolated state indicates the noun phrase is an adverbial phrase. For example, for English 'I awaited the letter (for) two days' , we say 'I waited the letter '. Don't you think our language is much simpler than English in this regard?

I feel you English speakers also are using isolated noun phrases, a lot especially in everyday speech. However, what is curious to me is that the grammar books (those I've read so far) don't tell much about that kind of usage. Let me show the examples of 'isolated noun phrases' in English.

1) What time did you get up this morning? Seven thirty.
2) Yesterday evening the football lasted three hours.
3) He came here three times last night
4) My family stayed in Hawaii two weeks that year.
5) We drove US 101 fifty miles to south.
6) Monday morning we have to drive a long way.
6) She looked this way and that.
7) He will fight the idea tooth and nail.
8) They live three doors from our house.
9) They cooked it French style.
10) The stars shone diamond bright in the pitch dark sky.
11) Her skin is snow white.
12) He was a bit surprised at the news.
13) She's three inches taller than me.
14) He looks a great deal better.
15) We had to travel second class.
16) OK, I'll send it airmail.
17) We are the same age.
18) He drew the picture twice the size of life.

In the current prescriptive grammar, most of them are treated not as noun phrases but as idiomatic adverbial or adjectival phrases, rather out of grammar rules. They may be phrases so familiar to native English speakers and so you would not feel any difficulty in leaning them. But we, ESL students, have to learn them one by one, using dictionaries, without being given any good explanation about how they came into English. My dream is someday someone would describe the English grammar in a way it can corporate them into the system.

paco

Re: Phrases (Appositives and Participial)

camilus — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 16:20:56 GMT

Mirapence, your help is just priceless!!! I'm really sorry for having given you so much labour; I defiinitely overdid. I am, however, very thankful for your explanation. After this "injection of knowledge" you gave me, I decided go on phrases and hope to get through them with your help.

I Phrases Classification

Last night I put my shoulder to the wheel and studied those phrases deeply. After some analysis I finally arrived at some conclusions; nonetheless, I'm conscious of the fact that what you find below is nothing but a pile of rubbish. Could you please comment on that then?

As far as I know phrases classification depends on how we treat them. If we take phrases as the group of releated words that lack both subject and predicate, accordingly, during our classification Noun and Verb Phrases shall not be taken into account.

Taking the heed of all pros and cons I came to the following classifications:

1. Phrase hasn't got both subject and verb

a) Participial Phrase
b) Preopsitional Phrase (included Adverb and Adjective Phrases)
c) Gerund Phrase
d) Appositive Phrase

2. Phrase has got subject, but it lacks verb

a) Participial Phrase
b) Preopsitional Phrase (included Adverb and Adjective Phrases)
c) Gerund Phrase
d) Appositive Phrase
e) Noun Phrase

3. Phrase has got verb, but it lacks subject

a) Participial Phrase
b) Preopsitional Phrase (included Adverb and Adjective Phrases)
c) Gerund Phrase
d) Appositive Phrase
e) Verb Phrase
f) Infinitive Phrase

I've also found something called Absolute Phrase, but I don't know yet how it works. Please bear with me, but as to what you wrote Gerund Phrase may act as a Noun Phrase, right?

II Others

Mirapence, I see you're a man who knows: what, where, when, and how. Could you give me a list of books that you consider to be helpful and essential to prepare for CAE/CPE exams. Publications regarding English grammar; English speaking country culture, history, politics; and things like phrases and clauses would also be welcomed.

Thank you very much in advance.
Best regards

P.S. "Footballer" is a British English word for soccer or football player. Since football isn't popular sport in the USA (from which you're descended), this may sound strange to you. If you find that I gave too much to explain, don't exert yourself and answer some things later or divide in a way comfortable for you.

Re: Phrases (Appositives and Participial)

mirapence — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 14:39:58 GMT

Hi Camilus,

You've given me a lot of homework. it weighs on my back, but it never is the last straw. Fortunately, my back is strong enough.

I Appositives vs. Parenthetical Element

a) Neil Armstrong, the first man who walked on the moon, is a native of Ohio.

Here, âthe first man who walked on the moonâ is, as you already know, a noun phrase acting as an appositive. Though you rid this sentence of this noun phrase, the meaning does not change significantly. Therefore, you may as well treat it as a parenthetical element.

b) Jeff's ambition, to become a famous footballer, is within his reach.

Again, âto become a famous footballerâ is an appositive phrase all right, but this time it's an infinitive phrase and to be exact, an adjective phrase that modifies âambitionâ. Some say that this phrase in this case is a modifier essential to the meaning. Removing it may more or less influence the meaning. But there are others voicing different opinions. I'd like to adhere to keeping the phrase.

*âfootballerâ; did you just quote it or is it your own vocabulary? Just curious.
In my part of the world, we call them football players.

II Gerund Phrase vs. Participial Phrase

FLYING ABOVE THE LAKE at this time of night seems a little dangerous. (gerund phrase)

A gerund is an embodiment of a verb and a noun all together, but in reality acts like a noun. âFlying above the lakeâ is a noun phrase, and at the same time the subject of this sentence. Naturally, âflyingâ is an unmistakable gerund.

RUNNING DOWN THE STREET, Alicia tripped and fell. (participial phrase)

Yes, âRunning down the streetâ, here, is a participial phrase. How do I know? You can assume without much difficulty that this is a shortened form from an adverbial clause. Namely, âAs she was running down the streetâ should be the archetype.

She was running, and she is 'a running girl'. Remember the way I explained before (i.e. a sleeping baby)? It is easy to find out. You can apply the same principle to the rest of sentences as well.

Cramming for tests is not a good idea. (gerund phrase)

Working around the clock, the firefighters finally put out the last of the California brush fires. (participial phrase)

III Phrases Classification

You are forcing me a hard labor. haha,,

I may need much time and a considerable cyber space of this board to explain all the classification in detail. Iâm afraid I canât do it all at the moment, but I am going to give you the principal idea about them. You may come back again and again, and Iâd be happy to help you. Only some basics for today.

Depending on linguists, the terms they use widely vary. Some people jokingly say there are as many terms as the number of grammarians. Couldnât I have mine in my own right? I dare not! But I will follow some of the most common and conventional classifications.

Let me make a few simple sentences to make them easy to compare with each other.

1. Adverbial Phrase

There are many books ON THE TABLE.

The phrase âon the tableâ is classified as an adverbial.
It modifies the verb. Let me rephrase it this way. Many books are ON THE TABLE. The relation between the verb, âareâ and the phrase, âon the tableâ becomes very conspicuous.

2. Adjective Phrase

For convenienceâs sake, I am using a similarly worded expression.

The books ON THE TABLE are all mine.

The phrase retains the same shape, but the function of it is quite different.
This phrase, âon the tableâ is modifying âthe booksâ. One of the functions of adjectives is modifying the nouns. Thus, âon the tableâ in this particular situation is called an adjective phrase.

*Some linguists classify such phrases including adverbials and adjectives as prepositional phrases.

3. Noun Phrase

ORGANIZING THE BOOKS on the table is a piece of cake.

As I mentioned above, a gerund is considered as a noun. This phrase, âOrganizing the booksâ is essentially a collection of nouns. Together, they form the subject of the sentence. As you know, only nouns and pronouns are eligible for subjects.

There are so may other patterns and different variants that need to be explained, but one step at a time is sometimes the more efficient way of learning. That is about all for today. Camilus, I thank you for asking me. Expecting more from you, see ya!

Mirapence