Phrase
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{{Wiktionary|phrase}}
In [[grammar]], a '''phrase'''  is a group of [[word]]s that functions as a single unit in the [[syntax]] of a [[Sentence (linguistics)|sentence]]. 

For example ''the house at the end of the street'' (example 1) is a phrase. It acts like a noun. It contains the phrase ''at the end of the street'' (example 2), a prepositional phrase which acts like an adjective. Example 2 could be replaced by ''white'', to make the phrase ''the white house''. Examples 1 and 2 contain the phrase ''the end of the street'' (example 3) which acts like a noun. It could be replaced by ''the cross-roads'' to give ''the house at the cross-roads''. 

Most phrases have a or central word which defines the type of phrase. This word is called the [[head (linguistics)|head]] of the phrase. In English the head is often the first word of the phrase. Some phrases, however, can be headless. For example, ''the rich'' is a noun phrase composed of a determiner and an adjective, but no noun.

Phrases may be classified by the type of head they take

*[[Prepositional phrase]] (PP) with a [[preposition]] as head (e.g. ''in love'', ''over the rainbow''). Languages that use [[postposition]]s instead have [[postpositional phrase]]s. The two types are sometimes commonly referred to as [[adpositional phrase]]s.
*[[Noun phrase]] (NP) with a [[noun]] as head (e.g. ''the black cat'', ''a cat on the mat'')
*[[Verb phrase]] (VP) with a [[verb]] as head (e.g. ''eat cheese'', ''jump up and down'')
*[[Adjectival phrase]] with an [[adjective]] as head (e.g. ''full of toys'')
*[[Adverbial phrase]] with [[adverb]] as head (e.g. ''very carefully'')

== Formal definition ==
A '''phrase''' is a [[syntax|syntactic]] structure which has syntactic properties derived from its [[head (linguistics)|head]].

== Complexity ==
A complex phrase consists of several words, whereas a simple phrase consists of only one word. This terminology is especially often used with [[verb]] phrases: 
* simple past and present are simple verb, which require just one verb
* complex verb have one or two [[grammatical aspect|aspect]]s added, hence require additional two or three words

"Complex", which is phrase-level, is often confused with "[[compound (linguistics)|compound]]", which is [[word]]-level. However, there are certain phenomena that formally seem to be phrases but semantically are more like compounds, like "women's magazines", which has the form of a possessive noun phrase, but which refers (just like a compound) to one specific [[lexeme]] (i.e. a magazine for women and not some magazine owned by a woman).

== Semiotic approaches to the concept of "phrase" ==
In more [[semiotic]] approaches to language, such as the more cognitivist versions of [[construction grammar]], a phrasal structure is not only a certain formal combination of word types whose features are inherited from the head. Here each phrasal structure also expresses some type of [[concept]]ual content, be it specific or abstract.

== See also ==

* [[Phrase structure rules]]
* [[Sentence (linguistics)]]

==External links==
*[http://www.online-utility.org/text/analyzer.jsp Online utility] - which finds most frequent phrases and words from arbitrary text.
*[http://www.phraseexpress.com PhraseExpress Autotext] - Windows Freeware which manages common phrases

[[Category:Syntactic categories]]
[[Category:Phrases| ]]

[[br:Rannfrazenn]]
[[bg:Фонетично членение на речта]]
[[ca:Sintagma]]
[[da:Frase]]
[[de:Phrase (Linguistik)]]
[[es:Sintagma]]
[[eo:Frazo]]
[[fr:Syntagme]]
[[gl:Sintagma]]
[[ko:구 (언어)]]
[[id:Frasa]]
[[it:Sintagma]]
[[he:צירוף (בלשנות)]]
[[nl:Zinsdeel]]
[[ja:句]]
[[pt:Sintagma]]
[[ru:Фраза]]
[[sq:Fraza]]
[[simple:Phrase]]
[[fi:Lauseke (kielitiede)]]
[[sv:Fras (grammatik)]]
[[th:วลี]]
[[uk:Cловосполучення]]
[[zh:词组]]
[[yi:פראזע (לינגוויסטיק)]]