determiner

the head of a Determiner Phrase, a closed class item taking an NP complement defining its definiteness. Feature composition: [+F, –N, +V]

distribution

the set of positions that the grammar determines to be possible for a given category. Words that distribute in the same way will belong to the same categories, words that distribute differently will belong to different categories.

phrasal category

a category of phrases as opposed to words.

phrase

a group of words that can undergo syntactic operations (e.g. movement) as a unit.

preposition phrase (PP)

a phrase headed by a preposition. It usually takes a DP complement but certain types of CPs can also appear in the complement position of PPs. PPs themselves can be complements of different constituents such as verbs, nouns and adjectives.

pronoun

a DP that usually refers to another DP, but contains only the grammatical features (number, person, gender) of it (I, you, he, she, etc.). Its interpretation depends on linguistic factors or the situation. Within the DP pronouns occupy the D head position, as they cannot be modified by determiners even on very special readings (as opposed to grammaticality of the John I met yesterday)

tree diagram

a representation of grammatical structure containing nodes connected by branches.

verb phrase (VP)

a phrase headed by a verb. It is in the VP together with the vp(s) that the basic argument structure of the clause is formed, thus, theta-role assignment takes place here. The specifier position of the VP is occupied by the constituent bearing the theme/patient theta role. In passive structures this constituent has to move from the specifier position of the verb to the specifier position of IP in order to get Case. A VP can have different types of complements such as a DP, CP, IP, PP.

word category

a set of expressions that share certain linguistic features, a grouping of words that cluster together, e.g. noun, verb. See also functional category, thematic category.

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Basic English Syntax with Exercises

2.3.4 Single-word phrases

There is an important point we should make before finishing this chapter. We have claimed that elements which have the same distribution have the same categorial status. We have also seen cases where phrases can be replaced by a single word. This leads us to the conclusion that these words have the status of the phrases they replace. This might sound contradictory, but it is not. The fact is that phrases can consist of one or more words. Thus, while smile is a verb, it is also a VP in the following sentence:

(115)the Cheshire cat [VP smiled]

Furthermore, while a pronoun is a determiner, it is also a DP in the following sentence:

(116)I never knew [DP that]

We have also seen that the word there can replace prepositional phrases, and so not only is it a word, it is also a PP:

(117)we don’t go [PP there]

The situation is easy enough to represent in terms of a tree diagram:

(118)

In such trees the dual status of these elements as both word and phrasal categories is clearly represented.

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