Лекции по теоретической грамматике английского языка для студентов

2. Types of phrases 
Linguists discuss different classifications of phrases, all of them having their 
own advantages.
The 
traditional classification of phrases
is based on the part of speech 
status of the phrase constituents, therefore nounal, verbal, adjectival, adverbial, etc. 
phrases are singled out.
Phrases can also be classified according to the nominative value of their 
constituents. According to 
Prof. Blokh
, syntagmatic groupings of notional words 
alone, syntagmatic groupings of notional words with functional words, and 
syntagmatic groupings of functional words alone should be differentiated, 
therefore three major types are identified: notional, formative and functional.
According to the 
theory worked out by
the American linguist 
L. 
Bloomfield
, phrases can be classified into two groups: endocentric and 
exocentric. The former include phrases one or any constituent part of which can 
function in a broader structure as the whole group.
Eg. 
Red flower – He gave me a red flower. He gave me a flower.
Flowers and chocolate. – He gave me flowers. He gave me chocolate. 
As for exocentric structures, according to Bloomfield, none of their 
constituent parts can replace the whole group in a broader structure.
Eg. 
He gave, to the girl.
Endocentric structures are further divided into subordinate 
(red flower) 
and 
coordinate 
(flowers and chocolate)
. Exocentric structures are divided into 
predicative 
(He gave)
and prepositional 
(to the girl)
. Bloomfield’s classification 
was further developed by his followers. It was made more detailed. Some new 
types of phrases were singled out. A significant drawback of this scheme is that it 
is not based on a single principle applied at every stage of the classification to all 
discriminated types of structures.

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