The Noun Phrase and the Verb Phrase also break down into their Constituents, which provide a template for word order.

• The Noun Phrase in turn breaks down into a Noun (mandatory), preceded by an Adjective (optional), and a Determiner (sometimes). The Verb Phrase includes an Auxiliary (mandatory but not always evident), a Verb (mandatory), and another Noun or Noun Phrase (optional).

  There is a linguistic "tree" of sorts in the graphic version which you can observe if you need a break from this.

Previous slide

Next slide

Back to first slide

View graphic version