Grammar: Groups and phrases

Overview

What do groups and phrases do?

The different types of groups and phrases all have different functions or different roles to play in the clause:

Noun groups tell us 'who' or 'what' are the Participants in a clause. Noun groups typically represent people or things involved in the activity represented by the clause as a whole. For example, 'what' was drifting aimlessly across the harbour? the old junk.

Verb groups tell us what sort of activity is represented in the clause. The verb group tells us what is happening. The verb group in the example above, was drifting, tells us what was happening, ie the Process represented by the clause.

Adverb groups tell us about the Circumstances in which the activity takes place. They answer questions such as 'how?', 'when?', or 'where?. In the example above, 'how' was the boat drifting? aimlessly.

Prepositional phrases have a similar function to adverbial groups in the clause. They also answer such questions as 'how?', 'when?', 'where?' or 'why?'. For example, 'where' was the boat drifting? around the harbour.

Note that the terms Circumstance, Participants and Process are written with a capital to remind us that they are functional terms.