In the process of mental, and then speech activity of a person, words are combined into phrases and sentences. In linguistics, there is a whole section that deals with the study of phrases and sentences, as well as their structure. This section is called the syntax, which in Greek means "construction, combination, order." By studying the syntax, you can get an idea of what a phrase is and, in particular, what is a whole phrase.
Collocation
The phrase is the minimum unit of syntax and is a combination of two or more significant words connected with each other on the basis of a subordinate connection (beautiful evening, house at the pond, it is difficult to explain, etc.). Each phrase has a main and dependent word. From the main word it is always possible to ask a question to the dependent. For example, a toy (what?) For children, a walk (where?) In the park. In contrast to the word, the phrase names the phenomenon of reality more specifically and accurately (the house is a cozy house). The phrase differs from the sentence in that it cannot express a complete thought and, as a result, does not carry the intonation of the message. United in the meaning of the phrase become the material for constructing sentences.
Words in a phrase establish a semantic and grammatical connection between themselves. Grammatical is expressed by ending (interesting book) or ending with a preposition (swim in the pool). There are also phrases in which only the semantic connection is expressed. In such cases, the dependent word is immutable. This can be an adverb (read thoughtfully), an indefinite form of the verb (the desire to win), or participle (read without breaking away).
It is important to remember that the following combinations of words are not phrases:
subject with the predicate (the girl writes);
homogeneous members connected by a connective connection (table and chair; beautiful, but evil);
a combination of a significant word with a service word (near the forest, as if in a dream);
complex forms of words (I will sing, less fascinating, the most beautiful);
idioms (rain like a bucket, work rolling up his sleeves).
Types of relationships in phrases
The types of subordinate connection by which words are combined in phrases are called coordination, control and adjacency. In the first case, the dependent word takes the form of the main one, i.e., it agrees with it in gender, number, case or face (blue skirt, blue skirt, blue skirt). Under control, the dependent word takes a definite form and does not change it when the form of the main word changes (write with a pen, write with a pen, write with a pen). When adjoining, the dependent word is unchangeable and connects to the main only semantically (pleated skirt, look strictly, the desire to hide).
Types of Phrases
By their structure, phrases are divided into simple and complex. The first consists of two independent words (evening walk, scary to remember). Sophisticated are spread in additional words (I had a rest in the summer in the camp, I watched an interesting movie).
Depending on the part of the speech, the main words are distinguished by verbs (fly high, send a letter), inscribed (tree house, written response) and adverbial (close to the river, high in the sky).
According to the type of semantic connectedness, free and not free (whole) phrases are distinguished. In free phrases independent words are combined, each of which has a full lexical meaning. Such phrases can be easily decomposed. Integral collocations are characterized by indecomposability into components.
Whole phrases
Integral phrases, examples of which are quite common, are a combination of words, one of which (usually the main thing) has a weakened lexical meaning, and the other complements it. Thus, the dependent word becomes the main in the semantic relation. As a result, a close relationship is formed within such a phrase. As members of a sentence, whole phrases are not divided into separate ones, but are one member of a sentence.
Examples of complete phrases: three cats, seven kids, each of those present, a glass of water, father and son.
Integral Collocation Models
By the nature of the relations of components, several models of integral phrases in Russian are distinguished.
Quantitatively-named. Here, the main word carries a quantitative characteristic, and the dependent one designates the subject and is used in the genitive case (three tankers, one hundred rubles, so much time).
The phrase with the meaning of selectivity. Here the main word is a pronoun or a numeral, and dependent - a noun or pronoun in the genitive case with the preposition "from" (one of the friends, each of the speakers, someone from the crowd).
Phrases with metaphorical meaning. In this case, the main word is used in a figurative meaning and only indicates the similarity of an object with something, and the dependent word is used in a direct meaning (a mirror of a pond, a pile of hair).
The phrase with the meaning of uncertainty. The main word is expressed by an indefinite pronoun, and the dependent one by an agreed adjective or participle (something pleasant, someone dancing).
Collocations with the meaning of compatibility. The main word is the noun or pronoun in the nominative case, and the dependent word is the noun in the instrumental case with the preposition "c". It is important to remember that such phrases can be considered an example of whole phrases only when they are subject in the sentence, and the predicate is used in the plural (mother and daughter go for a walk, my brother and I played chess).
Contextually integral phrases. Such phrases become integral only in a certain context (a guy with brown eyes, a man of short stature).
Phrases in compound predicates (began to talk, looked rested, wanted to come).
Models of integral phrases, examples of which are given above, are basic in the classification of indivisible phrases.
The method of determining the whole phrase
Sentences with integral phrases are found constantly, so it is important to be able to distinguish between phrases free and not free. To do this, you need to convert the phrase with the connection adjacency into the phrase with the connection coordination. If at the same time the lexical meaning of the phrase does not change, then it must be considered free (herd of horses - horse herd, apartment of parents - parental apartment). If the meaning of the phrase changes during such a transformation, the phrase can be considered integral (tea mug - tea mug). It should be noted that some phrases do not lend themselves to such changes at all (a kilogram of cucumbers, a meter of velvet).
Thus, the knowledge of what an integral phrase is and the determination of the nature of the relationship between the words in the phrase become the basis for the correct analysis of not only simple but also complex sentences.