The verb, the nucleus of the verbal predicate, is the key component of the verbal phrase.
Verb phrase is an expression that consists of two concepts, each of which must be mastered separately to facilitate understanding of the complete notion and understand what it refers to in practice.
Syntagma , say grammar experts, is a structure or set of words that, in a sentence, acts as a unit and has a nucleus as a central element along with other components that influence, complement, modify or condition it. Verbal , also on the grammatical level, refers to that which is linked to the verb . From these definitions it is easy to determine that a verbal phrase is a coherent group of terms within a sentence in which a verb stands as the nucleus.
Both the verbal phrase and the noun phrase , together with their complements and the functions they assume in each case, are essential to construct clear and well-organized sentences . Simultaneously with the learning regarding foundations, types, functions, representation and grammatical theories that are linked to the verbal phrase, it is necessary to investigate what the verbal phrase is like and what particularities it shows depending on whether it is Germanic , Romance , etc. languages.
Elements and structure of the verbal phrase
A verbal phrase is characterized by presenting a certain structure and specific elements. For it to exist, there must necessarily be a verb , which, regardless of being conjugated in a certain way (imperative, subjunctive or indicative) and in a specific time (future, present or past), must have, without exception, agreement in terms of number. and person with the nucleus of the noun phrase . Examples that help understand the structure of a verbal phrase : "The children created crafts in the recycling workshop" ( "they created" is the core of the verbal phrase ), "The event went better than expected" (the verb " came out" is the core of the verbal phrase ), "The footballers took advantage of their day off surrounded by friends and family" (in this case, the core of the verbal phrase is "they took advantage" ), "The writer will present her most recent work at the Fair of the Book of Madrid» (the core of the verbal phrase ).
In this framework, it is worth highlighting that the most prominent function of the verbal phrase is recognized as the mission of forming the predicate of a sentence, which is related to the subject .
There are also accessories that come into play. Specialists in this topic indicate that, if there are copulative or semi-pulative verbs assuming the role of verbal nucleus , constructions appear in the verbal phrase that range from prepositions and adverbs to pronouns , adjectives and nouns , among others.
When focusing on the complements of the verb, the existence of verbal attributes should not be overlooked either. These syntactic constituents are present in the so-called nominal predicate , where a copulative verb usually appears next to the attribute .
It is essential, at this point, to enrich knowledge about the theory and use of the verbal phrase by learning about the verbal predicate , verbal complements and verbal agreement . For this reason, it is recommended to educate yourself about the direct object , the circumstantial object and the indirect object , to list some alternatives.
Syntactically analyzing a sentence involves detecting the subject and the predicate, identifying the verb, recognizing complements, etc.
Varieties
There are different kinds of verbal phrases , each with particular features.
Within this set, we distinguish, to point out a specific case, the simple verbal phrase , whose main characteristic is to have a single nucleus and thus refer to a single action.
The compound verbal phrase , on the other hand, is recognized for covering at least two nuclei, thus expressing more than one pair of actions. A third classification accounts for the existence of a variety called complex verbal phrase (as is considered, to point out a specific case by way of reference, the verbal periphrasis ).
Beyond knowing that there are multiple options in this regard, it is constructive to remember what syntactic analysis consists of, and how it is done. This process varies depending on what type of statement is examined: working on a simple sentence is not the same as identifying the elements that appear in a compound sentence , for example.
There are several types of verbal phrases: simple, compound and complex are recognized.
Verbs that can appear within the verb phrase
Different types of verbs can appear within the verbal phrase . First of all, it is interesting to mention that it is possible to use infinitives (as defined by the non-personal forms of verbs) in these structures.
The possibilities also include the recognition of modal verbs , auxiliaries (present in verbal periphrases and passive voice , among others), transitives , intransitives (those to which neither a direct nor an indirect object is associated) and copulatives (such as The verbs seem, estar and ser are cataloged in Spanish, which are accompanied by an attribute but do not admit a direct object ).
In "Read novels in the school library" , to propose a sentence as a practical example, "read" constitutes the nucleus of the verbal phrase and is modified by a circumstantial complement of place ( "in the school library" ).