Definition
An inflectional phrase is a phrase which contains as its head an abstract category called Infl (short for 'inflection'). the Infl head bears inflectional properties such as tense and person, and may or may not be realised as separate words in the surface representation of the phrase. The other usual components of the IP are a Verb phrase (VP) which is the complement of the phrase, and a Noun phrase (NP) which is structurally the specifier of the phrase, and structurally the subject of the phrase. In this analysis, every simple sentence (i.e. one which is not coordinated) is an IP.
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Famous quotes containing the word definition:
“... if, as women, we accept a philosophy of history that asserts that women are by definition assimilated into the male universal, that we can understand our past through a male lens—if we are unaware that women even have a history—we live our lives similarly unanchored, drifting in response to a veering wind of myth and bias.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“It’s a rare parent who can see his or her child clearly and objectively. At a school board meeting I attended . . . the only definition of a gifted child on which everyone in the audience could agree was “mine.””
—Jane Adams (20th century)
“Although there is no universal agreement as to a definition of life, its biological manifestations are generally considered to be organization, metabolism, growth, irritability, adaptation, and reproduction.”
—The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition, the first sentence of the article on “life” (based on wording in the First Edition, 1935)