Verb Phrases

The Verb Phrase (VP)

The distribution of the verb phrase

A VP can occur

• following a noun phrase: The teacher __.
• following an auxiliary: The teacher can __.
• following the infinitive marker to: Chis wants to __.

A VP can be substituted by the pro-form do so.

Pat [read the newspaper] and Chris did so, too.
Pat is [reading the newspaper] and Chris is doing so, too.
Pat is reading the newspaper in the kitchen ...
... and Chris is doing so, too. (doing so refers to reading the newspaper in the kitchen)
... and Chris is doing so in the living room. (doing so refers to reading the newspaper)

The internal structure of the verb phrase

• A VP must contain a verb.
• A VP can contain:
• an NP (in accusative)
• a PP (in particular, a PP starting with to, for, about)
• a subordinate clause introduced with a complementizer
• adverbials