Head

The head of a phrase is the word in the phrase that carries the main meaning of the phrase.

Characteristics

 * The word class of a phrase will always be the same as the word class of the head of the phrase.


 * A phrase ALWAYS has a head.


 * A phrase SOMETIMES has modifiers too.

Examples

 * "The man" is a noun phrase
 * head: man (noun)
 * modifier: the (article)
 * ... "angry at the government" is an adjectival phrase
 * head: angry (adjective)
 * modifier: at the government (prepositional phrase)