Editing English grammar (section)

====Phrases<span class="anchor" id="Verb phrases"></span>====
A verb together with its dependents, excluding its [[subject (grammar)|subject]], may be identified as a [[verb phrase]] (although this concept is not acknowledged in all theories of grammar<ref>[[Dependency grammar]]s reject the concept of finite verb phrases as clause constituents, regarding the subject as a dependent of the verb as well. See the [[verb phrase]] article for more information.</ref>). A verb phrase headed by a [[finite verb]] may also be called a [[predicate (grammar)|predicate]]. The dependents may be [[object (grammar)|object]]s, complements, and modifiers (adverbs or [[adverbial phrase]]s). In English, objects and complements nearly always come after the verb; a [[direct object]] precedes other complements such as prepositional phrases, but if there is an [[indirect object]] as well, expressed without a preposition, then that precedes the direct object: ''give me the book'', but ''give the book to me''. Adverbial modifiers generally follow objects, although other positions are possible (see under {{slink||Adverbs}} below). Certain verb–modifier combinations, particularly when they have independent meaning (such as ''take on'' and ''get up''), are known as "[[phrasal verb]]s".

For details of possible patterns, see [[English clause syntax]]. See the [[English clause syntax#Non-finite clauses|Non-finite clauses]] section of that article for verb phrases headed by non-finite verb forms, such as infinitives and participles.