A phrase...

Question

"Some MPs, particularly in leave-voting constituencies, believe Labour has little choice but to accede to the demands of voters who want to see controls on immigration – a phrase Ed Miliband was criticised for plastering on mugs during the 2015 general election campaign."

(The Guardian.)

Is "a phrase Ed Miliband was criticised for plastering on mugs during the 2015 general election campaign" a noun phrase in the sentence above?

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I think it is.

GPY · Accepted Answer

Yes.

(I am not 100% sure that it is logically formed. It is a tricky one.)

BillJ · Answer

Some MPs, particularly in leave-voting constituencies, believe Labour has little choice but to accede to the demands of voters who want to see controls on immigration – [a phrase Ed Miliband was criticised for for plastering on mugs during the 2015 general election campaign].

Yes, it's an NP with an embedded relative clause modifying "phrase", though it needs a

Yes, it's an NP with an embedded relative clause modifying "phrase", though it needs a further prepositional "for", as indicated, to be grammatical.

Ordinarily, we might expect an NP like this to function as a supplementary appositive, but that's unlikely here since it's unclear here exactly what the NP "a phrase" refers to.

Probably yet another example of poor editing by The Guardian.

A phrase...

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