The worst hit
The south of the country is the worst hit by the recession. What is the grammatical form and function of "the worst hit" in the example?
Top answer
"The worst hit" is not a single syntactic unit, not a constituent. It is part of the verb phase predicate of the complement clause "the worst hit by the recession" functioning as complement of "is" "The" is a determinative modifying "worst" and the adverb phrase "the worst" is modifying the verb "hit". Note that "is the worst hit by the recession" is a passive verb phrase.
- "The worst hit" is not a single syntactic unit, not a constituent.
- It is part of the verb phase predicate of the complement clause "the worst hit by the recession" functioning as complement of "is" "The" is a determinative modifying "worst" and the adverb phrase "the worst" is modifying the verb "hit".
- Note that "is the worst hit by the recession" is a passive verb phrase.
- Compare: The recession hit the south of the country the worst.
- [active] The south of the country was the worst hit be the recession .
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"The worst hit" is not a single syntactic unit, not a constituent. It is part of the verb phase predicate of the complement clause "the worst hit by the recession" functioning as complement of "is"
"The" is a determinative modifying "worst" and the adverb phrase "the worst" is modifying the verb "hit".
Note that "is the worst hit by the recession" is a passive verb phrase. Compare:
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