Noun Phrases. A noun phrase is made up of a noun and all its modifiers. It can function in a sentence as a subject, an object, or a complement. Some noun phrases begin with an infinitive (to go) or a gerund (going); this type of noun phrase is always singular: To sail the seven seas was her lifelong dream. verb phrase consists of a main verb plus one or more helping verbs, its complements, objects, or other modifiers, and functions syntactically as a verb. Some common helping verbs are: 1  to be (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been). 2  to have (has, have, had). 3  to do (do, does, did).