In
linguistics, a
verb phrase (VP) is a
syntactic unit composed of at least one
verb and its dependents
objects,
complements and other modifiersbut not always including the
subject. Thus in the sentence
A fat man put the money quickly in the box, the words
put the money quickly in the box is a verb
phrase; it consists of the verb
put and its dependents, but not the subject
a fat man. A verb phrase is similar to what is considered a
predicate in more traditional grammars.