[简答题]
What are endocentric constructions and exocentric constructions? Exemplify the two notions.
Endocentric construction is one whose distribution is functionally equivalent to that of one or more of its constituents, i.e., a word or group of words, which serves as a definable Center or Head. Typical endocentric constructions are noun phrases, like "poor John" with "John" as its head and the "three small children" with "children" as its head. Endocentric constructions may be further divided into two subtypes: subordinate and coordinate constructions.
Exocentric construction refers to a group of syntactically related words where none of the words is functiverbonally equivalent to the group as a whole. Exocentric construction usually includes basic sentence, prepositional phrase, predicat (verb+object) construction, and connective (be + complement) constructions. For example, the underlined parts, "Alice smiled.", "Tom hid behind the door", "Joseph kicked the ball", "John seemed angry" are exocentric constructions.
