Just as N projects an NP, V projects a VP. A simple test environment for VP is given in (72).
(72) The student .
(73) lists just a few of the possible phrases that can occur in the underlined position.
(73) snored, ran, sang, loved music, walked the dog through the park, lifted 50 pounds, thought Tom is honest, warned us that storms were coming, etc.
These phrases all have a V as their head – as projections of V, they form VP. VP can be characterized by the rule in (74), to a first level of analysis:
(74) VP--V (NP) (PP/S)
This simple VP rule says that a VP can consist of an obligatory V followed by an optional NP and then any number of PPs or an S. The rule thus does not generate ill-formed VPs such as these:
(75) *leave the meeting sing, *the leave meeting, *leave on time the meeting, . . .