A group is similar to a PHRASE, a term which is also quiet familiar in non-technical discussions of language; we shall use both these terms, with ʻgroupʼ as the more general one.
- Halliday (1985), a pag.25

[...] a group is in some respects equivalent to a WORD COMPLEX – that is, a combination of words built up on the basis of a particular logical relation. This is why it is called a GROUP (= ʻgroup of wordsʼ).
- Halliday (1985), a pag.159

[...] A group – verbal group, adverbial group, nominal group – could be interpreted as a WORD COMPLEX: that is to say, a Head word together with other words that modify it. This is why the term GROUP came to be used. It meant ʻgroup of wordsʼ, or ʻword groupʼ and it suggests how the group no doubt evolved, by expansion on outwards from the word [...] Treating the group simply as a ʻword complexʼ does not account for all these various aspects of its meaning. It is for this reason that we recognize the group as a distinct rank in the grammar.
- Halliday (1985), a pag.192

[…] a group is an enlarged strain of word.
- Halliday (1985), a pag.XXI