pro-form (n.)

A term used in some models of GRAMMATICAL description to refer collectively to the ITEMS in a SENTENCE which substitute for other items or CONSTRUCTIONS. The central class of examples (from which the term is derived by analogy) is PRONOUNS, which substitute for NOUN PHRASES. Other pro-forms replace ADJECTIVE phrases (e.g. so in John is very tall and so is Mary), PREPOSITIONAL phrases (e.g. then, there), VERB phrases (e.g. do in I like films and John does too), and even whole CLAUSES or sentences (e.g. so as in I said so). Terminology such as pro-verb, pro-nominal, pro-locative, pro-NP, etc., is therefore likely to be encountered.