Download noun phrases modifiers and adjectives

As you come in …
What information do you take from this road sign?
What else could it suggest?
How does the language achieve this?
Learning Objectives
• To explore nouns and modifiers
• To analyse the impact of modifiers on
meaning
• This lesson references the Grammatical and
Morphological framework.
• This framework covers the terminology about the
grammatical classification of words e.g nouns,
adjectives and verbs.
LO: To explore nouns and noun modifiers
What is a noun phrase?
• Complete the code-cracker.
• Write down an example of a noun phrase
• You can work in pairs.
• Be prepared to share what you have found.
• Three minutes.
LO: To explore nouns and modifiers
A noun phrase is a word or group of words in a
sentence that acts like a noun.
You could say, "I met Joan."
In this sentence the word Joan is a noun.
You could replace Joan with a group of words (a phrase) and say,
"I met your sister."
Your sister is a phrase (a group of words without a finite verb),
and it functions as a noun in the sentence.
So we call it a noun phrase.
LO: To explore nouns and noun modifiers
• All the kids were sleeping.
• The boy in the blue jeans
says he'll do it.
• He bought her a beautiful
red dress.
• Julia was thinking about
her friends back home.
• Will you talk with these
rude people?
• My dog is my best friend.
• Mum baked tasty
chocolate cookies.
LO: To explore nouns and noun modifiers
• Any word that describes a noun is called a
modifier.
• Define the terms “pre-modification” and “postmodification”.
• Five minutes.
• Be prepare to share your definitions.
• Add to your notes.
***Qualifiers
• Post-modification is also known as
qualification; it is when extra information is
added after the noun itself to add detail or
clarify some aspect of it.
The expensive television in the corner is being
sold tomorrow.
LO: To explore nouns and modifiers
• Add modifiers to the following nouns:
Rail
Nature
Door
School
• Be clear which are pre and which are post modifiers.
• Which word class are they? (Noun, adjective, adverb etc.)
• How do these modifiers affect the word’s meaning?
LO: To explore nouns and modifiers
Think about the type of words that are modifiers:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Descriptive adjectives
Size or distance adjective
Comparative and superlative adjectives
Age adjectives
Colour adjectives
Noun or verb modifiers (= words from other classes which do the
job of an adjective)
• Write these in your books and write an example for each one.
• Work in groups.
• Five minutes.
Predicate and attributive adjectives
Adjectives in the first position - before the noun - are called
ATTRIBUTIVE adjectives. Those in the second position - after the
noun - are called PREDICATIVE adjectives. Notice that
predicative adjectives do not occur immediately after the noun.
Instead, they follow a verb.
the blue sea
~ the sea is
blue
the old man
~ the man is
old
happy
children
~ the
children are
happy
Postpositive adjectives
•
Sometimes an adjective does occur immediately after a noun, especially in certain
institutionalised expressions:
the Governor General
the Princess Royal
times past
•
We refer to these as POSTPOSITIVE adjectives. Postposition is obligatory when the
adjective modifies a pronoun:
something useful
everyone present
those responsible
•
Postpositive adjectives are commonly found together with superlative, attributive
adjectives:
the shortest route possible
the worst conditions imaginable
the best hotel available
•
Most adjectives can freely occur in both the attributive and the predicative positions.
However, a small number of adjectives are restricted to one position only. For example,
the adjective main (the main reason) can only occur in the attributive position
(predicative: *the reason is main). Conversely, the adjective afraid (the child was afraid)
can only occur predicatively (attributive: *an afraid child).
Identify the noun phrases
•The Asian economic crisis of 1997-1998 unleashed
unprecedented policy and political changes in Asia.
With many governments’ capacity to manage their
economies discredited and the pernicious effects of
the lack of protection system exposed,
governments adopted transformative policy
changes.
•One of the great fundamental problems facing
modern medicine is the seemingly inevitable
emergence of resistance to drugs such as antibiotics
by bacteria, or the resistance to chemotherapy by
cancer cells.
Write the noun phrases in your books
• The Asian economic crisis of 1997-1998
unleashed unprecedented policy and political
changes in Asia. With many governments’
capacity to manage their economies discredited
and the pernicious effects of the lack of
protection system exposed, governments
adopted transformative policy changes.
• •One of the great fundamental problems facing
modern medicine is the seemingly inevitable
emergence of resistance to drugs such as
antibiotics by bacteria, or the resistance to
chemotherapy by cancer cells.
Pick apart the following noun phrases:
• The Asian economic crisis of 1997-1998
• One of the great fundamental problems facing
modern medicine
• the seemingly inevitable emergence of resistance
to drugs such as antibiotics by bacteria
HL: To analyse the impact of modifiers on
meaning
Write an analysis of the two texts on the blog
focusing on the use of nouns and modifiers.
• Explain how the choice of nouns and the
modifiers used affect the meaning of the text.
• Why have they been used?
• How is the writer’s (text producer’s) intention
achieved?
• Fifteen minutes.
LO: To analyse the impact of modifiers on
meaning
Swap and peer review:
• Have the nouns been correctly labelled?
• Have the modifiers been correctly identified
and linked to their effects?
• Has the effect on the reader been discussed?
• Has the writer’s intention been discussed?