Download WHAT IS A NOUN PHRASE? Often a noun phrase is just a noun or

WHAT IS A NOUN PHRASE?
Often a noun phrase is just a noun or a pronoun:
People like to have money.
It is getting late.
However, a noun phrase can also be a whole group of words. Their function is to describe the
noun (grammatically called the head). Information can be added before or after the head in
different ways.
1- MODIFIERS PLACED BEFORE THE HEAD:
A) DETERMINERS
an article (the, a, an)
a quantifier (some, few, a few, many, etc.)
a possessive (my, your, whose, the man's, etc.): the Queen's arrival*
a demonstrative (this, that, these, those)
a numeral (one, two, three etc.)
a question word (which, whose, how many, etc.): whose car is it?
B) ADJECTIVES
When several adjectives are placed before a noun they need to be in a specific order:
Commas are optional between the adjectives, but we normally use them in long sequences:
a lovely, long, cool, refreshing drink
a tall(,) handsome cowboy
C) COMPOUNDS
A compound noun contains two or more words which join together to make a single noun.
Compound nouns can be words written together, words that are hyphenated, or separate words.
Hyphens are becoming less common and some combinations can be written in different ways. To
check the spelling we should see a good dictionary.
Compounds can be built up with the combination of nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs and
prepositions in various ways. Just two examples here:
A NOUN BEFORE A NOUN
- A noun can modify another noun when placed before it. Sometimes they are written as two
words, sometimes as a single word, sometimes with a hyphen:
horse race, peanut butter, keyboard, sheepdog, girl-friend or girlfriend
- Even if the meaning is plural the noun acting as a modifier stays in singular:
cigarette packets, toothbrush.
- Exceptions: A sports car / two sports cars; a clothes shop / several clothes shops
- A group of two nouns can modify a third noun, these a fourth and so on:
a road accident research centre
AN ADJECTIVE BEFORE A NOUN
Examples: full moon, black board
An adjective can also modify a noun when placed before it to make a compound noun with a
hyphen.
I saw a man-eating alligator = an alligator that eats men.
Notice the difference when the hyphen is not there:
D) ADVERBS + ADJECTIVE COMBINATIONS
An environmentally friendly product
E) MODIFIERS INVOLVING NUMBERS
When expressions of measurement, amount and quantity are used as modifiers of the head of the
noun phrase, they are normally singular: a ten-mile walk; a twenty-pound note, a three-month-old
baby.
The 's structure * is often used in expressions of time: a four days' journey; a two hours' delay
(here the plurals are used)
2- MODIFIERS PLACED AFTER THE HEAD:
Some words and phrases come after the noun. These are called postmodifiers. A noun can be
postmodified in several ways:
A) WITH A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
a man with a gun
the boy in the striped pyjamas
I hate the thought of leaving
the name of the street
the arrival of the Queen*
B) WITH AN INFINITIVE
Modifiers with an infinitive are very common after indefinite pronouns and adverbs:
You should take something to read.
I need somewhere to sleep.
I’ve got no decent shoes to wear.
Infinitives can also follow nouns that are related to verbs that have an infinitive pattern (see unit
2.2):
Does she understand the need to keep everything secret?
I told her about my decision to leave.
I have no wish to change
But not all related nouns and verbs are followed by the same structures:
I hope to arrive. But: there's no hope of arriving.
C) WITH AN –ING PHRASE (See unit 7.2)
the man standing over there
the boy talking to Angela
D) WITH A RELATIVE CLAUSE (See unit 3.2)
the man we met yesterday
the house that Jack built
the woman who discovered radium
an eight-year-old boy who attempted to rob a sweet shop
E) WITH A THAT CLAUSE:
This is very common with reporting or summarising nouns like idea, fact, belief, suggestion:
He’s still very fit, in spite of the fact that he’s over eighty.
She got the idea that people didn’t like her.
There was a suggestion that the children should be sent home.
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* The 's structure and the of structure
The possessive 's is used to indicate possession, relationship, physical features and
characteristics and measurement. The 's structure often corresponds to a sentence in which the
first noun (person, animal, country, organisation, group of living creatures) becomes the subject of
have or some other verb:
That's my father's house (my father has the house) The house of my father
Pete's eyes are like yours. (Pete has eyes like yours) The eyes of Pete
I didn't believe the girl's story. (The girl told a story)
The government's decision (the government made a decision)
When the first noun refers to a thing we use the of structure:
the name of the street
the back of the room
Sometimes both structures are possible:
the arrival of the Queen or the Queen's arrival
A noun cannot normally have two determiners, that's why when we want to use a noun with a/an
or this/that, etc as well as a possessive, we use the “of mine / of the person's” construction:
Un amic meu: A friend of mine
La cosina del meu veinat: My neighbour's cousin
Una cosina del meu veinat: A cousin of my neighbour's