Noun phrase

1.

Noun phrase
What is a phrase?
A phrase is a group of words that does not have a subject + verb
combination.
E.g. (for example) It is a door –sentence
A door -phrase
What is a noun phrase?
It is a phrase that acts as a noun in a sentence
I have got a black dog. (noun phrase)

2.

How to form a noun phrase
• A noun phrase is formed using a noun and words that modify (give
some information about the noun) it.
• There are three ways of forming a noun phrase. By Using:
Pre modifiers
Post modifiers
Both pre and post modifiers

3.

Pre - modifiers
1. Determiners – articles, (a, an, the) possessive adjectives (my, your, his..)
distributive adjectives (this, that, these, those)quantifiers (some, any,
several, a few..)
2. Adjectives (lazy, good-looking, etc)
3. Numbers (one, second…)
4. Nouns (weekend job)

4.

Please remember
You can’t use all types of pre-modifiers together, if you need to use
several, the structure is determiner+number+ adjective + noun +head
noun
e.g. job – noun
A good weekend job- noun phrase using 3 types of pre-modifiersarticle (a) adjective (good) weekend (noun) job (head noun)
I got a good weekend job = a sentence with a noun phrase.

5.

Post modifiers
• There are four types of post modifiers:
• 1. prepositional phrase
• 2. Gerund phrase
• 3. Infinitive
• 4. Relative clause

6.

Prepositional phrase
A girl with long hair
A girl - noun
With long hair – prepositional phrase (starting with preposition with)
I met a girl with a long hair - sentence with a prepositional noun phrase
A man in a black overcoat
A man – head noun
In a black overcoat=prepositional phrase (starting with a preposition in)
A man in a black overcoat was walking down the street = sentence with a
noun phrase.

7.

Gerund
• A gerund phrase is a noun phrase that starts with a gerund (a verb in
ing form acting as a noun) and modifies a noun that comes after it.
• For example:
• man standing in the street.
• Man –noun
• Standing in the street- gerund phrase
• I saw a man standing in the street= a sentence with a gerund noun
phrase

8.

Infinitive
• An infinitive phrase is a phrase that starts with an infinitive (first form
of the verb) used to modify a noun
• For example: clothes to wear – noun + phrase with infinitive
• I don’t have clothes to wear =sentence with a noun phrase using inf
as a post modifier

9.

Relative clause
• The man who gave me some money - noun phrase with a relative
clause
• The man who gave me some money arrived yesterday= a sentence
with a noun phrase using relative clause
• The umbrella which was lost yesterday – noun phrase with inf
• I found the umbrella which was lost yesterday = sentence with noun
phrase with infinitive

10.

Position of a noun phrase
• Like a noun, noun phrase can take four positions in a sentence:
• 1. subject
• 2. object
• 3. object of the preposition
• 4. subject complement

11.

• For example:
• These boys are my friends - subject
• I love your baby sister - object
• she is living in a big house – as the object of the preposition
• He is my favorite singer – subject complement

12.

How to identify a noun phrase
• You can easily test if a group of words is a noun phrase – by checking
if you can substitute (replace) a pronoun for it or not.
• For example, in the sentence
• I found that photo of Billy we were looking for down the back of the
sofa.
• the words that photo of Billy we were looking for can be substituted
by the pronoun it = I found it down the back of the sofa (it instead of
a noun phrase)

13.

• And the reverse process-changing pronouns into a noun phrase
• Here is a little cryptic (unclear) sentence which only has pronouns
rather than nouns- They angrily pushed them into it.
• Let’s change the pronouns into noun phrases of three or more words
each, e.g. to make a complex noun phrase used in academic texts
• They angrily pushed the screaming crowd of rioters into the fastflowing, dirty river below (noun phrase)=They angrily pushed them
into it.
• Rioters – head noun + pre and post modifiers

14.

• I hope this PP will help you understand a noun phrase better.
• We will practice it on Thursday in our weekly zoom meeting together.
Thank you