The Noun Phrase Structure

a closer look
cf.

H
dt mod mod

e.g.
this sensitive issue raised by John
cf.

the article published in the morning paper

the article on the PM’s resignation published in the morning paper

NP complements (cf. Brown, K.& Miller, J. (1991)

‘the Complement subcategorizes the Nominal Head’

(1991:109)
NP complements (cf. Brown, K.& Miller, J. (1991)

• Clauses, e.g.
the rumour that John intends to resign
the question whether we enjoyed the play

• PPs, e.g. a discussion about linguistics

a fight over a girl
a picture of John
NP modifiers (cf. Brown, K.& Miller, J. (1991)

• AdjP, e.g. those boring arguments

• Clauses, e.g.
those boring arguments that we used to
have when we were students

• PPs, e.g. the people on the bus

the exam in June
the wines of France
PPs (‘of’-phrases)in post-head position:
Complements vs. Modifiers

the sister of Mary

the house of her former husband
the roof of the cathedral
a glass of water
the death of their leader
the conquest of Persia
cf. Keizer’s ‘relational nouns’ (2007:218, 221-245)
PPs (‘of’-phrases)in post-head position:
Complements vs. Modifiers

the wines of France

a man of honour
a girl of sunny disposition
a boy of sixteen
a frame of steel
a matter of no importance
cf. Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., Svartvik, J.
(1985:253 et seq.)

DETERMINATIVES
“When used in discourse, noun phrases refer to the
linguistic or situational context. The kind of reference
a particular NP has depends on its DETERMINATIVE
element, i.e. the items which ‘determine’ it. This
function is typically realised by a set of closed-class
items, or DETERMINERS, which occur before the
noun acting as head of the NP (or before its
premodifiers).”
cf. Quirk, R. et al. (1985)
CENTRAL DETERMINERS
1. Determiners of singular and plural count Ns and of
mass nouns:
• the definite article THE: the chair, the furniture
• the possessive pronouns as determiners: my bag, her luggage
• the relative determiners WHOSE, WHICH: the man whose car,
by which time
• the WH- determiners in –EVER: whichever reason, whosever
idea
• the interrogative WHAT, WHICH, WHOSE: which car?
• the negative determiner NO: no books, no smoking
cf. Quirk, R. et al. (1985)
cf. Quirk, R. et al. (1985)

CENTRAL DETERMINERS

3. Determiners of singular count Ns and mass Ns:

• the demonstrative determiners THIS and THAT: this book,
that ice

4. Determiners of plural count Ns:

• the demonstrative determiners THESE and THOSE: those
books
cf. Quirk, R. et al. (1985)

CENTRAL DETERMINERS

5. Determiners of singular count Ns:

• the indefinite article A/AN: a pen, an egg

• the universal determiners EVERY and EACH: every job
• the nonassertive determiner EITHER: either side
• the negative determiner NEITHER: neither student
cf. Quirk, R. et al. (1985)

CENTRAL DETERMINERS (1)

• Articles THE, A/AN, Ø

• Possessive pronouns as determiners: MY, HER, THEIR …
• Demonstrative determiners THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE
• Assertive and non-assertive determiners SOME
(unstressed), and ANY
• Quantitative determiner ENOUGH
cf. Quirk, R. et al. (1985)

CENTRAL DETERMINERS (2)

• Relative determiners WHOSE, WHICH

• WH- determiners in –EVER (e.g. whichever reason,
whosever idea)
• Interrogative WHAT, WHICH, WHOSE (e.g. which car?)
• The negative determiner NO: no books, no smoking
• The universal determiners EVERY and EACH (e.g. every
job)
• The nonassertive and negative determiner EITHER,
NEITHER (e.g. either side)
cf. Quirk, R. et al. (1985)

PREDETERMINERS
They can occur before certain central determiners; they are
mutually-exclusive:

• ALL, BOTH, HALF: all the boys, half an hour

• the multipliers DOUBLE, TWICE, THREE TIMES... etc.:
double the sum, twice the money
• the fractions ONE-THIRD, ONE-FIFTH... etc.: one-third the time
• SUCH, WHAT: such a surprise! what a fine day!
cf. Quirk, R. et al. (1985)

POSTDETERMINERS
They follow predeterminers or central determiners (if
present), but they precede any adjectives and other
premodifying items:
• cardinal numerals: my three sons
• ordinal numerals and ‘general ordinals’ like NEXT, LAST, PAST
(AN)OTHER, ADDITIONAL, FURTHER (items which,
grammatically and semantically, resemble ordinal numbers:
the first day, another three weeks
• closed-class quantifiers: few people
• open-class quantifiers: a large number of people.