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A Determiner: All A Premodifier: Indoor The Head: Cats Postmodifier: of Different Breeds
A Determiner: All A Premodifier: Indoor The Head: Cats Postmodifier: of Different Breeds
NOUN PHRASE
determiner(s) + premodifier(s) + head + postmodifier(s)
patterns of industrial
development in the
US
she
➢ Determiners/ determinatives are function words that come before the head and
before all the other dependents in a noun phrase and determine or specify “how the
reference of a noun phrase is to be understood. For example, this determines the
reference of table in this table: it tells us which or what table is intended.
- The postmodifiers incorporate all the elements placed after the head and typically
consist of prepositional phrases (cats [PpP of different breeds]), relative clauses (cats
[that-Cl that stay indoors]) and non-finite clauses (cats [ing-Cl staying on the sofa]).
Appositive clauses can also be embedded in noun phrases quite often, as in [NP the fact
[app-Cl that she was his worst nightmare]].
- Clausal postmodifiers can be finite (relative clauses) or non-finite (to-clauses, ing-
clauses, and ed-clauses).
- Occasionally adverbs can also be premodifiers or postmodifiers in noun phrases:
a. adverb as premodifier: the nearby guards
- Appositive clauses embedded in a noun phrase are introduced by the conjunction that:
the fact that he caressed the two cats staying on the sofa
- Consequently, that can be omitted in the appositive clause (that he caressed the two
cats staying on the sofa) but not in the relative clause (x cats stay indoors x)
➢ Coordination
Noun phrases can be linked together with the conjunctions and or or, as in the
white cats and their owner.
- a white cat,
- a white Siamese cat,
- their white Siamese cat, while multi-word modifiers generally occur
after the head
- the cat of the man,
- the cat that the man loves,
- the cat of the man that she loves best.
Virtually every student [AdjP normally resident in England or Wales], [AdjP with specified
minimum qualifications], [relative-Cl who is admitted to a full-time degree, [PpP at a university
[PpP in the UK]]] is entitled to a grant [PpP from his/ her Local Education Authority], [relative-Cl
which is intended to cover his/ her tuition fees and maintenance [PpP for the duration [PpP of
the course] [relative-Cl and which also includes an element [PpP towards his/her vacation
maintenance.]]
➢ This arrangement is in agreement with general principles for the ordering of elements
within the clause. The principal syntactic means are:
- word order
- the passive
- existential there dislocation
- clefting
➢ Syntactic functions of noun phrases:
noun phrases can have various syntactic functions both in the clause and at phrase
level:
1. In the clause:
a. subject: His friends were preparing a surprise party.
b. direct object: His friends were preparing a surprise party.
c. indirect object: His friends were preparing a surprise party for him.
d. subject complement: That was a special surprise party.
e. object complement: They called him party boy.
f. adverbial: They'll have the party next week.
2. In the phrase:
a. complement of preposition in PpP: a surprise party of his own
b. premodifier of a noun or NP: a surprise party of his own
c. apposition to another NP : the surprise party, their gift for him
d. premodifier in AdjP: the two weeks old baby
e. premodifier in AdjP: one month earlier tahn expected