The structure of Noun Phrases

Unit 4
 Unit 4 – The structure
of Noun Phrases
I. Basic NPs
II. Determiners
III. Pre-determiners
IV. Pre-modifiers in NOM
V. Post-modifiers
Summary
HEADs N.B.1 Names & pronouns as H
(a) Name > Normally without a modifier
(b) Pronoun
>
(c) Noun

NP

name

Carol She
N.B.2 Nouns as Heads
> usually with a modifier (e.g. an AP)
> branching NP node with 2 ICs (daughters)
Determiner (DET) + Nominal (NOM)

NP
NP
DET NOM
DET NOM
ART AP N
ART N
A

The smart students The students

Notes:
DET + NOM => sisters
DET determines NOM
NOM = modifier (optional) → N
NOM = intermediate level between Lexical
level (N) & Phrasal level (NP)
- Articles (ART)
- Demonstratives (DEM)
- Quantifiers (Q)
- Posessives (POSS)
DETERMINERS (p.142)
- give information involving definiteness &
indefiniteness, e.g.
- give information about quantity and proportion/
relationship, e.g.

Kinds of DET (p.142)

Articles the, a(n)

Demonstratives this, that, these, those
Quantifiers some, any, no, each, either…
Possessives my, your, her, our, Mary’s,…
N.B.1 DEM, Q & POSS do not co-occur in
sequence with an ART >

e.g. * this a man * the some shoes

* a my book * John’s a friend
N.B.2 Phrase markers
NP → DET + NOM

NP

DET NOM DET DET

DEM N Q POSS

a) these shoes b) some friends c) our teacher

N.B.3 Plural count Ns and Mass Ns
> indefinite, generic interpretation
> Empty DET

NP

DET NOM

a) __ shoes b) __ money c) Alice

N.B.4 POSSESSIVE or GENITIVE
=> NP + ‘s > POSS > DET

NP NP

DET NOM
DET NOM

POSS AP N

NP ‘s N

Name A

a) John ’ s shoes b) Alice ‘s old shoes

Practice 1
Draw phrase markers.
1. No students
2. That strange man
3. John’s high scores
4. Her sister’s husband
5. My sister’s boyfriend’s father
Cf. Hieronimo’s brother’s behaviour (p.157)
Pre-determiners (PRE-DET)
- co-occur with determiners
- precede determiners
- determine an NP (sister of NP)

NP

DET Nom

ART N

(a) all the students (b) all mine

N.B.
- Pre-det + det => definite referent
E.g. All the students (of a school)
- Pre-det + empty det => indefinite referent
E.g. All students (in general)

NP

DET NOM

noun

All __ students
Practice 2 (DET and PRE-DET in
NPs)

Draw phrase markers.

1. Half the money
2. All these new students
3. My books and dictionaries
4. All my books and dictionaries
5. Both teachers and students
- Adjective phrase (AP)
- Quantifying Adjective (QA)
- Participle phrase (PartP)
- Noun (N)
 PRE-MODIFIERS in NOM
- four main kinds

(1) Adjective phrase - quality A

A > AP > NOM =>
E.g.
A lovely new house >
A small old round pink German woollen pillow >
Practice 3

Draw phrase markers.

1. a good idea
2. a very good idea
3. good jobs
4. very good jobs
5. some nice new members
(2) Quantifying adjs - follow DEG
QA > AP > NOM - gradable / comparison forms
+ much, many, few, little
E.g.
+ ordinal numbers / cardinal numbers
E.g.
NP
DET NOM

AP N
DEG QA

(a) _ Very many people (b) my two sisters

Quantifiers (Q) vs. Quantifying As (QA)
SOME MANY, MUCH
Q ???
With ART

With DEG
(Very)
Comparisons
(3) Participle phrases - can have Progressive or
V-part > PartP > NOM Passive forms
- verbal >

E.g. - the sleeping beauty

- a faded T-shirt
* a very faded T-shirt
Phrase markers for Participle phrases in NOM

NOM

PartP N

AdvP V-part

Adv

Those incessantly barking dogs

(4) Noun - sister of Head
N + N (H) > N > NOM
- treated as a compound word

E.g. - a brick house

- some expensive roof maintenance
 Phrase markers for N in NOM

NP

DET NOM

ART N

N N

(1) a brick house (2) her nice fish soup

Practice 4 (Pre-modifiers in NP)

Draw phrase markers:

1. some magnificent tall buildings
2. her four extremely smart children
3. this manager’s feasible development plan
4. all my sister’s gorgeous but inexpensive
fashion accessories
5. those friendly gracefully swimming dolphins
- Prepositional phrase (PP)
- Adjective phrase (AP)
POST-MODIFIERS (p.150)
(1) PP > modifying head N in NOM
=> sister of N >

E.g. - a woman in a red dress

- the books on the shelf

- the book { on the shelf [in my room] }

Note: What does the underlined PP modify?

(a) a song about love between Romeo and Juliet

=>

(b) a song about love by Trinh Cong Son

=>
 Discussion (p.152)
What does the italicised PP in each NP modify?Does it
modify a NOM or the preceding N?
[43] those observations on alchemy by Newton

[44] an interpretation of that sentence in Proust’s novel

[45] a book of quotations from Shakespeare

[46] a book of quotations from Oxford University Press

N.B.1 Phrase markers for PP in NOM

NP

DET NOM
N PP

P NP

ART DET NOM

ART N

The book on the shelf

Practice 5

Draw phrase markers.

1. a woman in a red dress
2. my vase on the table in the kitchen
3. those books of Syntax for my
students (p.151)
4. (p.152) [47]-[53]
[47] that nuclear scientist from Germany

[48] the famous writer of detective stories

[49] an anxious applicant for the job

[50] structural engineers in disgrace

[51] the personal assistant in the hat

[52] their secret visits to the kitchen

[53] Larry’s neat summary of the argument

N.B.2 Determiners + OF-phrase

E.g. SOME of the students

= * Some STUDENTS of the students
=> Some + ellipted N + of the students

some E of the students

N.B.3 Pre-determiners + OF-phrase
E.g. ALL of the books
= * ALL BOOKS of the books
=> All + ellipted N + of the books

NP

PRE-DET NP
DET NOM

N PP

all ___ E of the books

(2) AP as post-modifiers

a. used predicatively

- the rooms available

- the person responsible for our security

b. after after indefinite pronouns (someone, anything,…)

- someone good at maths

c. in some fixed expressions

- three metres long

- twenty years old

N.B.1 Friendly Head Principle (FHP), p.155

=> The H of the modifying phrase tends to be as close

as possible to the HEAD NOUN
e.g. - the rooms available
- the person responsible for our security
-
BUT * a person very responsible for our security
* the students very good at maths
N.B.2 APs as Pre-modifiers vs as Post-modifiers

AP as pre-modifiers APs as post-modifiers

The available rooms The rooms available

The responsible men The men responsible
The present members The members present
N.B.3 Phrase markers for APs as post-
modifiers

the person responsible anyone pleased with us

SUMMARY 1
(a) Non-branching NP
=> NP → pronoun / name (as HEADs)
=>
(b) Branching NP
=> NP → DET + NOM
=> NP → PRE-DET + NP
=> NP →
 SUMMARY 2
PRE- DET Pre-modifiers in NOM HEAD Post-modifiers
DET in NOM
all ART QA AP PartP Noun Noun AP
both a(n), the
half DEM house good at maths
double this first opinion V-part brick
Q second good flying college students PP
some one descrip. eaten
POSS two old dogs on the hill
my red
John’s

e.g.
- All these first five college students good at maths
- John’s two clever German dogs in training
PRACTICE 6
Exercises in the book (p.160)
1) Draw COMPLETE phrase markers.
2) Analyse FEW in “the few students” vs “a
few students”.
P.160