LESSON 9 – THE NOUN PHRASE

PRACTICE

1. Married couple Ron and Ashley Lamont are trying to figure out their budget
for next month. Fill in the blanks with some expressions from the box

some - both of - less – neither of – the amount of - a lot of –either of – many –

plenty of – both – every – most of – fewer – much

A: Honey, we’re still spending ________ money on things we don’t really need.
After I pay the bills, we’re going to have _________ cash left over than we did last
month.
R: What have we bought that we don’t need?
A: That new exercise machine, for one thing. ____________ us has used it more
than two or three times since we bought it. We could get a year’s membership at the
athletic club for _________ money it cost.
R: You mean _________ us could get a membership?
A: No. ____________ us could. That’s what I’m saying. The machine cost $320,
and memberships are 150$ each. Let’s sell the thing.
R: Hmm… maybe your’re right. What else?
A: Well, we’re spending more than ten dollars a month extra on those cable
channels. We’d have ___________ channels to choose from if we cut back to the
basic coverage, but we don’t match ___________ TV anyway.
R: Uh-huh! And we should ____________ start taking a brown-bag lunch to work.
If we did these things, we’d have ___________ money left over __________ month.

2. Read the following excerpt from he president’s speech and fill in the blanks
with suitable quantifiers.

My fellow citizens. We’re at a time in our history when people are tired of empty
promises – a time when we need to make _______ real sacrifices. Recent presidents
have made __________ pledges that they didn’t keep, but you deserve to hear the truth.
On the economy, we’ve made __________ progress, but we still have ___________ of
things to do, so there are ___________ things I’m proposing. First, I want to raise taxes
on the wealthy because _________ of them are really paying their share. If I’m
successful, ________ of you will be paying 10 percent __________ money in income
taxes next year. The problem with the national income tax is that there are __________
loopholes in the current law which allow _________ people to avoid paying
__________ taxes at all.

3. Read the following text and do the activities below:

BACK TO NATURE

________________________________________. It has been suggested that

the superficial differences between the two –wide open spaces contrasting with
brick and concrete- are less important than the contrasting attitudes of town and
country.
 ________________________________________. The majority of the population
lives in massive tower blocks, noisy, squalid and impersonal. The sense of
belonging to a community tends to disappear when you live fifteen floors up. All
you can see from our window is sky, or other blocks of flats. Children become
aggressive and nervous –cooped up at home all day, with nowhere to play; their
mothers feel isolated from the rest of the world. Strangely enough, whereas in the
past the inhabitants of one street all knew each other, nowadays people on the
same floor in tower blocks don’t even say hello to each other.

________________________________________. People have the advantage of

knowing that there is always someone to turn to when they need help. But country
life has disadvantages too While it is true that you may be among friends in a
village, it is also true that you are cut off from the exciting and important events
that take place in cities. There’s little possibility of going to a new show or the latest
movie. Shopping becomes a major problem, and for anything slightly out of the
ordinary you have to go on an expedition to the nearest large town. The city-
dweller who leaves for the country is often oppressed by a sense of unbearable
stillness and quiet.

________________________________________. The country has the

advantage of peace and quiet, but suffers from the disadvantage of being cut off;
the city breeds neurosis and a feeling of isolation –constant noise batters the
senses. But one of its main advantages is that you are at the centre of things, and
that life doesn’t come to an end at half past nine at night.

_______________________________________. They have expressed their

preference for the “quiet life” by leaving the suburbs and moving to villages within
commuting distance of the large conurbations. They generally have about as much
sensitivity as the plastic flowers they leave behind –they are polluted with strange
ideas about change and improvement which they force on to the unwilling original
inhabitants of the villages.

________________________________________. I have managed to convince

myself that if it weren’t for my job I would immediately head out for the open
spaces and go back to nature in some sleepy village buried in the country. But how
realistic is this dream?

a. The following sentences are the topic sentences of the

different paragraphs above. Decide which sentence
corresponds to each blank. Highlight the supporting idea(s)
that justify your choice. There are 3 extra ones.

a. Country life, on the other hand, differs from this kind of isolated
existence in that a sense of community generally binds the inhabitants
of small villages together.
b. Many people are always saying that given the choice they would prefer
to live in the country away from the dirt and noise of a large city.
c. Town and country have always been very similar.
d. The choice is a rather difficult one.
e. Cities can be frightening places.
f. Country life only offers disadvantages.
g. For centuries town and country have been regarded as being in
opposition to each other.
h. Some people have found a compromise between the two.
i. Besides, country people are friendlier than people in the cities.

b. Find in THE SECOND PARAGRAPH an example of simple,

compound and complex sentence.

c. Find in the THIRD PARAGRAPH two different examples of

Passive Voice and account for its use.

d. Find in the THIRD PARAGRAPH four different uses of Simple

Present Tense. Identify the uses

e. Find in the FOURTH PARAGRAPH an example of compound

complex sentence.

f. Mark in the text examples of each type of determiner.

Remember that we speak about a determiner when it is followed by a
noun to form a noun phrase.