The Noun Phrase

The Noun Phrase

1. Characteristics of the noun

   • Types of nouns
     • Proper nouns
       • names of people, places, occasions
     • Common nouns
       • things that are not names
   • Type of referent
     • Concrete nouns
       • people, places, things
     • Abstract nouns
       • qualities, states, actions
   • Grammatical form
     • Count nouns
       • people, places, things
     • Abstract nouns
       • qualities, states, actions

2. Characteristics of the pronoun

   • pronoun stands in place of a noun phrase
   • Pronoun categories
     • personal
       • I, you, she, they, it
     • possessive
       • mine, yours, his
     • reflexive
       • myself, yourself
     • relative
       • who, whom, that, which
     • interrogative
       • whom, which, what
     • demonstrative
       • this, that, these those
     • indefinite
       • some, any

3. Characteristics of the adjective

   • Tests for adjectives:
     • they can be used PREDICATIVELY
       • the child was happy
     • they can be used ATTRIBUTIVELY
       • the happy child
     • they can be PRE-MODIFIED by an INTENSIFIER
       • the child was extremely happy
     • they can take the COMPARATIVE / SUPERLATIVE forms
       • the child is happier today / the happiest pupil
   • CENTRAL ADJECTIVES
     • can be used attributively AND predictively
       • e.g. blue, bright, Chinese
   • PERIPHERAL ADJECTIVES
     • can only be used attributively OR predictively
       • correct: the utter shame of it
       • incorrect: the shame of it was utter

4. nouns, like adjectives, can pre-modify the NP head

   • Henry drove along the COUNTRY road

5. Determiners

   • vital element of noun phrase
   • convey the "scope of reference" of the Head noun
   • CENTRAL DETERMINER
     • select and particularise things
     • determiner types:
       • definite / indefinite articles
         • the, a(n)
         • definite articles refer to unknown, specific entity
           • the
         • indefinite articles
           • can refer to a specific entity
             • they saw A strange man
           • can refer to a non-specific entity
             • the job requires AN experienced plumber
         • the zero article
           • can be used for indefinitiness
             • some people...
       • demonstratives
         • this, that, those
         • have a deictic function (showing or directly pointing out)
           • spatial deixis
             • these, that, those, this
               • THIS picture is beautiful
           • temporal deixis
             • these, that, those, this
               • it was THAT November that I met them
       • quantifying
         • each, every, no
         • express quantity
       • genitive
         • my, our, yours
         • express possession
       • interrogative
         • which, whose, whatever
           • only ONE cen-det can occupy this postition
         • express specific / non-specific selection
           • specific = which, whose
           • non-specific = what, whatever, whichever
   • PRE-DETERMINER
     • generally express QUANTITY
       • 'ALL the leaves'
     • support exclamatory expressions
       • 'they sent SUCH a nice letter'
   • POST-DETERMINER
     • follow cen-det but precedes the adjective
     • mostly express quantity (cardinal) and general ordinal attributes
       • quantity, numerical and ordinal
         • e.g. my TWO friends (cardinal no.)
         • He loved all his MANY colourful toys (quantifies)
         • His SECOND choice of car was a Mini (ordinal no.)
       • general ordinals
         • Bill's LAST car was a Ford
         • Her OTHER friends are quite nice

6. Determiners and Pronouns

   • determiners introduce noun phrases
     • THAT man in the street
   • pronouns stand in place of the noun
     • THAT (John) is the man I saw

7. structure of the noun phrase

   • determiners -> pre-modifiers -> head -> post-modifiers

8. Post-modifiers

   • one of the most common forms of post-mod involves the prepositional phrase
     • the shy student IN THE CORNER can help you
     • the three Italian guests FROM FLORENCE have arrrived
     • these PPs can also be expressed by RELATIVE CLAUSES
       • relative clause = clause starting with the relative pronouns who, which, that, whose, where, when
       • e.g. the shy student WHO is sitting in the corner can help you