Noun phrases
Noun phrases are phrases that function grammatically as nouns within sentences. In addition, nouns serve as "heads," or main words of noun phrases. Examples (the heads are in boldface):
1. "The burnt-out ends of smoky days."
2. "The real raw-knuckle boys who know what fighting means, ..."
3. "The idle spear and shield ..."
The head can have modifiers, a complement, or both. Modifiers can occur before the head ("The real raw-knuckle boys ...," or "The burnt-out ends ..." and they are then called pre-modifiers; or, they can occur after the head ("who know what fighting means ...") and are called post-modifiers. Example: "The rough, seamy-faced, raw-boned College Servitor ..." The pre-modifying phrase, for example, is composed of determiners ("The"), adjectives ("rough," "seamy-faced," ...) and other nouns ("College").
Complements occur after the head as well; however, they are essential for completing the meaning of the noun phrase in a way that post-modifiers are not. Examples (complements are italicized; heads are in boldface):
1. "The burnt-out ends of smoky days."
2. "The suggestion that Mr. Touchett should invite me appeared to have come from Miss Stackpole."
3. "The ancient pulse of germ and birth was shrunken hard and dry."
Within a sentence, a noun phrase can be a part of the grammatical subject, the object, or the complement. Examples (the noun phrase is italicized, and the head boldfaced):
1. grammatical subject: "Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest."
2. object: "Dr. Pavlov ... delivered many long propaganda harangues ...")
3. complement: "'All they see is some frumpy, wrinkled-up person passing by in a carriage waving at a crowd."
Popular
-
One aspect of American and British English pronunciation differences is differences in accent. The General American (GAm) and the Southern B...
-
Systemic organization of language. 1. Subject of theoretical grammar. Grammar may be practical and theoretical. The aim of practical gram...
-
Listening: A good way to learn English Weena Kanadpon Everyone knows that there are four skills in learning a language, namely listening...
-
Word classes and phrase classes Seven major word classes are described here. These are: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjun...
-
Still Loving You lyrics Songwriters: Schenker, R; Meine, K; Time, it needs time to win back your love again I will be there, I will be ...
-
Michael Heart – We Will Not Go Down (Song for Gaza) A blinding flash of white light Lit up the sky over Gaza tonight People running ...
-
Study Method TalkEnglish.com is a program offering speaking lessons on Regular, Business, Interviewing, Traveling Lessons, along with new L...
-
Web pages to look for songs and music lyrics: This resource offers many free songs to listen to on line with pretty good sound quality. T...
-
Every single word can be categorized into one of eight word groups, or parts of speech . All eight are listed below, along with a very s...
-
Collective Nouns Collective nouns refer to groups of people, animals, or things. Examples: audience, band, class, club, crowd, collec...