E_English Grammar Course

Unit 3
NOUN PHRASE (cont.)
 Issues
 NOUN PHRASE

– Basic NP – Complex NP
• Determiners • Modification
– Predeterminers – Premodification
– Central determiners – Postmodification
– Postdeterminers – Multiple
modification
 Noun phrases

Noun = typically constructed by either a noun or

a pronoun as the head & other constituents
Phrase as modifiers

Eg. A nice girl leaning against the wall

Basic NP

Complex NP
 Noun phrases

Noun Phrase

Basic NP

Complex NP
 Basic Noun phrases

Basic NP

(Determiners) + Head noun

E.g.: All these 10 pupils

 Determiners

Determiners = words of close-system used before a N to

“determine” the precise meaning of the N

Pre-determiners

Central determiners

Post-determiners
 Determiners

Determiners

Pre-determiners all, both, half

• mutually exclusive multipliers

E.g.: all girls, both girls
fractions
BUT NOT:
all both girls such, what
 Determiners
Determiners

Pre-determiners all, both, half

+ before: articles (a, an, the, zero article)

E.g.: all the time
possessive determiners (my, his, her, etc.)
E.g.: both his sisters
demonstrative determiners (this, that, etc.)
E.g.: half those days
+ not before: quantitative determiners (no, each,
any, some, enough, (n)either, every)
 Determiners
Determiners

Pre-determiners all, both, half

+ take partitive “of-phrases” optional with nouns

E.g.: all (of) the time
obligatory with pronouns
E.g.: all of them, both of us, half of it

+ “all, both”: occur after the head, either immediately or after the operator
E.g.: They (all) were (all) accepted.
 Determiners
Determiners
Once, twice,
Pre-determiners multipliers three times,
double, etc.

+ used to denote the quantity of the nouns

E.g.: twice her age, double their salaries

+ occur with the determiners “a, every, each and per” to indicate frequency
E.g.: once a week, twice every day, three times each year
 Determiners
Determiners
(one-third, two-fifths,
Pre-determiners fraction
three-quarters, etc.)

+ the fractions have the alternative of- construction.

E.g.: He took only two-thirds of the books.

+ the indefinite article can replace ‘one’.

E.g.: He did it in one-third / a third (of) the time it took me.
 Determiners
Determiners

Pre-determiners Such/ what

+ occur before the head noun

+ “such”: combined with “all, quantifiers, cardinal numbers”

E.g.: What/ Such a surprise!
no/many/41 such incidents
 Central Determiners
Determiners 6 classes based on their co-occurrence with
the noun classes (singular count, plural count,
Central determiners and non-count)

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

the,
possessive a(n)
wh-words, zero article every
Some, any some, any each
(stressed), (unstressed) Either this these
no enough neither that those much
 Central Determiners
Central Determiners in respect to their co-occurrence
with the noun classes

COUNT NON-COUNT

SINGULAR bottle
furniture
bottles
PLURAL
 Central Determiners
Determiners

Central determiners




(1)
the, E.g.: - Do you want me to turn off the light?
possessive - I love my family.
wh-words, - What colour do you like?
Some, any - I have some friends in London.
(stressed), - I won’t give this pen to any student.
no - She has no idea at all.
 Central Determiners
Determiners

Central determiners


(2) 

zero article E.g.: - Love is not everything.

some, any - I did not have enough time to do this.
(unstressed) - I want some beer, please.
enough - Have we got any wine for tonight?
 Central Determiners
Determiners

Central determiners


(3)

a(n)
every E.g.: - My friend gave me a flower / an apple.
each - I want to ask each/every person individually.
Either - You can put it on either table.
neither - Neither party accepted such a proposal.
 Central Determiners
Determiners

Central determiners

(4) 


this E.g.: This chair is mine and that table is yours.

that I can’t stand this silence.
 Central Determiners
Determiners

Central determiners

(5)


these E.g.: - Did you read these stories yesterday?

those - Have you seen those girls?
 Central Determiners
Determiners

Central determiners

(6) 

E.g.: He wants much sugar in his coffee.

much
 Central Determiners
Determiners

Post determiners

Cardinal numerals

Ordinal numerals/general ordinals

Close-system quantifiers

Open-class quantifiers
 Central Determiners
Determiners

Post determiners

Cardinal numerals
• include: one, two, three, etc.
Ordinal numerals/general ordinals E.g.: my three son
his two books
Close-system quantifiers

Open-class quantifiers
 Central Determiners
Determiners
Post determiners
Cardinal numerals
Ordinal numerals/general ordinals
Close-system quantifiers
Open-class quantifiers
• ordinal numerals:
first,second,
third, etc.
• general ordinals: next, last,
past, (an)other, additional,
further
E.g.: the first time
another candidate
 Central Determiners
Determiners

Post determiners

Cardinal numerals • before count Ns: many, (a)

few, several
Ordinal numerals/general ordinals
• before non-count Ns: much,
Close-system quantifiers (a) little
E.g.: a few words
Open-class quantifiers much stress
 Central Determiners
Determiners

Post determiners

• include:Cardinal
a lot of, anumerals
great deal of, lots of, a good number of, etc.
• verbs has number concord with the second nouns, not the quantity nouns
(lot, deal,numerals/general
Ordinal lots, plenty, etc.)ordinals
E.g.: Lots of food was on the table.
There was a lotquantifiers
Close-system of food on the table.

Open-class quantifiers
 Noun phrases

Noun Phrase

Basic NP

Complex NP
 Complex noun phrase

Complex NP

Pre- Post-
+ Head noun +
modification modification

E.g.: All the 11 pupils playing football

 Modification
Modification

function status

Restrictive Permanent

Non-restrictive Temporary
 Modification
Modification

• helps identify the head & indicate a

function status of the
limitation on the possible reference

Restrictive head Permanent

• tends to come after the head

Non-restrictive
• tends to be given more prosodic emphasis
Temporary
Temporary

than the head

E.g.: The flowers in your garden are nice.
 Modification
Modification

• gives additional information to the head

function but is not essential for identifying the
status
head
Restrictive • the reference: unique or as member of a
Permanent
class that has been independently identified
• tends to come before the head
Non-restrictive • tends to be unstressed
Temporary in pre-head position
E.g.: The book, which I gave you yesterday,
is quite readable. (member of a class)
She is his poor, old mother. (unique)
 Modification
Modification

function status
• Have reference to characteristic features
Non-restrictive Permanent
• Mainly the items which are placed in pre-
modification position
E.g.: an ugly man Restrictive Temporary
the easy-going lady
 Modification
Modification

function status

Non-restrictive
• Have reference only to a specific time Permanent
• Mainly those adjectives which have to be
predicate
E.g.: Restrictive Temporary
A man who is timid = A timid man
A man who is afraid # An afraid man
 Premodification
Premodification
‘s-genitive

-ing/-ed participles

sentence

adverbials

noun

adjectives

multiple premodification
 Premodification
Premodification
‘s-genitive

-ing/-edparticiples
E.g.: Mary's brother is very
sentencenaughty.

adverbial

noun

adjective

multiple premodification
 Premodification
Premodification
‘s-genitive

-ing/-ed participles

sentence
E.g.: He has rented a crumbling cottage.
The wanted man was last seen in Paris.
adverbial
Note: the participles denote the permanent.
noun
E.g. She is an interesting girl vs.
adjective She interests me.
multiple premodification
The man who is married = the married man
 Premodification
Premodification
‘s-genitive

-ing/-edparticiples

sentence

adverbial
E.g.: I got angry with his I-don't-care attitude.
She
nounwaved the boy away with a you-stink kind of
look on her face.
adjective

multiple premodification
 Premodification
Premodification
‘s-genitive

-ing/-edparticiples

sentence
E.g.: I visited his far-away hometown.

adverbial

noun

adjective

multiple premodification
 Premodification
Premodification
‘s-genitive

-ing/-edparticiples

sentence

E.g.: He has fixed the cupboard

adverbial
door.
noun

adjective

multiple prmodification
 Premodification
Premodification
‘s-genitive

-ing/-edparticiples

sentence

adverbial

E.g.:
noun She is a lovely
girl.
adjective

multiple premodification
 Postmodification
Postmodification
relative clauses

prepositional phrase

non-finite clause

appositive clause

Clause of time, place, manner, reason

adverb

adjective

multiple postmodification
 Postmodification
Postmodification
relative clauses

prepositional phrase
E.g.: The girl who is playing in the ground is my daughter .
non-finite clause

appositive clause

Clause of time, place, manner, reason

adverb

adjective

multiple postmodification
 Postmodification
Postmodification
relative clauses

prepositional phrase

non-finite clause
E.g.: She love the monitor in your class.
appositive clause

Clause of time, place, manner, reason

adverb

adjective

multiple postmodification
 Postmodification
Postmodification
relative clauses

prepositional phrase

non-finite clause

appositive clause
E.g.: The girl playing in the ground is my daughter.
Clause of time, place, manner, reason

adverb

adjective

multiple postmodification
 Postmodification
Postmodification
relative clauses

prepositional phrase

non-finite clause

appositive clause

Clause of time, place, manner, reason

E.g.: The fact that he is rich is not the reason she loves him.
adverb

adjective

multiple postmodification
 Postmodification
Postmodification
relative clauses
E.g.: I work in the university where I studied English.
prepositional phrase
12th Sep, 1983 is the date when he was born.
That’snon-finite
the reason why he spoke ill of me.
clause
She shows me the way how I can cook beef.
appositive clause

Clause of time, place, manner, reason

adverb

adjective

multiple postmodification
 Postmodification
Postmodification
relative clauses

prepositional phrase

non-finite clause

E.g.: The girl over

appositive there is my sister.
clause
The road back is dense with traffic.
Clause of time, place, manner, reason

adverb

adjective

multiple postmodification
 Postmodification
Postmodification
relative clauses

prepositional phrase

non-finite clause

appositive clause

Clause of time, place, manner, reason

E.g.: Something strange happened last night.
adverb

adjective

multiple postmodification
 Multiple modification
Multiple
modification

Multiple
premodification

Multiple
postmodification
 Multiple modification
Multiple
modification
• with single head:
E.g.: his last brilliant book
Multiple • with multiple head:
premodification
E.g.: the new chair and table
the new but ugly table and chair

Multiple
postmodification
 Multiple modification
Multiple
modification

Multiple
premodification

• Sequence of premodifiers:
Determiner general age color participle provenance noun de-nominal head
Multiple
E.g.: a crumbling
postmodification church
towel
the extravagant London social life
some intricate old inter-locking Chinese
 Multiple modification
Multiple
modification

• with single head:

E.g.: the girl in the corner talking to John
Multiple
premodification
• with multiple head:
E.g.: the boy and the girl in the corner talking to John

Multiple
postmodification
 Related Readings

 Quirk, R. & Greenbaum, S. A University

Grammar of English, NXB GTVT, 2002:
Chapter 4 & Chapter 13