Noun Phrase

Definition :
A word group with a noun or pronoun as its head. The noun head can be accompanied by modifiers, determiners (such as the, a, her), and/or complements.

The Noun examples :
•Persons: girl, boy, instructor, student, Mr. Smith, Peter, president
•Animals: dog, cat, shark, hamster, fish, bear, flea
•Places: gym, store, school, Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota, village, Europe
•Things: computer, pen, notebook, mailbox, bush, tree, cornflakes
•Ideas: liberty, panic, attention, knowledge, compassion, worship


The Functions of Nouns in Sentences :
1.Subject of the sentence
2.Predicate Noun (also Predicate Nominative or Subjective Complement)
3. Appositive (noun in apposition)
4. Direct object of a verb
5. Indirect object of a verb
6. Object of the preposition
7. Object Complement (Objective Complement)



Kinds of noun phrases :
a. Noun + Noun, example : Office boy
b. Verb + Noun, example : Take a bath
c. Gerund + Noun, example : Throwing ball
d. Pronoun + Noun, example : My book
e. Adjective + Noun, example : Black board
f. Determiner + Noun, example : A pen


The noun phrases in English composed of 3 parts, there are :
a. Head : The most usual kind of head of a noun phrases.
b. Pre Modification : Consists of a number of word classes in a specific order.
c. Post Modification : Must commonly used not by specific word classes or subclasses.


Example 1 :
Inna : Do you like books ?
Artha : Yes, I like them.
Inna : Do you like books over there?
Artha : Yes, they are nice.
Inna : Do you like the book which I brought yesterday?
Artha : Yes, I like it.


Example 2 :
- Nicko was late
( Nicko is the noun phrase functioning as the subject of the verb)


- Some noun phrase are short :
* The student


- Some are long :
* The very tall education consultant.