c




Before we go any further, let's remind ourselves of what a noun phrase is. My
definition is:

A noun phrase is either a pronoun or any group of words that can be replaced by a
pronoun. For example, 'they', 'cars', and 'the cars' are noun phrases, but 'car' is just
a noun, as you can see in these sentences (in which the noun phrases are all in
bold)

 Do you like O
à

! Yes, I like Ê
.
 Do you like Ê
O


Ê


à
! Yes, Ê
 are nice.
 Do you like Ê
O

Ê Ê

à
! Yes, I like |Ê. (Note: 'It' refers to 'the car', not 'car')

If you are a little puzzled at this point, try and think of some further examples of
noun phrases using the definition above, and compare your examples with simple
nouns.

The structure of noun phrases

As I said, noun phrases can be infinite in length, but they would sound absurd if
they got too long. So let's take the following noun phrase as our working model:

u ^ 



  
^

The structure of this noun phrase contains three sections:

u u


?  =determiner
? 
 =adverb (intensifying)
? 
 = adjective
? 
 = pre-modifying noun

u Ñead noun
? 


u uost-modification
?   
 = preposition phrase
Of course, each and every part of the noun phrase can be changed, but here is a
summary of some fundamental changes in which it could changed:

u A relative clause could replace the preposition phrase. `



 `

becomes `


 

 `.

u There could be a string of adjectives (and pre-modifying nouns) instead of

just one. Both of these systems have their own structural rules. `
 




` Or `




  
`

u A numeral or cardinal could be inserted after the determiner. `




 


` can become `



  


`

u There can be 'embedding' (e.g. 'the roving eye' is also a noun phrase and can
be made more complex in the same way as 'the«consultant'!) `

 




  

`

u Any part of the noun phrase can simply be stripped away (apart from the
word `
` here, as `
  ` is not a noun phrase in itself). So `

 

  


 ` can become `
  


  


 ` (here 'very' has been deleted).

To sum up, noun phrases are very simple ideas in themselves, but they can be
extremely complex in how they manifest themselves in actual language.

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/noun-phrase