What is "Noun Phrase" ?

Noun Phrase

Noun Phrase

1.Modifiers (pre-and post-Modifiers)

2.Noun phrase as sentence elements

Noun phrase with pre-modifiers

1.The lost city

2.A busy Roman city

3.A terrible, loud sound

4.Religious people

5.People’s throats

6.An important discovery

7.A few human bones

8.Traveling musicians

9.Unbroken eggs

10.Another Pompeii disaster

Pre-modifiers: determiners

•Articles:

a, an, the

•Numbers (including words that imply numbers):

none, one, two, three, four, some many, few, all, several, no, first, second, third,

another, each, both, any

•Possessives:

my, your, his, her, its, our, their, one’s, Herman’s, Rita’s, Sandy’s

•Other Noun Determiners:

this, that, these, those

Pre-modifiers

•Adjective

•Adverb (the then king, our only discussion)

•Preposition (the front seats, two inside rooms)

•Verbal (V-ing, V-III)

•Noun (tennis balls, coffee persons)

Post-modifiers

•Preposition

(e.g. fruits and vegetables in the market, men of Pompeii, ash and smoke from

the mountain) 

•Noun

(e.g. Mount Vesuvius)

Post-modifiers

•Verbal

(e.g. people trying to escape by water or by land, a man writing the history,

people living near the mountain)

•Adjective clause

(e.g. a wide bay that was good for boats and for fishing, gladiators who were going to have a battle)

Noun phrase in sentences

•Pompeii is the lost city.

•It was a busy Roman city.

•Traveling musiciansentertained in the marketplace.

•People heard a terrible, loud soundin that city.

•The groundshook and people went running outside.

Exercise-underline the noun phrase and explain its function in the sentence.

1.In 1860 the king told scientists to uncover Pompeii.

2.They found the city.

3.There was money on a table in a café.

4.There were pots and pans in a fireplace.

5.The scientists found a few human bones.

 Exercise –Fill in the blanks with appropriate auxilliary.

1.Many years ago, there …..a good place for a city.

2.The marketplace in Pompeii…..busy.

3.The streets in the city…..soon crowded.

4.The gladiators practicing in the stadium …..going to have the battle.

5.They looked at the mountain and ….afraid.

References

•Abdi, K. 2002. Sentence Analysis. Yogyakarta: UNY.

•Leech, G. 1989. An A-Z of English Grammar and Usage. Hong Kong: Thomas and Sons Ltd.

•Mikulecky, B.S. and L. Jeffries. 2005. Reading Power. New York: Pearson Education, Inc.

•http://www.myenglishclass.us/shared_files/noun_phrases.doc