Structure of a Np

1214 Words5 Pages
Structure of a noun phrase “A noun phrase in the strict sense consists of a noun as head, either alone or accompanied by determiners and modifiers.” In a broader sense the basic canonical structure of the noun-headed phrase includes four major components, of which two are optional: determiner + (premodification) + head noun + (postmodification and complementation). [1] You can see this structure in more detail in the chart below. “(QU) - D/POSS - (QE) - A - A - [ N/A - N ] - [of - NP] - XP or Clause Elements pre-modifying a Noun Elements post-modifying a Noun”[2] 1. all these four very big blue school books of history with faded papers 2. both his two very nice young half-sisters that study at the university 3. all the three more successful American poetry writers than those English ones In these examples above we can see how complex a noun phrase could be. Determination field consists of three parts – pre-modifiers, central determiner and post-modifiers. All of them precede the noun-head. The above examples clearly show us that all (1), both (2) and all (3) are parts of the determination field. They are universal quantifiers situated in the pre-determiner (Numeral) position. These (1), his (2), the (3) are central determiners. Four (1), two (2) and three (3) are existential quantifiers (cardinal Numerals) in the post-determiner position. Pre-modification field modifies and precedes a noun (a head) and consists of adjectives and N/A (secondary adjectives). Secondary adjectives are adjectives in the role of nouns or in the other words they are adjectives formed from nouns. In examples above we can identify school (1) and poetry (3) as secondary adjectives. Very big blue (1), very nice young (2), more successful American (3) will be identified as adjectives. Although there

More about Structure of a Np

Open Document