English noun phrase - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

English grammar

English grammar is the body of rules that describe the structure of expressions in the English language. This includes the structure of words, phrases, clauses and sentences...

, a noun phrase

Noun phrase

In grammar, a noun phrase, nominal phrase, or nominal group is a phrase based on a noun, pronoun, or other noun-like word optionally accompanied by modifiers such as adjectives....

has three components:

The head
Head (linguistics)
In linguistics, the head is the word that determines the syntactic type of the phrase of which it is a member, or analogously the stem that determines the semantic category of a compound of which it is a component. The other elements modify the head....

is the hub, the center of attraction (as it were) of the noun phrase; it is the noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...

or pronoun
Pronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun , such as, in English, the words it and he...

around which the other parts gather together. The head determines concord
Agreement (linguistics)
In languages, agreement or concord is a form of cross-reference between different parts of a sentence or phrase. Agreement happens when a word changes form depending on the other words to which it relates....

with the portion of the sentence outside the noun phrase. Thus:
- The change in the Asian economies is unprecedented.
- The changes in Japan's economy are most unexpected.
Premodification

consists of all the words placed before the head. These words are usually determiner
Determiner (class)
A determiner is a noun-modifier that expresses the reference of a noun or noun-phrase in the context, rather than attributes expressed by adjectives...

s, adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....

s and noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...

s. Thus:

Example	Determiner	Adjective	Adjective phrase	Noun	Head
That sophisticated city woman	That	sophisticated		city	woman
Many honest down-and-out small-town businessmen	Many	honest	down-and-out	small-town	businessmen

Postmodification

comprises words in the noun phrase that follow the head. These words usually consist of prepositional phrases, nonfinite clauses, and relative clauses. Thus:

Example	Postmodification	Category
The talkative man in the center of the room	in the center of the room	prepositional phrase
All the women walking on the bike path	walking on the bike path	non-finite clause
The house that I purchased for my third husband	that I purchased for my third husband	restrictive relative clause
The house, which my partner and I bought a month after we met	which my partner and I bought a month after we met	non-restrictive relative clause

There can also be adjectival post-modification:

Corruption aplenty ("aplenty" (adjective); corruption (head)). Thus: Corruption aplenty, in every unsurprising form, graced the occasion.

Apposition

A related concept is apposition
Apposition
Apposition is a grammatical construction in which two elements, normally noun phrases, are placed side by side, with one element serving to define or modify the other. When this device is used, the two elements are said to be in apposition...

, a construction usually involving two noun phrases that refer to the same entity (noun or pronoun). Examples:

Example	First sentence	Second sentence	Entity
That president, Abraham Lincoln, lives in the hearts ...	That president,	, lives in the hearts ...	Abraham Lincoln
Her dog, sixteen years old and nearly blind with cataracts, greeted ...	Her dog,	, greeted ...	sixteen years old and nearly blind with cataracts
The book was written by Jane Doe, a pioneering seventeenth-century veterinarian.	The book was written by Jane Doe,	a pioneering seventeenth-century veterinarian.	Jane Doe

Although these examples are non-restrictive, apposition can be restrictive as well:

The book is written by Jane Doe the local veterinarian.

Apposition can also take the form of a prepositional phrase:

... until the twin curses of famine and pestilence are lifted from the brows of mankind. (The "twin curses" are "famine and pestilence").

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