Chapter II:

Noun Phrases and Compound Nouns

A. Noun Phrase
A phrase is a group of words which does not have a subject and verb, and, in a sentence
or a clause, functions as a single part of speech. A noun phrase is a phrase of which
function is as a noun, and which is made up from two parts, i.e. a headword and a modifier.
The headword is a noun which refers to reality or which becomes the topic of what is being
talked about. The modifier is a word which changes or narrows the meaning of the word it
modifies (the headword). It may consist of more than one word, and can be placed before
(premodifier) or after (postmodifier) the noun headword. It functions as a subject, an
object (of a verb or preposition), or a complement.
 A seven-foot tiger shark attacked some bathers. (premodifier-headword, functioning as
the subject)
 To my surprise, John does not have a bank account. (premodifier-headword, functioning
as the object of the verb ‘have’)
 The best defense against the atom bomb is not to be there when it goes off. (premodifier-
headword, functioning as the object of the preposition ‘against’)
 One of the important car safety devices is a rear-view mirror. (premodifier-headword,
functioning as the complement)
 A shark with seven-foot long is courageously swimming around in the seashore of the
Parangtritis beach. (premodifier: ‘a’, headword: ‘shark’, postmodifier: ‘with seven-foot
long’)
 Many poor people in remote villages do not have any idea of how to apply for a bank
account. (premodifier: ‘many-poor’, headword: ‘people’, postmodifier: ‘in remote
villages’)

B. Rules on Noun Phrase

The noun ‘cat’ when standing by itself like “my daughter likes a cat” can refer to any cat,
a cat in general. The meaning of the noun ‘cat’ can be specified by constructing it in a noun
phrase, and thus, which cat to be intended is obvious. For example:
1. My daughter loves a cat except that fierce black cat.

15
 2. My daughter’s cat likes sleeping on her lap.
3. This is the well trained cat.
4. The cat under the tree looks cute.
5. My daughter like the cat with sharp eyes.
6. The cat which is sitting on the sofa belongs to my daughter.
7. The cat which is chased by the dog belongs to my daughter.

From the examples, it is apparent that the words which modify the noun ‘cat’ consist of
demonstrative adjective ‘that’, adjective ‘fierce’ and ‘black’, possessive pronoun ‘my’,
possessive noun ‘daughter’s’ , article ‘the’, past participle ‘trained’, prepositional phrase ‘under
the tree’ and ‘with sharp eyes’, and adjective clause ‘which is sitting on the sofa’ and which is
chased by the dog.
It can be summed up that the premodifier is made up from (1) articles: a/an… and the …, (2)
adjectives: fierce…, black…., etc., (3) demonstrative adjectives: this…, that…, these…, and
those…, (4) numerals: one…, two…, three…, etc., (5) possessive nouns and pronouns: Aunt
Audrey’s…, John’s…, my…, your…, her…etc., (6) participial adjectives: boiling…, boiled…,
winning…, trained…, etc., (7) quantifiers: some…, many…, much…, etc. The postmodifier1)1
consist of (1) adjective clauses: …which is sitting on the sofa, …which is chased by the dog, etc.,
(2) infinitive phrase: …to chase, …to be chased, etc., (3) participial phrases: …sitting on the
sofa, …chased by the dog, etc., (4) prepositional phrases: …under the tree, …with sharp eyes,
etc.

C. Compound Noun
A compound noun is a group of two or more words, each of which has its own meaning
but when joined together, they produce a new meaning, and which forms a single noun. For
example, separately the words ‘break’ and ‘fast’ have different meanings from the
compound noun ‘breakfast’ as in ‘Lucy had breakfast at 7 this morning’.

D. Rules on Compound Noun

The difference between a compound noun and a noun phrase can be obscure to spot. The
1
) Since adjective clauses, infinitive, participial, and prepositional phrases have not yet been discussed in this part,
the types and forms of a premodifier are not going to be discussed in this part, either.

16
words ‘greenhouse’ (spelt as one word) will be different from ‘green house’ (two separate
words). However, it is not the spelling that is the matter; it is the stress (“Compound Nouns”,
2004:p.5—6). Thus, a ‘greenhouse of which stress falls on the first syllable means “a place
where we grow plants”; it is a compound noun whereas a green ‘house of which stress falls on
the second syllable means “a house” which is “painted green”; it is a noun phrase.
The expression a ‘soft ball’ spelt separately is a noun phrase which means a ‘ball’ which
is ‘soft’ or ‘not hard’, but a ‘softball’ spelt as a word is a compound noun which means a certain
form of baseball.
In http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/parts-of-speech/nouns/compoun... (2004:p.3), it is
stated that there are three ways to express compound nouns.
1. a closed form which is made up from two words that have melded together to make one
word, like softball, redhead, makeup, and keyboard.
2. a hyphenated form, for examples are six-pack, five-year-old, and son-in-law.
3. an open form, which consists of the words next to each other like post office, upper
class, and attorney general.
Below is when they are classified into a table:
Closed Form Hyphenated Form Open Form
softball six-pack post office
redhead five-year-old upper class
makeup son-in-law attorney general
keyboard

However, the hyphen may disappear as the word is more widely used, and it becomes a closed
word. Below is the list of compound nouns (“English Grammar: Compound Nouns”, 2014:p.3 &
“Compound Nouns”, 2014:p.3).

noun + noun toothpick Toothpicks can be made of bamboo.

fire-fly Fire-flies are seen in the dark because
they send out phosphorescent light.
fish tank An aquarium is basically a fish tank.
noun + verb (-ing) haircut John needs a haircut.
train-spotting His hobby is train-spotting.
noun + preposition / hanger on Hangers on can mean followers.
prepositional brother-in-law By the time John married my sister, he

17
 phrase has been my brother-in-law.
noun + adjective truckful I think I need 5 truckfuls of bricks.
adjective + noun software There is something wrong with the
software of my computer.
green card An immigrant needs a green card to get a
job in the U.S.

adjective + verb (-ing) highlight You should make a note of the highlights
of the lecture.
dry cleaning Dry cleaning uses petrol instead of water.
preposition + noun underworld The police will not accept money from
the underworld.
by-line The by-line is John Adams.
preposition + verb outlook It is a pleasant outlook over the valley.
verb + preposition lookout Some soldiers from the Indonesian army
/adverb keep a sharp lookout for the separatists’
hiding place.
verb (-ing/ + noun breakfast Ann always has breakfast with fish.
-ed) driving license We have to extend our driving license
every five years.
boiled water It is safer to drink boiled water.

E. Plural Forms
The plural form of a noun phrase is seen in the plural sign in the headword. Basically, it
follows the same rules applied to ordinary nouns. For example the plural forms of ‘a seven-
foot tiger shark’ is ‘seven-foot tiger sharks’, ‘the atom bomb’, ‘the atom bombs’, ‘a shark
with seven-foot long’, ‘sharks with seven-foot long’. When the noun phrase functions as
the subject of a sentence, the verb agrees with the headword.
 A shark with seven-foot long is swimming around in the seashore.
 Many poor people in remote villages do not have any idea of how to apply for a bank
account.
Concerning with compound nouns, the plural form is a bit complicated. When the
compound noun is made up of two or more words, the plural is made by adding –s to the

18
principle word (“Forming Plurals of Compound Nouns”, 2014:p.2., Eckersley & Eckersley,
1973:35—6, & Wren & Martin, 1990:12).
Singular Plural
a commander-in-chief commanders-in-chief
a coat-of-mail coats-of-mail
a son-in-law sons-in-law
a justice-of-the-peace justices-of-the-peace
a step-son step-sons
a maid-servant maid-servants
a passer-by passers-by
a governor-general governors-general
a looker-on lookers-on
a man-of-war men-of-war
a poet laureate poets laureate
a Knight Templar Knights Templar (see also below)
a lieutenant general lieutenant generals
But in the following both elements are made plural.
Singular Plural
a man-servant men-servants
a woman-servant women-servants
a gentleman-farmer gentlemen-farmers
a man-student/doctor men-students/doctors
a lord-justice lords-justices
a Knight-Templar Knights-Templars
It is stated that when “there is no obvious principal words, add –s/es to the end of the
compound” (“Forming Plurals of Compound Nouns”, 2014:p.3), for instance, ‘forget-me-
not’ becomes ‘forget-me-nots’.
Notice that the plural form of compound nouns which are regarded as a single word is
simply by adding the –s ending in the end of the words: ‘a spoonful’, ‘a handful’, and ‘a
mouthful’ are ‘spoonfuls’, ‘handfuls’, and ‘mouthfuls’. The subject-verb agreement of these
nouns follows the same rule as the ordinary rule of the subject-verb agreement.

19
References
“Compound Nouns” <http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/parts-of-speech/nouns/compoun...
Compound Nouns> retrieved on 7 September 2018.

“Forming Plurals of Compound Nouns” <http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/

plurals_forming_ compo...> retrieved on 2 September 2014.

“What Are Noun Phrases? (with Examples)” <http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/

noun_phrases. htm> retrieved on 2 September 2014.

Wren, P. C. & Martin, H. 1990. High School English Grammar and Composition. Revised
Edition. New Delhi: S. Chand & Company Ltd.

20