Group 5

Topic: What is a noun?

What is the noun phrase?
 1. Definition
• A noun is a word that refers to a thing, a person, an
animal, a place, a quality, an idea, or an action. It's
usually a single word, but not
always: cake, shoes, school bus, and time and a
half are all nouns.
• Name of persons: Mr.David, mother, people,man.
• Name of things: door, earth, computer, hat.
• Name of animals: elephant, monkey, dog, tiger.
• Name of abstract concepts: confidence, sociability,
war.
 2. Classification
• A. Genneral diagram
Nouns(N)

(i) Proper nouns (ii) Common nouns

(unique reference) (generic/specific reference)

EX: Taylor, Dr.Thu, (+) Count N Non-count N

Miss Adele,etc girl, people,father confidence,war
 b. Subclassification of proper nouns
• Person name: Bill Gate, Mr.Thomas, Dr.Hoa
• Geographical names: England, China, Japan, Korea, America.
• Name of institutions or organisations: HUBT University, WHO,
UNICEF.
 c. Futher classification of common nouns
* The most important classification of common
nouns is the distinction between count and non-
count nouns.
- Count nouns are the that very in form.
Singular Plural
woman women
girl girls
book books
study studies
- Non-count nouns are those that have only one form which is ofen
used in the singular: smoke, air, money, equipment,etc.
• Count nouns and non- count nouns can be concrete or abstract:

Count Non-count

Concrete woman tea

desk silver
house meat

sofa culture

Abstract computer trust

Anger anxiety
bottle freedom
 Noun Phrase
1. Definition

- A noun phrase is a group word with a noun or a pronoun

as the head and other constituents as modifier.
Ex: The second black bag on the table is very nice.
art numeral adj head preposition
2. Structure

Noun Phrase

Head Modifiers
 3. Functions

- Noun phrase perform 6 major grammatical function in the

English language:
1. Subject
Ex: This book is very interesting.
S
2. Direct Object
Ex: Mary kicked the ball.
Od
3. Indirect Object
Ex: He gives his father a hat.
Oi
4. Subject Complement
Ex: He is a student.
S Cs
5. Object Complement
Ex: We elected you team leader.
O Co

6. Prepositional Complement
Ex: I work in this company.
PP Cpp
 4. Classification

Noun Phrase

Basic noun phrase Complex noun phrase

 Basic noun phrase
• 1. Definition
- The basic noun phrase is a noun phrase that
consists of premodification+ head noun and that
function in the sentence as S ,O ,C .
- Basic noun phrase is only 1 word.
Ex: She is my classmate.
S Cs
B.N.P
 2. Diagram: Basic noun phrase

Basic NP

Closed-system Head noun

Premodifiers

Determine Post-
Pre-determiner
r determiner
 * Pre-determiner
• 1. A whole : all, both, half
• 2. Multipliers: double, twice, three times
• 3. Fraction : one-thirds, two-fifths
 * Determiners
1. Article: a, an, the
Ex: The United States, the book, a man
2. Possessive: my, your, our, her, his, their
Ex: Her bag, my school
3. Demonstrative; this, that, these, those
Ex: this book
4. Quantifier: much
Ex: much water
5. Interrogative: whose, which, what
Ex: which colour, whose bag
6. Indefinite: some, any, every, enough, each
Ex: some water, every person

In the basic NP, these words are central elements of pre-modifiers

 * Post-determiners
1. Cadinal numerals: one, two, three
Ex: one car
2. Ordinal numerals and general ordinal
- Ordinal numerals: first, second, third
Ex: the first grammar lesson.
- General ordinal: next, last, another
Ex: his last two books were novels.
3. Quantifiers:
- Closed-system: many, little, few
Ex: many books, few orange
- Open lass: a lot of, good deal of, a great number of Ex: a lot of
tea
 Pre-modification
Pre-determiner + determiner +
postdeterminer + N
=> Enough Basic NP
Pre-determiner/ determiner/ post-determiner/ N
=> Not enough Basic NP
Ex: All the three men.
pre.mo head noun
 Complex noun phrase
1. Definition
Complex noun phrase is a noun phrase which
expanded its meaning by using modification.
 2. Structure

Complex NP

Pre- Post-
modifier Head
modifier
 * Premodifiers
Premodifiers are condensed structures. They use
fewer words than postmodifiers to convey roughly the
same information. Most adjectival and partipial
premodifiers can be re-phrase as a longer, postmodifying
relative clause.
Premodifiers Relative clause as postmodifier
A staff room A room where staff members work
Flsihing lights Lights which are flashing
 Premodification

- There are four major types of noun premodifier: general adective,

ed-participial modifier, ing- ed-participial modifier, and noun.
+ Nouns as premodifiers are especially rich in meaning because
they express a wide arry of logical relationships.
+ A few nouns, like car, school are especially productive as
premodifiers.
- When noun phrase have multiple premodifiers, they tend to occur
in a predictable order depending on their grammatical category
Ex: Adv+ Adj+ head ( a really hot day); Adj+ noun+ head ( black
leather jacket ).
 * Head
The head can be a countable noun ( table,
children….), uncountable noun ( water, air,
hair…), singular noun ( a cake, an egg, the sun…),
or plural noun ( pets, babies, feet,men…)
Ex: The tall girl standing in the corner.
Haed
 * Post modifier

Post modifier

Adj Adv Pre Non finite Finite

 Adjectives as post modifiers
- The people involed this court.
- All the students present are students of E.
- She is a woman happy in marriage.
- I want to meet the person responsible.
Adverbs as post modifiers
- The neighbor upstair is very cold.
- The road back was dense with trafic.
Prepositional phrase as post modifiers
- The girl in red.
- The students without money.
 Nonfinite clause (phrase)

Nonfinite phrase

Ing phrase Ed phrase To phrase

 -Ing phrase
- The girl smilling beatifully is my roommate.
- I never love people not having kind heart.
-Ed phrase
- The only thing left is the future.
- This is the picture painted by Raphale.
Infinitive phrase
- You are the only one to hepl me.
- Chatting is one of the ways to get information.