Noun Phrase - Components of Noun Phrases

Components of Noun Phrases

A typical noun phrase consists of a noun (the head of the phrase) together with zero or more modifiers of various types. The chief types of these modifiers are:

• determiners, such as the, this, my, some
• attributive adjectives, such as large, beautiful, sweeter
• adjective phrases and participial phrases, such as extremely large, hard as nails, made of wood, sitting on the step
• noun adjuncts, such as college in the noun phrase a college student
• prepositional phrases, such as in the drawing room, of his aunt
• relative clauses, such as which we noticed
• other clauses serving as complements to the noun, such as that God exists in the noun phrase the belief that God exists
• infinitive phrases, such as to sing well and to beat in the noun phrases a desire to sing well and the man to beat

The allowability, form and position of these elements depend on the syntax of the language in question. In English, determiners, adjectives (and some adjective phrases) and noun modifiers precede the head noun, whereas the heavier units – phrases and clauses – generally follow it. This is part of a strong tendency in English to place heavier constituents to the right, making English more of a head-initial language. Head-final languages (e.g. Japanese and Turkish) are more likely to place all modifiers before the head noun. Other languages, such as French, often place even single-word adjectives after the noun.

Noun phrases can take different forms than that described above, for example when the head is a pronoun rather than a noun, or when elements are linked with a coordinating conjunction such as and, or, but. For more information about the structure of noun phrases in English, see English grammar: Noun phrases.