NOUNS AND NOUN PHRASES
1
UNIVERSIDAD METROPOLITANA DE CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
DEPARTAMENTO DE INGLÉS
English Grammar: Morphosyntax
Prof. Pablo Corvalán
HANDOUT:
NOUNS AND NOUN PHRASES
The NP
The structure of the Noun Phrase can be illustrated as follows
(Premodification)
H
(Postmodification)
determiners adjectives nouns the the old the very old those very old
noun pronoun prepositional phrases relative clauses in the parking lot
cars
(that) the company bought for the employees Other pre- and postmodifiers may include determiner phrases, adjective phrases and even adverb phrases. A noun may also be complemented by appositions (other NPs or clauses)
As the head of an NP is a noun or a pronoun, in the following sections we will have a look at each class in turn. Afterwards, we will turn to the most common premodifiers, namely determiners. Nouns
The forms of nouns are varied. However, there are some suffixes that are associated with nouns: -ity, -ment, -tion, -ness, -ure (closure, departure), -er, -or, -al (dismissal, appraisal, refusal), -ess, -dom, -ese (Japanese), -ism, etc.
From a semantic point of view, nouns typically denote entities and can be classified syntactically into common nouns and proper nouns or names.
Common nouns can be count and non-count nouns. Both classes can be concrete (desk/ money) and abstract (difficulty/ love).
Some nouns can be both count and non-count, though there is usually a slight change of meaning. (cf. coke / a coke, glass / a glass, wood / a wood, paper / a paper, work / works, fruit / fruits)
Some nouns are typically non-count in English but countable in Spanish (e.g. bread, advice, furniture, information, news, work, toothpaste, rubbish, chaos, progress, evidence, harm, health, research, transport, travel, wealth, etc).
Others, though less common, are typically count nouns in English but uncountable in
Spanish (e.g. people, headache, pain).
Note that ‘travels’ is rather archaic.
cf.
UNIVERSIDAD METROPOLITANA DE CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN
DEPARTAMENTO DE INGLÉS
English Grammar: Morphosyntax
Prof. Pablo Corvalán
HANDOUT:
NOUNS AND NOUN PHRASES
The NP
The structure of the Noun Phrase can be illustrated as follows
(Premodification)
H
(Postmodification)
determiners adjectives nouns the the old the very old those very old
noun pronoun prepositional phrases relative clauses in the parking lot
cars
(that) the company bought for the employees Other pre- and postmodifiers may include determiner phrases, adjective phrases and even adverb phrases. A noun may also be complemented by appositions (other NPs or clauses)
As the head of an NP is a noun or a pronoun, in the following sections we will have a look at each class in turn. Afterwards, we will turn to the most common premodifiers, namely determiners. Nouns
The forms of nouns are varied. However, there are some suffixes that are associated with nouns: -ity, -ment, -tion, -ness, -ure (closure, departure), -er, -or, -al (dismissal, appraisal, refusal), -ess, -dom, -ese (Japanese), -ism, etc.
From a semantic point of view, nouns typically denote entities and can be classified syntactically into common nouns and proper nouns or names.
Common nouns can be count and non-count nouns. Both classes can be concrete (desk/ money) and abstract (difficulty/ love).
Some nouns can be both count and non-count, though there is usually a slight change of meaning. (cf. coke / a coke, glass / a glass, wood / a wood, paper / a paper, work / works, fruit / fruits)
Some nouns are typically non-count in English but countable in Spanish (e.g. bread, advice, furniture, information, news, work, toothpaste, rubbish, chaos, progress, evidence, harm, health, research, transport, travel, wealth, etc).
Others, though less common, are typically count nouns in English but uncountable in
Spanish (e.g. people, headache, pain).
Note that ‘travels’ is rather archaic.
cf.