NOUNS AND NOUN PHRASES

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
THUONG MAI UNIVERSITY

TOPIC 2 : NOUNS AND NOUN PHRASES

THE TEACHER :PHẠM THÙY GIANG
CLASS : 2112ENTH0621
GROUP 6


Hanoi 2021


THE SUMMARY
A, NOUNS
I, NOUN CLASSES
II, GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES
B, FUNCTIONS AND STRUCTURES OF AN NP
I, FUNCTIONS
II, STRUCTURES
C, REFERENCE AND ARTICLES
D, BASIC NP
I, PRE-DETERMINERS
II, CENTRAL DETERMINERS
III, POST- DETERMINERS
E, COMPLEX NP
I, PRE-MODIFICATION
II, POST-MODIFICATION
III, RESTRICTIVE & NON RESTRICTIVE
IV, PERMANENT & TEMPORARY
F, EXERCISES

1


A, NOUNS
I, NOUN CLASSES
+) Traditional classification:
English nouns
Abstract
Abstract
Concrete

Concrete
Name intangible things, such as
concepts,
ideas,
feelings,
characteristics, attributes…
Name people, places, animals, or
things that are or were physically
tangible. That is they can or could be
seen or touched or else have some
defining physical properties.

E.g.
love,
hate,
happiness,
beauty,
health…

E.g. rocks, lake, people,
water…

+) Modern classification:
English nouns
Proper nouns

Common nouns
Count

Abstract

Non-count

Concrete

Abstract

Concrete

 Proper nouns: are also usually concrete, as they describe unique people,
places or things.
E.g. Mary, The Queen, my MacBook…
- Common nouns:
- Count nouns: are nouns that can be counted as individual units.
+ Abstract: a conversation – 2 conversations
An emergency – several emergencies
An aspiration – many aspirations
+ Concrete: a cup – 2 cups
An ambulance – several ambulances

A person – many people
2


- Non-count nouns:
+ Abstract: a large number of abstract nouns are uncountable. These are
usually ideas or attributes.
Ideas or concepts: love, hate, knowledge…
Attributes: beauty, intelligence, permanence…
Abstract uncountable: As with countable nouns, though, we can
sometimes use the definite article the:
E.g. I can’t stand watching the news.
Can you believe the arrogance he exhibits?
+ Concrete: that are uncountable tend to be substances or collective
categories of things.
Substances: wood, smoke, air, water…
Collective categories: furniture, homework, luggage…
However, uncountable nouns can sometimes take the definite article the,
because it does not specify an amount:
E.g. They’re swimming in the water.
The homework this week is hard.

II, GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES
3


+)

Number:
1. Invariables: nouns that do not vary, a constant.

Singular invariables

Plural invariables

Concrete non-count nouns: rice, furniture
Abstract non-count nouns: freedom, literature
Proper name: The Times, Tom
Some nouns ending in –s: news, measles
Abstract adjectival heads: the beautiful
Summation plurals/dual object plurals: tongs,
pants
Other pluralia tantum in –s: archives, greens
Some plural proper nouns: the Philippines
Unmarked plural nouns: people, police
Personal adjectival heads: the poor, the dead

2. Variables: nouns that do vary.
Regular plurals
Irregular plurals

Table -> tables
Voicing: leaf -> leaves
house -> houses
Mutation: tooth -> teeth
-en plural: child -> children
Zero plural: sheep -> sheep
Foreign: curriculum -> curricula, index -> indices

+)Case:

“s”
genitive

- With the nouns of higher
gender class.
4

E.g. Johnny‘s bike.
The cat’s basket.


“of”
genitive
Double
genitive

- Mostly for people and
animals.
- With the nouns of lower
gender class.
- Mostly for things.
-“Of” and “s” genitives used
together.

E.g. The name of the school.
The top floor of the
building.
E.g. A friend of Eric’s.
He isn’t a friend of Mr.
Collins’s. He’s a friend of

mine.

+) Gender:
- English has a rather straightforward system of gender called natural
gender. There is not any further morphological feature that helps
distinguish gender.
- Gender is expressed by inflection only in personal pronouns, and only in
3 person, singular: he, she, it.
- The 1st and 2nd person forms: I, we, and you are common gender.
- While the 3rd person plural form they is either common gender or neuter
(the people, they, the boats…).

5


B, FUNCTIONS AND STRUCTURE OF NP
I, FUNCTIONS
-Subject: the noun phrase functions as the subject of a sentence.
Example: The girl is pretty.
The beautiful shirt is mine.
-Object (Oi, Od): the noun phrase functions as the object (indirect object and
direct object)
Example: My father gives my little sister a present on her birthday
Oi

Od

-Complement of sentences (Cs, Co): the noun phrase also functions as the
complement of a subject or object.
Example: Nate is my favourite fighter (Cs)

I consider him a pet (Co)
-Complement in prepositional phrase: the noun phrase functions as
complement in prepositional phrase
Example: The books are on the floor
She is living in a big house
-Appositive: the noun phrase functions as appositive
Example: My friend, a teacher will come soon
-Adverbial: the noun phrase functions as adverbial
Example: Yesterday I bought a new computer
-Adjectival complement: the noun phrase functions as adjectival complement
Example: The game isn’t worth the candle

6


II, STRUCTURES
The noun phrase is typically constructed by either a noun or a pronoun as the
head and other constituents as modifiers
An English noun phrase has the following formula:
Pre-modifiers

+

Head

+

Post-modifiers

As we can see, a noun phrase consists of three parts: pre-modification, head,

post-modification. In a noun phrase, the head is obligatory but the Premodification and the Post-modification are optional. As their names have
suggested, the function of the pre-modification and post-modification is to
elaborate or limit the head noun’s meaning. Noun phrase gets its name from
the head word.

7


C, REFERENCE AND ARTICLES
+) GENERIC:
Noun phrase refers to entity as representative of the whole class
For exxample : a cat has four legs ( a cat = generic reference )
+) SPECIFIC:
Noun phrase refers to a specific entity/ entities
For exxample : this car has been under repair ( this car = specific reference)
- Definite : referent :introduced , known, clear from the context
Article ‘the’
- Indefinite : referent : introduced, known for first time from the context
Articles : ‘a ,an’ or zero
+) UNIQUE :
When a proper noun is used, it has unique reference
Article : normally Zero articl
For example : John loves Mary ( unique reference )

8


D, BASIC NOUN PHRASE Words of closed – system used before a N to
determine the prease meaning of the N
I, PRE- DETERMINERS

Mutually exclusive ; eg: all girls, both girls NOT all both girls
+All - both - half
- Occur only before articles (all the time) or demonstratives ( this, that) -> half
these days, possessives ( my, his, her…) ->both his sisters
- Do not occur with every, neither/either, each, some, any, no, enough.
- Take partitive “of - phrases” -> all of the time
- Occur after the head, either, immediately or after the operation
eg: They (all) were (all) accepted
+ Multiples (once, twice, threetime, double…)
- Go with non - count nouns, plural nouns and singular nouns
- Used to denote the quantity off the nouns
eg: twice her age
- Occur with the determiners “a, every, each, per,” to indicate frequency
eg: Once a week, Three times each year…
+ Fractions ( one - third, three quarters,...)
- Go with non count nouns, and with singular and plural nouns
● The fractions have the alternative of construction
● The indefinite article can replace one
eg: He did it in one - third/ a third of the time it took me
+ Such, what
- Occur before the head noun
- Such: combined with “all, quantities, cardinal numbers
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eg: What/such a surprise
II, CENTRAL DETERMINERS
- There are six classes of determiners, classified according to their co occurrence with the noun classes.
+ Articles: a, an, the
+ Possessive: my, his, their

+ Demonstrate: this, that, these
+ Indefinite Pronouns: every, either, neither, each, no
+ Indefinite quantitiers: any
+ WH - elements: Which, what, whose
III, POST- DETERMINERS
- Cardinal numberals: one, two, three
- Ordinal numberals/general ordinals: next, last, additional, further, (an) other,
past, the first time
- Closed - system quantitiers: many (a) few, much, (a) little
- Open class of phrasal quantitiers:
+ General partitives: a lot of, a piece of, a member of
+ Specific partitives: a herb of, a crowd of, a school of, a flock of
+ Measure: a pint of, a pound of

10


E, COMPLEX NOUN PHRASE
contains three components: pre -modification, head noun and postmodification. We are to deal with these components in turn.
I, PRE-MODIFICATION
+) DETERMINERS
a. Articles : In noun phrases, the article usually comes first.
CD theT

THE DEFINITE ARTICLES : A / AN

Example : the United States, the
Universe,
the Earth, the Moon, the man over
there, …

Use the article "an": words that
start with vowels (u, e, o, a, i)
Use the article "a": words that start
with consonants (t, f, d, h, j, k, ...)
 For example: a man, a
woman, a book, a
store, ...

b. Qualifiers
In a noun phrase, the word indicating quantity (Many; much; a lot of; lots
of; a little; little, a few; few) usually comes after the article, and if there is
no article, it tops the phrase.
c. Possessive Nouns/ Pronouns
+ Possessive nouns: Is adding ′ s after the possessive noun
Example: The man's wallet, Susan's cats
+ Possessive pronouns: my, your, his, her, our, their, its

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+) MODIFIER
a. Adjective
Adjectives usually come before the main noun, and the job of adjectives is to
modify the main noun. Adjective may or may not be present in the noun
phrase.
 For example: A beautiful girl , A long distance , Many young students
….

 Rules of arranging modifying adjectives: OPSACOMP : Opinion , Size ,

Shape ,Age ,Color ,Origin ,Material , Purpose .

 For example : a fat old lady, a small shiny black leather handbag, a
beautiful small new round blue Japanese wooden rolling doll ….
b. Participles :
The placement of particles in a noun phrase is like adjectives, both of
which are used to complement the main noun. There are two forms of
the participle: present participle (V-ing) and past participle (V3 / -ed)
- Use present participle V-in: when it comes to the nature of things, or
things that are going on -> Example: An interesting film, the barking dog
- Use past participle V3 / -ed: when it comes to the feeling of things, or
things being / affected ----- Example: A well-trained dog, a broken chair….

II, POST MODIFICATION
12


The modifiers after the noun can be a phrase or a clause.+) PHRASE
a. Preposition phrases
Prepositions are phrases that begin with a preposition, and a preposition
phrase after a noun is intended to modify the noun.
Example: A man with black hair, the dog behind the fence
b . Participle phrases
- Particle present phrase: usually beginning with V-ing, the participle
present phrase after the noun appears when reducing the active relative
clause
For example: +The man standing over there
+ The dog lying on the ground
- Phrase past clusters: usually begin with V3 / -ed, punctual past clusters after
nouns appear when shortening passive relational clauses

For example: The book sent to me , the house built …
+) CLAUSE
The adjective clause, also known as the adjective clause, is used to modify the
noun preceding it.
For example:
The girl who you talked to is my girlfriend.
The book that you sent to me yesterday is my favorite novel.
+) Non finite clauses :
- To-infininite : a good book to read
- ing participle : the girl sitting front of me
- ed participle : the book written by him
+) Finite clause
- Relative clause : The girl who I met yesterday
- Appositive clause : The idea that we should go out .
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III, RESTRICTIVE AND NON-RESTRICTIVE
*Modification can be retrictive or non-restrictive
+) Restrictive : - The head can be viewed as a member of a class which can be
linguistically indentified only through the modification that has been supplied.
-Helps identify the head and indicate a limitation on the possible
reference of the head.
-Modification at its ‘most restrictive’ tends to come after the
head: that is, our decision to use an item as a premodifier.
-Restrictive modification tends to be given more prosodic
emphasis than the head.
For example : I often see men who went to school with me
(restrictive)
+) Non-restrictive : - Any modification given to such a head is additional

information which is not essential for identifying the head, and we call it nonrestrictive.
-The reference : the head can be viewed as unique or a
member of a class that has been independently identified.
-Tends to come before the head.
-Tends to be unstressed in pre-head position.
( *note: its ‘parenthetic’ relation is endorsed by being given a separate tone
unit, or-in writing –by being enclosed by commas).
For example : Tom, who called here last night, left this message for you
(non-restrictive)

Where did you get that beautiful carpet in the hall?
(non-restrictive)
14

(restrictive)


IV, PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY
There is a second dichotony that has some affinities with the distinction
between restrictive and non-restrictive but rather than more with the contrast
of non-progressive and progressive in predication, generic or specific reference
in determiners , or permanent and temporary in agentials. Modification in
noun-phrase structure may also be seen as permanent or temporary.
+) Permanent : - Have reference to characteristic features
- Mainly the items which are placed in pre-modification
position.
For example : A beautiful girl
A lovely cat
+) Temporary : - Have reference only to a specific time
-Mainly those adjectives which have to be predicate

For example : The ready man
The sick woman

15


16


F, EXERCISES
Exercise 1:
1. Each student carried some English books.
Each: central determiners
Some: central determiners
2. Neither student understood either teacher.
Neither: central determiners
Either: central determiners
3. There is no second dress.
Second: post-determiners
No: central determiners
4. She took these three bottles of water.
These: central determiners
Three: post-determiners
5. All his students are here
All: pre-determiners
His: central determiners
6. He made double the work.
Double: pre-determiners
The: central determiners
7. We ate half those fish we caught

Half: pre-determiners
Those: central determiners
8. Every day, Jane goes to school.
Every: central determiners
9. The next lesion is tomorrow.
The: central determiners
Next: post-determiners
10.Which bookstore has enough English book.
Enough: central determiners
Which: central determiners
11.Does any supermarket has enough milk.
Any: central determiners
Enough: central determiners
12.This is the first laptop I have.
This: central determiners
The: central determiners
First: post-determiners
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13.Both of them like play football.
Both: pre-determiners
14.I made two-third the mistakes she did.
Two-third: pre-determiners
The: central determiners
15.The last lesson is next week.
The: central determiners
Last: post-determiners
Next: post-determiners
Exercise 2: Choose the appropriate quantifiers to complete the sentences.

1. He is an expert on languages, but he knows ---- about mathematics.
A: Few
B: Little
C: A lot of
D: Several
2. I don't think there will be a severe shortage of usable water because there
was ---- rain fall yesterday.
A: Little
B: Few
C: Any
D: A lot of
3. Unfortunately, I have ---- talent for music although I have always wanted to
be a famous singer.

A: Little
B: Few
C: A few
18


D: Plenty of
4. There were ---- people at the meeting earlier but most of them left early so
there aren't many left now.
A: Little
B: Few
C: Much
D: Several
5. Although she thought she knew ---- of the subject, the teacher asked a few
details she hardly remembered.
A: Several

B: Much
C: Many
D: Any
6. ---- people enjoy the performance of the theater company but I don't think it
is a successful one.
A: Much
B: Several
C: Every
D: No
7. I had to live in Paris and Madrid for many years because of my business but I
don't like ---- city much.
A: All
B: Whole
C: Either
D: Neither
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8. Both players in the tennis match have been warned by the referee but ---- of
them seems to take it seriously.
A: None
B: Either
C: Every
D: Neither
9. In my country, ---- universities offer a wide range of courses. That's why they
are preferred by foreign students as well.
A: Every
B: Each
C: A great deal of
D: Most

10. The vocabulary list had been memorized by ---- of the students and each
one scored over 80 percent on the exam.
A: Every
B: All
C: A little
D: The whole

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DANH SÁCH NHÓM 6
S
T
T

HỌ VÀ TÊN

MSV

NHIỆM VỤ

1 NGUYỄN NGỌC QUỲNH

19D170039

THE BASIC
NOUN PHRASE

2 NGUYỄN THỊ THOA

19D170252

EXERCISES

3 TRẦN THỊ MINH THU

19D170184

FUNCTION AND
STRUCTURE OF
NP

4 HOÀNG THỊ THÙY

19D170185

THE COMPLEX
NOUN PHRASE

5 LÊ THỊ KIM TIẾN

19D170048

RESTRICTIVE
&NON
RESTRICTIVE
PERMANENT&
TEMPORARY

6 CÁP PHƯƠNG TRANG

19D170187

21

NOUNS

ĐÁNH GIÁ