reflections on the application of noun phrases in english vietnamese translation

CAN THO UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

WX

THESIS
Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu
REFLECTIONS ON THE APPLICATION OF NOUN
PHRASES IN ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION
A 10-credit thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements
for the Degree of Bachelor of English of Can Tho University

Supervisor: Mr. Huynh Trung Tin

May, 2007
i

Student: Nguyen Anh Thi
Student’s code: 7032465
Class: English Education 02
Course: 29


STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
I certify that this work has not been submitted in whole or in part to this university,
or to other educational institutions for marking and assessment either previously
or concurrently. I also certify that I do this research by myself, and this is all my
own original work.
Nguyen Anh Thi
May, 2007

Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my appreciation to people for their sincere help that bring
me upon completion of my study.
To my supervisor, Mr. Huynh Trung Tin, I would like to express my deep
gratitude to his useful advice and support. At the beginning, he guided me to
shape my research ideas, introduced helpful websites, suggested related books
to find appropriate literature review, and gave immediate feedback on my drafts.
Without his guidance, I could not complete my research paper in time.
I am grateful to lecturers of the English Department, and the students of English
Education class 01 and 02, course 31 of Can Tho University for their contribution
to the completion of data collecting process by doing the tests. Without their
willingness,
make good progress.
Trung tâm
Học my
liệustudy
ĐHwould
CầnnotThơ@Tài
liệu học tập và nghiên cứu
I would like to send my thankful messages to all of my old teachers at
Cheguevara high school, Ms. Nguyen Thi My Hanh, Ms Nguyen Ngoc Trinh, and
Mr. Tran Van Hoang; all my classmates, for their support, and my foreign
teacher, Mr. Wesley Hedden, living in Ohio, the USA for his shared experience in
doing research.

ii


ABSTRACT
After acquiring a basic knowledge of English, the students could be able to
analyze English materials. During the process of using English, the term
translation appears and plays a very essential role in learners. In addition,
English sentence structures are very complicated, and raise a lot of troubles for
learners, especially in terms of noun phrases since they are considered as one of
the two main parts of a sentence, and occur in different styles of discourse.
Therefore, this study is aimed at finding out the answer for the hypothesis if the
knowledge of English noun phrases should be brought to learners in order that
they could perform well in their translation.

Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu

iii


TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Background

PAGE
i

ii
iii
1

2. Aim of the study

2

3. Research methods

2

4. Organization of the study
PART 2: INVESTIGATION
Chapter one: LITERATURE REVIEW

2
4

1.1 Introduction

4

1.2 Definitions of translation

4

1.3 Translation process

5

1.4 Skewing

6

1.5 Equivalence

7

1.6 Competence and performance

10

1.7Học
Sentences
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liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên 11
cứu
1.8 Phrases

12

1.9 Noun phrases

13

1.9.1. Some definitions from different linguists

13

1.9.2. Types of NP

15

1.9.2.1. Simple NPs

15

1.9.2.2. Complex NPs

16

1.9.3. Structures of NPs

16

1.9.3.1. Head

16

1.9.3.2. Premodifiers

17

1.9.3.2.1. Simple premodifiers

17

1.9.3.2.2. Complex premodifiers

18

1.9.3.3. Postmodifiers

20

1.9.3.3.1. Simple postmodifiers

20

1.9.3.3.2. Complex postmodifiers

21

1.9.4. Functions of NPs

23

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24

Chapter 2: RESEARCH METHOD
2.1 Subject

24

2.2 Instruments

24

2.2.1. Comprehension test

24

2.2.2. Performance test

25

2.3 Test validity and reliability

25

2.3.1. Test validity

25

2.3.2. Test reliability

26

2.4 Procedures

28

2.5 Result analysis

28

Chapter 3: RESULT ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

30

3.1 Results

30

3.2 Result analysis and discussion

33

3.2.1. Group A

33

3.2.2. Group B

33

3.2.3. Group C

34

3.2.4. Group D

35

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Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên 36

cứu
3.3 Summary
37

PART THREE: CONCLUSION
1. Summary

37

2. Implication

38

3. Suggestion for further research

38

BIBLIOGRAPHY

39

APPENDIX

41

COMPREHENSION TEST

41

PERFORMANCE TEST

45

SUGGESTED ANSWER KEY

48

ASSESSMENTS

50

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PART ONE
INTRODUCTION
5. Background
Throughout 4 years studying at university, many students in the English
Department have been fully equipped with the knowledge of linguistics such as
semantics, syntax, morphology, phonology and theory of translation. Thus, they
have better understanding of language meaning and language uses, but they still
meet many problems in translation that stem from the fact that English grammar
structures raise many difficulties for those who learn English as a foreign
language, especially English noun phrases.
As can be said from Longman Dictionary of English language, and Culture (1992)

Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu

“a phrase is a group of words without a finite verb.” According to Noam Chomsky
(1975), “a sentence is defined as a noun phrase and a verb phrase, and each

sentence of the language is represented by a set of strings in which noun
phrases are contained within verb phrases and verb phrases within noun phrases
in English.”, and “a sentence is formed by an noun phrase and a verb phrase.”
Indeed, a sentence is usually considered the largest syntactical unit, and it
consists of a noun phrase (or subject) and a verb phrase (or predicate). In other
words, it could be said that noun phrases play a very important role in sentence
structures.
Indeed, noun phrases are used in different kinds of text such as in informal
speech, newspapers, fictions, science writings and so forth. Besides, the study
proved that noun phrases also occur in different styles of discourse. They are

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considered to play a very sensitive and core role in the text. Because of this
variety, noun phrases raise a lot of problems for the Vietnamese learners,
especially when they translate materials from English into Vietnamese.
6. Aim of the study
For the above-mentioned reasons, it is very necessary to conduct a research to
see how the mastery of English noun phrases helps translators. The study is
aimed at finding out whether there is a correlation between the comprehension of
English noun phrases and the translation performance. In other words, the study
will try to answer the following research question: “Do English noun phrases
affect learners’ English-Vietnamese translation?”
7. Research methods
In order to find the answer for the research question, I design 2 tests to access
both learners’ comprehension and performance of English noun phrases, basing

Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu

on the different types of noun phrases described in Chapter 1. Moreover, thanks
to the comprehension test, I can exactly measure the relationship between
comprehension of English noun phrases and establish a correlation to decide on
how much comprehension affects performance.
All of the students majoring in English at the English Department – Course 31 –
Can Tho University are invited to do the tests since they have already taken
some courses of translation, English grammar including noun phrases.
8. Organization of the study
There are 3 parts in this study: introduction, investigation and conclusion.
PART 1: INTRODUCTION generalizes the background, aim, methods and the
organization of the study.

2


PART 2: INVESTIGATION
Chapter 1: Literature review
Chapter 2: Research methods
Chapter 3: Result analysis and discussion
PART 3: CONCLUSION summarizes the main points.

Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu

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PART TWO
INVESTIGATION
Chapter one: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1

Introduction

In this chapter, I am going to give some definitions of translation, some issues
related to translation theory, the basic knowledge of English noun phrases and
their functions as well.
1.2

Definitions of translation

There are so many definitions of translation that I can find in some books and
websites, but I am really contented with these following ones by some sources.
Firstly, Newmark defines translation as “a craft consisting in the attempt to

Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu

replace a written message in one language by the same message in another
language.”
Also, Pinhhuck (1997) states that “Translation is a process of finding a target
language (TL) equivalent for a source language (SL) utterance.” Similarly,
Catford (1965) maintains translation as a process which is always unidirectional,
i.e. from a SL into a TL.
Nida and Taber (1969) explain the process of translating consisting of
reproducing in the receptor language (RL) the closes natural equivalent of the SL
message, first in terms of meaning and second in terms of style.
According to Wills (1982), “Translation is a transfer process which aims at the
transformation of a written SL text into an optimally equivalent TL text, and which

4

requires the syntactic, the semantic and the pragmatic understanding and
analytical processing of the SL.”
In addition, “Translation is an activity comprising the interpretation of the meaning
of a text in one language – the ST – and the production, in another language, of
a new, equivalent text – the target text, or translation.” said from the website
Another definition of translation from
defines “Translation
is the process of facilitating written communication from one language to another.
It is performed by a translator. Translation should almost be done by a native
speaker into his/her own mother tongue.”
In conclusion, translation is a very complicate process since the translators have
to deal with problems related to linguistic aspects of both the SL and the TL.

Trung tâm
liệu ĐH
Cầnthe
Thơ@Tài
và nghiên
cứuin
TheseHọc
definitions
express
important liệu
textualhọc
andtập
context
equivalence
translation. They affirm that equivalence must ensure the syntactic, the semantic,
and the pragmatic aspects of the SL.

1.3

Translation process

As a matter of fact, each language conceptualizes in different ways. Nida states
“in order to understand somewhat more fully the characteristics of different types
of translation, it is important to analyze in more details the principles that govern
a translation.” (1964). Also, it is understandable that a translation is
understandably skewed when it cannot get the maximum equivalence between
the SL and the RL. Baker defines “a single word can sometimes be assigned
different meaning in different languages” and “might be regarded as being more
complex unit or morpheme”.

5


According to the website translation is
a process based on the theory that it is possible to abstract the meaning of a text
from its forms and reproduce that meaning with the very different forms of a
second language. Nida describes translation process by the following diagram

A (source language)

B (receptor language)

(Analysis)

X

(Restructory)

(transfer)

Y

Nida’s three-stage system of translation (from Nida and Taber 1969)

1.4

Skewing

Trung tâm
Học
liệu ĐH isCần
Thơ@Tài
liệu họcfactor
tập và
nghiên
cứu
Skewing
in translation
one of
the most problematic
in applied
linguistics
because it almost occurs frequently in any written texts, so the translators must
always pay attention to it so that they can prevent from unsuccessful translation.
According to Larson (1999), he states “One of the reasons why literal translations
do not communicate is that they keep the SL skewing. The skewing in the SL will
not match the skewing in the RL.” He also defines skewing as “the diversity or

the lack of one – to – one correlation between form and meaning” (1999). For
instance, the English possessive noun phrase has a number of various functions
in the following

My car

→ ownership

My foot

→ part whole

My village

→ residence

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My brother

→ kinship

My singing

→ activity

In other words, the translators must first find out the meaning of the text to be
translated and then re-express it in the form of the RL since each language
packages meaning components in different ways, and as a result, skewing

happens within that SL. Similarly, Nida says “All types of translation involve loss
of information, and/or skewing of information.” (1975)
In addition, Newmark mentions “language has verbs, adjectives, and adverbs
that refer naturally to persons, but may be transferred in some cases to objects”
(1988:50). For instance, in phrases “the dog is intelligent”, “it is fighting”, the
words “intelligent and fighting” are usually used for persons but in these
examples, they talk about animal and thing. However, skewing in Mark’s study
(1988)Học
is notliệu
as clear
as Larson’s
and theliệu
information
of skewing
in his cứu
study
Trung tâm
ĐH Cần
Thơ@Tài
học tập
và nghiên
seems more practical.
In brief, thanks to these above studies, we can assume that skewing often
happens. Consequently, the translators should be careful in analyzing the SL
texts in order to avoid skewing.
1.5

Equivalence

(From equiv.htm)

Many theorists have studied equivalence in relation to the translation process,
using different approaches, and have provided fruitful ideas for further study on
this topic. First of all, Vinay and Darbelnet view equivalence – oriented translation
as a procedure which “replicates the same situation as in the original, whilst
using completely different working”. They also suggest that if the procedure is
applied during the translation process, it can maintain the stylistic impact of the

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SL text in the TL text. According to them, equivalence is therefore the ideal
method when the translator has to deal with proverbs, idioms, clichés, nominal or
adjectival phrase and the onomatopoeia of animal sounds. With regard to
equivalent expressions between language pairs, Vinay and Darbelnet claim that
they are acceptable as long as they are listed in a bilingual dictionary as “full
equivalents”. However, later they note that glossaries and collections of idiomatic
expressions “can never be exhaustive”. They conclude by saying that “the need
for creating equivalences arises from the situation, and it is in the situation of the
SL text that translators have to look for a solution”. Indeed, they argue that even
if the semantic equivalent of an expression in the SL text is quoted in a dictionary
or a glossary, it is not enough, and it does not guarantee a successful translation.
Meanwhile, an extremely interesting discussion of the notion of equivalence can
be found
BakerĐH
(1992)
whoThơ@Tài
seems to offer
more tập
detailed
of conditions

Trung tâm
Họcin liệu
Cần
liệua học
và list
nghiên
cứu
upon which the concept of equivalence can be defined. She explores the notion
of equivalence at different levels, in relation to the translation process, including
all different aspects of translation and hence putting together the linguistic and
the communicative approach. She distinguishes between:
•

Equivalence at word level and above word level

•

Grammatical equivalence

•

Textual equivalence

•

Pragmatic equivalence

Similarly, Nida argues that there are two different types of equivalence, which in
the second edition by Nida and Taber (1982) are referred to as formal
correspondence and dynamic equivalence. Formal correspondence - “focus

attention on the message itself, in both form and content” is unlike dynamic
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equivalence which is based upon “the principle of equivalent effect” (1964).
Formal correspondence consists of a TL item which represents the closet
equivalence of a SL word or phrase. Nida and Taber make it clear that there are
not always formal equivalents between language pairs. They therefore suggest
that these formal equivalents should be used wherever possible if the translation
aims at achieving formal rather than dynamic equivalence. The use of formal
equivalents might at times have serious implications in the target text since the
translation will not be easily understood by the target audience (Fawcett, 1997).
Nida and Taber state “Typically, formal correspondence distorts the grammatical
and stylistic patterns of the RL, and hence distorts the message, so as to cause
the receptor to misunderstand or to labor unduly hard.”
Dynamic equivalence is defined as the way to put the sense of the original text
into the
bestliệu
modern
remaining close
the tập
ideasvà
expressed
not
Trung tâm
Học
ĐH English,
Cần Thơ@Tài
liệu tohọc
nghiênbut

cứu
always following the exact wording or word order of the Hebrew or Greek
originals. Thus they may seem less “literal” than the formal correspondence
translations, but can be just as “faithful” to the original text, and are therefore
generally better suited for public proclamation or liturgical use. They argue that
“Frequently, the form of the original text is changed; but as long as the change
follows the rules of back transformation in the SL, of contextual consistency in
the transfer, and of transformation in the RL, the message is preserved and the
translation is faithful.” (Nida and Taber, 1982). For these opinions above, one can
easily see that Nida is in favor of the application of dynamic equivalence, as a
more effective translation procedure. Only in Nida and Taber’s edition is it clearly
stated that “dynamic equivalence in translation is far more than mere correct
communication of information.” Indeed, Nida is much more interested in the

9


message of the text or, in other words, in its semantic quality. He, therefore,
strives to make sure that this message remains clear in the target text.
In conclusion, the notion of equivalence is undoubtedly one of the most
problematic and controversial areas in the field of translation theory. This term
has been analyzed, evaluated and extensively discussed from different points of
view and has been approached from many different perspectives. The difficulty,
however, in defining equivalence seems to result in the impossibility of having a
universal approach to this notion.
1.6

Competence and performance

In fact, knowing a second language means knowing all information of that

language. This includes information about phonology (sound system), syntax
(rules of ordering elements in a sentence), lexicon (vocabulary system),
semantics
of Cần
meaning)
and pragmatics
(howtập
we và
usenghiên
a language
Trung tâm
Học(system
liệu ĐH
Thơ@Tài
liệu học
cứuin
context). This knowledge is called competence. In other words, competence is
the specification of the language knowledge, and it is used in order to perform
grammatical sentences.
Thus without competence of the language, performance is impossible. According
to Noam Chomsky (1965) “translation theory is primarily concerned with an ideal
bilingual reader-writer, who knows both languages perfectly and is unaffected by
such theoretically irrelevant conditions such as memory limitations, shifts of
attention or interest, in applying this knowledge in actual performance.” In his
study, he states that competence and learners’ knowledge have a very close
relation, and performance is defined as the actual use of the language in real
situation. It is clear that competence and performance are highly mentioned in
the reciprocal action. They have the correlation with each other.

10

Performance is the use of the internal grammar in perceiving and producing the
language (Noam Chomsky, 1965). Performance can be influenced by several
factors, so it fails to reflect exactly the learner’s competence. However, although
performance level does not fully reflect competence level, without the knowledge
of the language, the communicators cannot perform in real situation. Thus, the
language competence is very necessary. According to Roger T. Bell (1991), the
basic problems that the translators may face are the following: the
comprehension of the ST, the transference of meaning between the two
languages and the assessment of the TL. Thus, the competence or
comprehension of the SL is one factor that affects the translation.
1.7

Sentences

According to Noam Chomsky (1975), “a sentence is defined as an noun phrase
and a Học
verb phrase,
andCần
each sentence
of theliệu
language
is represented
by a cứu
set of
Trung tâm
liệu ĐH
Thơ@Tài
học tập

và nghiên
strings in which noun phrases are contained within verb phrases and verb
phrases within noun phrases in English.”, and “a sentence is formed by an noun
phrase and a verb phrase.” A sentence is usually considered the largest
syntactical unit. However, there are a lot of ideas which have been raised about
sentence structures. According to O’Grandy and Duvolsky (1993), a rule for
sentence structures is that it may consist of a noun phrase and a verb phrase.
Huddleston (1975) defines sentences as “linear sequences of words”, or Halliday
(1985) states “a sentence is a complex clause because a clause can make up
the organization of a sentence.” Another definition of sentences is that “a
sentence has an noun phrase and a verb phrase that together create a formal
predication that is not dependent on anything.” (A. Transformational Syntax –
Baxter Hathaway – page 300). Although there are many different definitions

11


about sentences, they share the same core constituents: an noun phrase and a
verb phrase.
1.8

Phrases

As can be said from the Longman Dictionary of English and Culture (1992) “a
phrase is a group of words without a finite verb.” In addition, according to
/>
a

phrase is a syntactic structure that consists of more than one word but lacks the
subject-predicate organization of a clause, or a phrase is a group of related

words that does not include a subject and verb
( In general, there are four
kinds of phrase in English including noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective
phrases, and prepositional phrases. According to Roderick (1995), every phrase,
except preposotional phrases, can consist of only one single word and “the head

Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu

of a phrase is the word around which the phrase is organized.” Thus, the head is
the most important constituent that is not allowed to be omitted in a phrase
construction. Indeed, if the head of a phrase is a noun, then it makes an noun
phrase, and if the head of a phrase is a verb, it makes a verb phrase, and the
same for other phrases. In a sentence, these types of phrase must be
grammatically related to each other and have their own functions. It is clearly that
an noun phrase is one of the two main constituents of a sentence structure, as
Paul Robert (1964) said in his study that “all sentences contain two main parts,
an noun phrase and a verb phrase”, or “a sentence is formed by an noun phrase
and a verb phrase” said Noam Chomsky (1975).
1.9

Noun phrases

1.9.1. Some definitions from different linguists

12


In the study of Antonio (2004), an noun phrase is generally defined as a syntactic
unit that includes a noun. The formal definition of an noun phrase given below
describes the most common components of an noun phrase.

In his book “An outline of syntax”, Mr. Nguyen Hoa Lac-lecturer in English states
that an noun phrase is a group of words with a noun or pronoun as the main part
(the head). The noun phrase may consist of only one word as in this case “Tom
arrived yesterday” or it may be long and complex. In grammatical theory, an noun
phrase (appreviated noun phrase) is a phrase whose head is a noun or pronoun
optionally accompanied by a set of modifiers.
Fromkin et al (1990) considers “an noun phrase could be an article followed by a
noun (the car,…). An noun phrase could also be made of a head and a
prepositional phrase as its modifier such as (a man in a uniform). A noun phrase

Trung tâm
liệu ĐH
Cần Thơ@Tài
liệumodifier
học tập
vàhead
nghiên
could Học
also contain
an adjective
phrase as the
of the
like (acứu
very
large black dog).
According to Paul Robert (1964), “all sentences contain two main parts, an noun
phrase and a verb phrase”. In his view, he shows:
-

An noun phrase could occur with only a noun and with or without an

antecedent (a man/men)

-

An noun phrase could also be structured by “a determiner + an adjective”
as the modifier and certainly a noun as in the noun phrase (a big dog)

-

An noun phrase with the morpheme “s” (John’s father)

-

An noun phrase could be a noun follow by a relative clause as in (the boy
who borrowed the book did not return it)

13


-

A verb phrase could be a noun post modifier like (the boy catching the
fish) or (the fish caught by the boy)

-

A compound noun could also be considered as the noun phrase like (the
school principle) or (a living-room sofa)

In addition, Randolph Quirk et al (1980) say “the functions of noun phrases, as

subjects, objects, complements or appositive in English sentence structures are
diverse”. In his study, he says English noun phrases fall into two basic types
which are simple noun phrases and complex noun phrases. A simple noun
phrase contains just the head noun with or without determiners (a book, the girl,
men, women, etc.) and a complex noun phrase contains a head and other
components regarded as modifiers like (a very interesting mind, the teacher of
music’s room, etc.).

Trung tâm
Học
liệu A.Jackcob’s
ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài
liệuEnglish
học tập
và nghiên
cứu
Also, in
Roderick
viewpoint (1995),
sentences
are organized
as two major constituents: an noun phrase and a verb phrase. In the noun
phrase structures with definite determiners, he sums up the formula:
“the quantifier + of + the determiner + the quantifier + a noun”
Several of those trees
All of Terry’s money
None of his relatives
In the noun phrase structures with indefinite determiners
“the quantifier/indefinite article + noun + possessive pronoun”
A book

No money
Several books of his

14


Moreover, the structures with prepositional phrases as modifiers are also raised
in his study like “the girl in the beautiful dress”, and a noun with an embedded
clause is also a type of noun phrases like “a book which was sent to Paris
yesterday”. In addition, adjective phrases could also appear in noun phrases in
both pre and post-modifiers like “the very beautiful girl”.
To sum up, although many researchers have their own way in analyzing
sentences and noun phrase structures, they share the same view that Noam
Chomsky (1975) stated “a sentence is defined as an noun phrase and a verb
phrase, and each sentence of the language is represented by a set of things in
which noun phrases are contained within verb phrases and verb phrases within
noun phrases in English”.
1.9.2. Types of noun phrase
In general,
nounCần
phrases
fall into two
basic
types,
are simplecứu
noun
Trung tâm
HọcEnglish
liệu ĐH
Thơ@Tài

liệu
học
tậpwhich
và nghiên
phrases and complex noun phrases.
1.9.2.1. Simple noun phrases
A simple noun phrase contains just the head noun with or without determiners (a
book, a chicken, the girl, men, student, etc.)

1.9.2.2. Complex noun phrases
A complex noun phrase contains a head and other components regarded as
modifiers (a beautiful girl, the small office furniture).
- Complex noun phrases: Coordination
Coordinate noun phrases will be joined by a coordinate conjunction, usually “and”
or “or”, as in the example: My sister and her best friend will deliver the letter.

15


Such structures are relatively simple to deal with except for one problem,
ambiguity as in this example: Old men and women will be served first.
1.9.3. Structures of noun phrases
The noun phrase functional formula is potentially composed of 3 parts:
-

Central word: the head is a noun

-

Premodification precedes the head

-

Postmodification follows the head
That

old

Det

car

pre-mod. HEAD

in

the

drive

post-mod.

The formula thus abbreviates several possibilities:
1) Head
2) Premodifier(s) + head

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3) Head + postmodifier(s)
4) Premodifier(s) + head + postmodifier(s)
1.9.3.1. Head

- The head is a noun (without a noun you cannot have a noun phrase), or
other cases that you can consider below
Forms of head
Noun

Examples
Wombats are playful
Cabbage is nutritious

Personal pronoun

They saw her

(subject/object)
Personal pronoun

Mine are chartreuse

(genitive)

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Indefinite pronoun

None was/were found

Wh-word

Who placed the call?

Notice that personal pronouns often serve as heads, particularly the subject or
object forms. Genitive, indefinites, and wh-words may be either heads, as shown
above, or premodifiers.
1.9.3.2. Premodifiers
The range of premodifiers of noun is large, including nearly all of the parts of
speech in at least some form. Following are tables of basic possibilities. There
are 2 kinds of premodifiers. They are simple premodifiers and complex
premodifiers.
1.9.3.2.1. Simple Premodifiers
Simple Premodifiers
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Forms of premodifier

Examples

Article

[The wombats] escaped.

Demonstrative pronoun

[That vase] is valuable.

Genitive pronoun

[Her serve] is powerful.

Indefinite pronoun

[Some survivors] remained.

Wh-word

[Which lobster] do you want?

Numeral

[Seven boxes] fell.

Ordinal

[Second thoughts] entered our minds.

Noun (phrase)

[Metal plates] shielded the instruments.

Only one difficult case in the table is the noun modifier in which a noun modifies
a head noun, as in metal plates.

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Noun modifiers appear frequently when one speaks of a material out of which
something is made. This construction is usually called noun-noun compound or
noun-noun combination and their semantic range is extensive; for example,
railroad crossing, wire cutter, elevator operator, relativity theory, Sunday
Newspaper, culture shock.

1.9.3.2.2. Complex premodifiers
Premodifiers can be multiple, i.e. several word classes appear at the same time
and the order among them cause trouble for students.

Complex Premodifiers
Forms of premodifier

Examples

Article + numeral

The two culprits

Demonstrative + noun modifier

Those metal plates

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Two indefinites

Several other candidates

Numeral + ordinal

One such oddity

Article + ordinal

A second chance

The general order among them is as follows:

Determiner + premodifier + head
a/ Determiners
•

Pre-determiners: all, both, half, fractions, numeral…belong to noun
determiners. (All the courageous women)

•

Central determiners or identifiers: articles (a, the), demonstratives (this,
that), possessives (my, his…).

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•

Post-determiners: numeral/quantifiers

More than one may occur in an noun phrase
There are only certain acceptable combinations:
™ Ordinal number + indefinite quantifier
the first few hours
™ Ordinal + cardinal
the second five days
™ Indefinite quantifier + cardinal numeral
several thousand people
b/ Adjectives appear after determiners: to amplify or describe the head noun, to

highlight some quantities of the noun
a charming small round old brown French oaken writing desk.
c/ Noun modifiers:

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They occur between an adjective and a head noun. They are used to modify a
head noun
A beautiful country cottages
Noun modifier + head noun constructions often precede the formation of real
compound nouns as in life + story lifestory
d/ A special premodifier: an noun phrase in the genitive case
The noun phrase genitive substitutes for a possessive identifier (my, your…). The
noun phrase genitive itself can be “deconstructed” as an noun phrase. Moreover,
genitive noun phrases and adjective phrases readily combine with other
structures to create heavily premodified NPs as in the following examples
-

[All my friends’ hobbies] are interesting (genitive noun phrase with internal
quantifier and genetive pronoun).

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