UEfAP Nominal Groups
Introduction
Formal written English uses nouns and nominal group (nounbased phrases) more than verbs.
One simple example is:
Like all other forms of life, we human beings are the product of evolution.
Like all other forms of life, we human beings are the product of how we have evolved.
The noun "evolution" is preferred to the verb "evolve" and the "wh" clause.
Another example is:
Premack used a set of plastic chips to teach a chimpanzee named Sarah the meaning of a set of
symbols.
Premack used a set of plastic chips to teach a chimpanzee named Sarah what a set of symbols
mean.
"The meaning of the symbols" is preferred to "what the symbols mean"
Try this exercise: Exercise
Structure of Nominal Groups 1
Written English is lexically dense there is a higher proportion of content words per clause. This can
be done by modification of nouns to form nominal groups.
A typical nominal group is structured in the following way:
determiner
premodifier
head
postmodifier
a
complicated
solution
to the problem
Nouns (which themselves can be nominalisations) can be premodified or postmodified (qualified):
premodifier + noun
adjective the constitutional aspects
edparticiple a balanced budget, from the confused events of 1924 August, the emitted light
ingparticiple growing problem, one striking feature of the years 192931, existing structures
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noun market forces, cabinet appointments
noun + postmodifier
relative clause students who have no previous experience
toclauses the abilty to succeed, the question to be debated
ingclauses a brake consisting of a drum divided into twelve compartments
edclauses canoes preserved by a hard plaster, a brake consisting of a drum divided into twelve
compartments, the curve shown
prepositional phrase (preposition + nominal group) we need to bring to the box a special tool with a
readycompressed spring
adverb (or adverbial group) the road back, the people outside
adjective (or adjectival group) varieties common in India, the festival proper, something different
Function of Nominal Groups
Nominal groups can function as subjects, complements or objects of prepositions.
Subject:
A more detailed life of Lord Reading, Liberal leader in the House of Lords and an important actor in
the events of 1931,would be of great value.
Complement:
There are plans to extract a much greater harvest from the timber resource.
Object of preposition:
The information very properly reached the files of the survey for antimalarial compounds under the
Survey Number SN183.
Structure of Nominal Groups 2
A nominal group can also be qualified by another nominal group in apposition.
Dr. Maurice Aumont, the Director of the Berlitz School at Bordeaux, looked after him in an efficient
and kindly way.
The first National Government, the government which forms the focal point of most historical writing
on the crisis, followed the collapse of the Labour government in August 1931.
Sir Shridath Ramphal,former SecretaryGeneral of the Commonwealth,addressed the close
connection between environmental protection and economicdevelopment issues of critical
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importance for developing countries.
A more complex description (Halliday, 1985, pp. 159175) is:
Premodifier
Deictic
Numerative
these
three
these
three
these
these
this
the
rather
old
volume
three
many
the
two
the
the
two
the
Classifier
different
the
the
Epithet
several
several
large
complete
important
dirty
Head
Postmodifier
Thing
Qualifier
methods
environments
controls
forms
discussion
of coownership
of the primacy of communal
property
domestic
products
available
oil
companies
in operation
reorganisation
of the company
active
substances
which were activated
keyboard
designs
resistance
contributions
ones
several
possible
explanations
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shown by structures such as the
rate of recruitment
made to production by different
groups in society
for the effect
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a
an
an
several
large
two
careful
possible
explanations
for the effect
gaps
to be filled
discussion
of this issue
consisting of reinforced training
important
test
phase
effective
promotion
scheme
Or even:
Premodifier
Pre
Head
Postmodifier
Qualifier
Decictic
Numerative
Epithet
Classifier
Thing
some of
the
important
research
methods
one of
the
many
large
oil
companies
some of
the
Deictic
compounds
that are used in the
laboratory
in operation
being manufactured in
New York
Deictics can also be possesive nous (e.g. his, my, IBM's) or quantifiers (e.g. some, each, every, both,
all).
Examples
The exception is David Marquand's splendid biography of Ramsay MacDonald.
Meanwhile, in 1942 another committee was working on Britain's postwar civil aviation policy.
More Examples
Many of the suggested benefits of group living have been concerned with avoiding being eaten by
predators.
French is also spoken by a large number of the African immigrants in the UK.
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This chapter is a brief distillation of a few of the themes in that book.
In the United States, most of the outstanding men who first made their name in the amateur
game turned professional.
While the ozone hole has been considered a solved problem, we are now finding it has caused a great
deal of the climate change that has been observed.
Exercises
Exercise 1
Identifying head nouns in a nominal group: Grammar: Head Noun Exercise
Exercise 2
Try the following text. Notice how the word "need" is used. Notice how it is modified (premodified and
postmodified) and how the nominal group it is the head of functions in the clause: Grammar: Nominal
Groups Exercise 2
Exercise 3
Exercise 4
Order of premodifiers: Exercise
Complex Nominal Groups are common in academic texts with the SubjectPredicatorSubject
Complement (SPCs) structure, where two complex nominal groups are joined with a linking verb such
as "is".
For example:
Besides historiography and mathematical astronomy, another great innovation by the Greeks of the
fifth century BCwas the art of tragedy.
Exercise 5
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