Noun Phrases *

Definition ::
Noun phrases or noun phrase is a phrase consisting of a noun or pronoun (as head) and modifiers.
Modifiers that normally accompanies the noun is:- Determiners (articles, demonstratives, numbers, Possessives, quantifiers)- Adjectives, adjective phrases, adjective clauses- Relative clauses
As with nouns, noun phrases also have a function as subject or object in a sentence. Consider the following example below:- My coach is happy.- I like the cars over there.- The WHO woman is my aunt lives there.- Frankenstein is the name of the scientist not the monster.- I Consider my favorite cat Meow.- Small children INSIST Often That They can do it by Themselves.- To Quickly and accurately read is John's goal.- Two of my guests have arrived.- Mr. Jones spoke to Dr. James.- My friend works with her father.
Noun phrase always has a noun as the head. And determiners and adjective phrases generally occupy a position as a pre-or pre-head modifiers. Example:- The children- Happy children- The happy children
After the head, put a long post-modifiers are not limited to, for example: the dog That chased the cat That killed the mouse That ate the cheese That was made from the milk from the cow That CAME that ...
In fact, the use of post-modifiers along the example above is rarely used, not even once.
Head of the noun phrase is not necessarily a noun, can also be pronouns (pronouns).Example:- I like coffee.- The waitress gave me the wrong dessert.- This is my car.
If acting as head of pronouns, the noun phrase that generally has a head (of pronouns) that's all. This is because the pronoun does not require determiners or adjectives, so pre-modifiers are not required. However, some pronouns, makes it possible to add post-modifiers.[Those WHO arrive late] can not be admitted until the interval.
So is the numbers, can occupy the position as head of the noun phrase.[Two of my guests] have arrived.[The first to arrive] was John.

NoteThe ability to understand the noun phrase well is important to recognize the idea in a sentence, rather than just knowing the meaning of the word per word. Knowledge of the possible variations of expanded forms of the noun phrase is very useful in understanding the precise and specific meaning contained in a sentence.

Example: noun phrases

The first example is a fragment of a rather simplistic grammar for english noun phrases. Each rule is exemplified by one or more examples.

NUMB :: sing; plur.

The feature expressing the number can take on two values: sing or plur.

RULE noun phrase (NUMB):
   noun part (NUMB).
 # EX the previous president

RULE noun phrase (plur):
   noun part (NUMB1), coordinator,
      noun phrase (NUMB2).
 # EX the president and his wife

These two rules express that a noun phrase consists of one or more noun parts combined by coordinators. In the latter case it is always plural.

RULE noun part (NUMB):
   determiner (NUMB), noun group (NUMB);
 # EX the red bag
   noun group (NUMB).
 # EX software engineering

This rule has a number of alternatives, separated by semicolons. The number of the determiner has to agree with that of the noun group.

RULE noun group (NUMB):
   noun (NUMB);
 # EX bag
   adjective, noun group (NUMB);
 # EX red bag
   noun group (NUMB1), noun (NUMB).
 # EX software engineering

Obviously, the last rule is ambiguous for a noun phrase consisting of three or more nouns, like software engineering conference. Other sources of ambiguity are found in the attachment of preposition phrases (not described here) and in lexical ambiguities (e.g. time as noun and verb). AGFL provides a number of mechanisms (penalties, lexical frequencies, syntactic probabilities) to help in finding the most probable analysis (rather than the set of all analyses).