Noun phrases
In a nutshell
A noun phrase is a word or group of words containing a noun and it might also contain a determiner and a modifier. They are found wherever you might find a noun, including in subjects and objects.
What is a phrase?
A phrase is a group of one or more words that plays a role in a sentence. A noun phrase can play the role of a subject or object.
What does a noun phrase contain?
- A noun phrase of course contains a noun. This is a person, place or thing.
- It might contain a determiner, which includes articles like “a”, “the”.
- It also might contain modifiers. These are words like adjectives and personal pronouns – they "modify" (change) how the noun is.
Noun phrase table
Determiner | Modifier | Noun |
Articles A/an The Some Any Many No (negative)
Possessives (belonging to) My/your/his/her/its/our/their Jack’s/Safiyah’s/Gemma’s/Rajeev’s | Adjectives Sleepy Dribbling Brown Old
Prepositional phrases On the roof In the house Out of the country Beside the bed | Pronouns Me/you/him/her/it/us/them
Proper noun Rebecca Hutchinson Gary Earl’s Court Berlin China
Common noun Fox Vase Idea Information |
In the following examples of noun phrases, try to think about which word is the noun, which is the determiner and which is the modifier.
Examples
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The thirsty fox | A clever girl |
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Many posing teenagers | Our angry mother |