Introduction to noun phrase

The structure of a noun phrase

In our secondary schools, students are being taught that a phrase is a group of words that has no finite verb. A finite verb is a verb that agrees with the subject in number and in person and it invariably expresses the tense. A finite verb is limited in functions; its relevance is seen in the agreement it has with the subject of the sentence. For example;

1. The man plays football every day.

2. Olu and Tade go to church regularly.

3. We went to a cinema last night.

4. He wants to eat some rice now.

In "An Introduction to Word Grammar," Richard Hudson writes:

"The reason finite verbs are so important is their unique ability to act as the sentence-root. They can be used as the only verb in the sentence, whereas all the others have to depend on some other word, so finite verbs really stand out."

If there is just one verb in a sentence, that verb is finite. (Put another way, a finite verb can stand by itself in a sentence.) Finite verbs are sometimes called main verbs or tensed verbs.

This means that a phrase can contain all other verbs, except a finite verb. In this case, a phrase can contain verbs that are not finite, which are non-finite verbs.

There’s an interesting thing to say here. The head of a phrase determines the name of that phrase. If the head is a noun, then the phrase is known as a noun phrase, if the head is an adjective, then the phrase is an adjectival phrase, same goes for gerundive phrase, participial phrase, infinitival phrase, adverbial phrase, prepositional phrase, and verbal phrase. 

At this point, we can look at what a noun phrase is. A noun phrase performs the same functions (subject of a verb, object of a verb, complement, etc) of a noun. The only observable difference is that it has some modifiers before and qualifiers after it.

The structure of a noun phrase is MHQ: M=Modifier; H=Head; Q=Qualifier.

The Modifier includes everything that comes before the head. This includes articles (a, an, the), determiners (little, some, every, each, most etc), demonstrative adjectives (this, that, these, those), possessive adjectives (my, his, our, their) and qualitative adjectives. The Head is the noun. And the Qualifier is everything that comes after the head, which includes a relative/adjectival clause (e.g whom he wants to marry, whose daughter is a model etc) and a prepositional phrase (e.g in the garden, of the man, with his wives).

The only obligatory part of a noun phrase is the head. Other elements, modifiers and qualifiers, may be present or absent.

It isn’t difficult. Just take some time to absorb that information.

Let’s look at some examples:

1. The man in the garden lives in a big house.

2. I met a girl whose father is a military officer.

3. The brown wallet on the table is mine.

4. Take these clothes to a laundry man who lives next door.

5. I don’t have much money on me.

In the first example, “the” is the modifier, because it’s a word that comes before the head “man”, and “in the garden” (prepositional phrase because it’s headed by a preposition ‘in’) is the qualifier coming after the head. Similarly, “a” (indefinite article) and “big” (descriptive adjective) are modifiers that come before the head “house”. Therefore, “the man in the garden” is a noun phrase, and “a big house” is also a noun phrase.

Attempt other four examples, identifying the modifier(s), head, and qualifier(s). Please leave your answers in the comment section.

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Yours in English,

Francis.