NOUN PHRASE
A noun phrase is a structure based around a noun as its headword.
Cars are expensive. Love is everywhere.
I've bought a shiny new German car. Do you see that tall boy in blue jeans?
Instead of a noun the headword can also be a pronoun, a cardinal numeral, or a gerund – these parts of speech have the same function in sentences as a noun.
She likes movies. They never call. I gave them my keys. – personal pronouns
Everyone left the party early. I have nothing to hide. – indefinite pronouns
His car is old. Mine is quite new. – possessive pronoun
Microchips will be able to fix themselves. – reflexive pronoun
Those two look suspicious. – cardinal numeral
Swimming is fun. I hate skiing. – gerund
Noun phrase usually functions within a sentence as the subject, the object, or it appears after prepositions.
My bike is dirty. I lost my bike.
She is afraid of spiders, but her husband is afraid of flying.
We were talking about leaving. I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Other words that can appear in a noun phrase next to the headword include:
-articles a, an, the: The guy in the black coat picked an apple from a tree.
-cardinal and ordinal numerals: I have seven cars, but this is the first one I bought.
-adjectives: That's a pretty dress. That's his father.
-other nouns: She wore her evening dress, but ripped it on the iron fence.
-all: They all came to my wedding.
A noun phrase is a structure based around a noun as its headword.
Cars are expensive. Love is everywhere.
I've bought a shiny new German car. Do you see that tall boy in blue jeans?
Instead of a noun the headword can also be a pronoun, a cardinal numeral, or a gerund – these parts of speech have the same function in sentences as a noun.
She likes movies. They never call. I gave them my keys. – personal pronouns
Everyone left the party early. I have nothing to hide. – indefinite pronouns
His car is old. Mine is quite new. – possessive pronoun
Microchips will be able to fix themselves. – reflexive pronoun
Those two look suspicious. – cardinal numeral
Swimming is fun. I hate skiing. – gerund
Noun phrase usually functions within a sentence as the subject, the object, or it appears after prepositions.
My bike is dirty. I lost my bike.
She is afraid of spiders, but her husband is afraid of flying.
We were talking about leaving. I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Other words that can appear in a noun phrase next to the headword include:
-articles a, an, the: The guy in the black coat picked an apple from a tree.
-cardinal and ordinal numerals: I have seven cars, but this is the first one I bought.
-adjectives: That's a pretty dress. That's his father.
-other nouns: She wore her evening dress, but ripped it on the iron fence.
-all: They all came to my wedding.