Noun Phrase
1. What is a Noun Phrase?
A noun phrase is
phrase is a group of words that work together to name and
describe a person, place, thing, or idea. When we look at the structure of
writing, we treat a noun phrase the
phrase the same way we treat a common noun.
Like all nouns, a noun phrase can
phrase can be a subject
subject,, object
object,, or complement.
 

2. Examples of Noun Phrases

Example 1
The quick, brown fox jumped over the lazy dog
 This noun phrase is
phrase is the subject of the sentence. In other words, this
sentence is about ‘the uick, brown fo!." #ut, instead of just saying ‘fo!,"
the rest of the noun phrase works
phrase works to describe it.
Example 2

I think there’s a good pop song in pretty much anything $%esha, pop
singer
&ere, the four words ‘a good pop song" work together as a noun phrase.
phrase.
Instead of just saying 'song,( %esha
%esha sees 'a good pop song( in anything.
 The phrase acts as a complement to the subject pronoun
pronoun ‘there". It is
is a
complement because it is gi)ing more information
information about the subject.
Example 3
The end of the season is hard for some athletes
 The noun phrase is
phrase is acting as the subject in this e!ample.
e!ample. The *)e words
words
in the noun phrase work
phrase work together to name a period of time that is hard for
athletes.
 

Parts of a Noun Phrase

3. Parts
A noun phrase has
phrase has two parts+ a noun
noun,, and any modi*ers connected to
that noun. ost often, these modi*ers will be adjecti)es
adjecti)es,, articles
articles,,
and prepositio
prepositional
nal phrases
phrases.. The modi*ers may also be determiners
determiners..

a. Noun
A noun
noun is
 is a person, place, thing, or idea. All noun phrases
phrases will ha)e core
noun, with modi*ers connected to it.

Example
 pirate buried
The pirate
The  buried his treasure
treasure on
 on an island  for
 for retirement 
Page | 1
 

 The four nouns in this

this sentence are a person,
person, thing, place and idea,
idea,
respecti)ely.

b. Modifier – Article
 There are
are only three articles
articles in
 in moder
modern
n -nglish+ a, an, the.
the. An article is
always connected to a noun, and so when one is used it is always part of
a noun phrase.
phrase.
Example 1
The river  is
The   is deeper after it rains
In this e!ample, the noun phrase contains
phrase contains a noun ‘ri)er"/ and an article
‘the"/. The noun phrase ‘the
phrase ‘the ri)er" is the subject of the sentence.
Example 2
 An enormous
 An enormous  tree
tree stands
 stands on the riverbank 
 This noun phrase begins
phrase begins with the article ‘an". The article is attached to the
noun ‘tree". In between these two words is the adjecti)e ‘enorm
‘enormous"
ous".. The
article and the adjecti)e are both modi*ers describing the noun in
the noun phrase ‘an
phrase ‘an enormous tree".

c. Modifier – Adecti!e
Adecti!e

An adjecti)e
adjecti)e is
 is a word that describes nouns or pronouns.
Example 1
The young
The young  puppy 
 puppy  chased
 chased its tail
 The adjecti)e ‘young" is describing
describing ‘puppy". The two words
words combine
combine to
make a noun phrase,
phrase, which is the subject of the sentence.
Example 2
any people want to live quiet , peaceful  lives
 This noun phrase has
phrase has two adjecti)es+ ‘uiet" and ‘peaceful". -ach adjecti)e
modi*es the noun ‘li)es". They describe what kind of li)es people want.

d. Modifier – Prepositional Phrase

A prepositio
prepositional
nal phrase
phrase is
 is a group of words that begins with a prepositio
preposition
n
and ends with an object. They add details, such as where something is or
when an e)ent occurred.
Example 1
The box  in the attic is
The  attic is full of memories
 This noun phrase includes
phrase includes the prepositional phrase ‘in the attic". It is

gi)ing us a detail about the noun ‘bo!" 0 where it is located. The noun
phrase in
phrase  in this e!ample is the subject of the sentence.
Page | 2
 

Example 2
y little brother always feared monsters
monsters  in the closet 
 The prepositional
prepositional phrase ‘in the closet" modi*es
modi*es describes/ the
the noun
‘monster". The noun and prepositional phrase combine to make the noun
phrase ‘monsters
phrase  ‘monsters in the closet".

e. "eterminer
 A determiner
determiner is
 is a word that clari*es a noun. It is used to di1erentiate
between similar nouns. 2eterminers answer uestions such as ‘Which
one3", ‘Whose3", ‘&ow many3(, or ‘&ow much3"
Example 1
Those people are
Those 
 people are so friendly!
 The determiner
determiner ‘those" tells us which
which people are friendly
friendly.. The noun
phrase ‘those
phrase  ‘those people" is the subject of the sentence.
Example 2
ax gave a biscuit to your  dog
In this sentence ‘your" is clarifying to which dog a! ga)e a biscuit to.
 The noun phrase ‘your
phrase ‘your dog" is the indirect objectof
objectof the sentence see part
4 for more on indirect objects/.
Example 3
 All  children
children should
 should have access to a free education
 The noun ‘children"
‘children" is modi*ed by the determiner
determiner ‘all". The determiner
determiner ‘all"
answers the uestion ‘&ow many children3" The noun phrase ‘all
phrase ‘all children"
is the subject of the sentence.
#. $%pes of Noun Phrase
a. Noun Phrase as a &ubect
A subject is a noun that the sentence is about.

Example
"ery few giant pandas remain in the wild
 This sentence is clearly about
about the small number
number of wild 5andas,
5andas, and so
‘)ery few giant pandas" is the subject of the sentence.

b. Noun Phrase as a 'omplement

A compliment re$states or gi)es more information about a noun. It always
follows a state$of$being )erb is, are, am, will be, was, were/.

Example
 # sailor’s best friend
friend is a wide, open sea

Page | 3
 

 The noun phrase ‘a

phrase ‘a wide, open sea" gi)es us more information
information about the
sailor"s best friend, the sea. Therefore
Therefore it acts as a complement to
the noun phrase ‘best
phrase ‘best friend".
c. Noun Phrase as a "irect (bect
A direct object is the noun or pronoun that recei)es the action of a )erb.

Example
$randma cooked a meal for ten people, even though there were only four 
of us
 The )erb in this sentence
sentence is ‘cooked",
‘cooked", and the object that is being cooked
cooked
is ‘a meal." The rest of the phrase ‘for ten people" creates a noun
phrase that
phrase  that acts as a direct object.
d. Noun Phrase as an )ndirect (bect
An indirect object recei)es the direct object.

Example
Trudy gave her hungry, crying baby a bottle
 The noun phrase answers
phrase answers the uestion, 'Who did Trudy gi)e the bottle
to3( The phrase ‘her hungry, crying baby" is the indirect object because it
recei)es the bottle ‘a bottle" is the direct object because it is recei)ing
the action ‘ga)e"/.
 

*. +o, to Write Noun Phrase

A noun phrase centers
phrase centers on a noun. #ut, that noun may be described by
adding modi*ers, and adding modi*ers to a noun creates a noun phrase.
phrase.
 6ou
 6ou will uickly note that many
many nouns ha)e articles a,
a, an, the/ attached
to them.
-!ample+

7. 8ats sleep a lot. no noun phrase/

phrase/
9.  The cat article : noun/
noun/
;.  The <u1y, long$haired
long$haired cat article :adjecti)es : noun/
noun/
4.  The cat on top of the stool
stool is sleeping. article : noun :
prepositional
preposit ional phrase/
=. ost big cats hunt at night. determiner : adjecti)e : noun/
 

Page | 4