Noun Phrases

Definition

A word group with a noun or pronoun as its head. The noun head can be accompanied by modifiers, determiners (such as the, a, her), and/or complements.
A noun phrase (often abbreviated as NP) most commonly functions as a subject, object, or complement.
Most forms of controlled English suggest revising noun phrases that are more than three words long. However, even a two- or three-word noun phrase can be unclear or ambiguous.

Component

In English grammar, a noun phrase has three components:

• The head, is the hub, the center of attraction (as it were) of the noun phrase; it is the noun or pronoun around which the other parts gather together. The head determines concord with the portion of the sentence outside the noun phrase. Thus:
• The change in the Asian economies is unprecedented. 
• The changes in Japan's economy are most unexpected.
• Pre-modification consists of all the words placed before the head. These words are usually determiners, adjectives and nouns. 
• Postmodification comprises words in the noun phrase that follow the head. These words usually consist of prepositional phrases, nonfinite clauses, and relative clauses

Form

Noun phrases normally consist of a head noun, which is optionally modified ("premodified" if the modifier appears before the noun; "postmodified" if the modifier follows the noun). Possible modifiers include:

• determiners: articles (the, a), demonstratives (this, that), numerals (two, five, etc.), possessives (my, their, etc.), and quantifiers (some,many, etc.). In English, determiners are usually placed before the noun; 
• adjectives (the red ball); or 
• complements, in the form of a prepositional phrase (such as: the student of physics), or a That-clause (the claim that the earth is round);
• modifiers; pre-modifiers if before the noun and usually either as nouns (the university student) or adjectives (the beautiful lady), or post-modifiers if after the noun. A postmodifier may be either a prepositional phrase (the man with long hair) or a relative clause (the housewhere I live). The difference between modifiers and complements is that complements complete the meaning of the noun; complements are necessary, whereas modifiers are optional because they add information about the noun.

Kinds of noun phrases :

• Noun + Noun, example : Office boy
• Verb + Noun, example : Take a bath
• Gerund + Noun, example : Throwing ball
• Pronoun + Noun, example : My book
• Adjective + Noun, example : Black board
• Determiner + Noun, example : A pen