Noun phrase: Structure & Function

A noun phrase is made up of a word or, a group of words that function as nouns in a sentence. That is, a noun phrase can be made up of a single word (noun), or a group of words including: modifiers, and qualifiers—nouns implied, that perform the same functions as nouns in sentences. 

Examples of noun phrases made up of one word;

1. Boy

2. Teacher

3. House

4. Room

5. Kitchen

And some examples of noun phrases composed of a group of words;

1. The good boy

2. The Economics teacher

3. The house on the street

4. A beautiful room with candles

5. My well-decorated kitchen 

Now, noun phrases do not convey complete meaning independently as they have to pair with at least a verb phrase, or a verb phrase and some other phrases to be meaningful. 

For example;

1. The good boy lives here.

2. My well-decorated kitchen is sparkling.

Note, however, that noun phrases do not take any form of punctuation at the end of their compositions, e.g., full stops, exclamation marks, and question marks cannot be found at the end of noun phrases. This is simply because they are neither independent clauses, nor sentences, and since they do not express complete meaning, they cannot be concluded with a punctuation. 

See also: Phrases

Structure of Noun phrases

Noun phrases follow a particular pattern in their formation. Worthy of note is the fact that noun phrases must have a headword, and that headword must be a noun. A headword is what forms the basis or unit of a phrase, hence every phrase is named after its headword. Headwords are the most important words in a phrase without which the phrase is ungrammatical—also, headwords are capable of portraying meaning without co-occuring with other words. For example;

1. The good boy is here.

2. Boy is here.

Both sentences are grammatically plausible. 

But consider the following;

1. *The is here.

2. *Good the is here.

None of those compositions make sense without the headword, hence the headword is the most important element of a phrase—consider it the nucleus of a phrase. 

The structure of every noun phrase follows the compositional formula: (M)H(Q). The letters in brackets are optional elements of a noun phrase, while the letter without brackets is an obligatory/compulsory element of a noun phrase.

M — Modifier

H — Headword

Q — Qualifier

Modifiers are the totality of words that appear before nouns in a noun phrase, e.g., articles, demonstrative determiners, possessive determiners, and adjectives, etc. E.g., The, her, good, ugly, etc. 

See also: Contrasting Adjectives with Determiners 

Qualifiers, however, are the totality of words in a noun phrase that come out after the nouns. Mostly, the qualifier position of a noun phrase is occupied by prepositional phrases. E.g.,

1. The book on the floor

2. The girl with issues

The meaning of headwords has already been treated in the preceding paragraphs. 

Functions of Noun phrases

To understand the functions of a noun phrase, one needs to bear in mind that noun phrases function exactly as nouns. By implication, they can function as subject, and object in a sentence—just like nouns. 

Examples of noun phrases functioning as subject;

1. The boy is a genius.

2. The King is back.

Examples of noun phrases functioning as objects;

1. He beat the kid.

2. They like her dress.

Note, however, noun phrases can function as object of the preposition in a prepositional phrase. For example;

1. On the floor

2. In the room

So, basically, noun phrases perform the same functions as nouns in sentences.

Noun phrases are basically words, or a group of words that function as nouns. A noun phrase is only named so, because its headword is a noun, and that headword is the most important element of the phrase that can stand alone without the others and still convey meaning. They follow a structural composition known as (M)H(Q), and as the definition implies, function as nouns in sentences.