Noun Phrases

The Noun Phrase (NP)

The distribution of the noun phrase

An NP can occur

• As the subject, i.e. at the beginning of a sentence before a verb as in: __ worked.
• As the direct object, i.e. after a transitive verb as in: Chris met/experienced __ yesterday.
• Following a preposition, as in: Pat talked about __ .
• In front of the possessive 's, i.e. in: __'s car broke.

An NP can be substituted by a personal pronoun (I, she, him, it, ...)

The internal structure of a noun phrase

• An NP must contain a noun
• An NP can contain:

• • exactly one determiner at the beginning of the NP
  • an arbitrary number of adjectives before the N
  • an arbitrary number of preposition phrases (PP) after the N
  • one or more sentences at the end of the NP

This is summarized in the following phrase structure rule: NP -> (Det) A* N PP* S*

Example 1: A complex NP

         ______NP___________
        /   /  |             \
      /   /    |         _____S______
    /   /      |        /            \
  Det   A      N      /                \
   |    |      |    /____________________\
  the famous actor who played in High Noon.

Example 2: An NP consisting exclusively of a proper name

               NP
               |
               N
               |
              Pat