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