Noun phrase

Table of contents

1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Noun phrase 1.3 Examples 1.4 Translations

English

Etymology

See noun and phrase

Noun phrase

noun phrase

1. in grammar, a phrase that can serve as the subject or the object of a verb; it consists of a noun or pronoun, with any associated adjectival phrases or possessive nouns .

Examples

1. “Fred” in “Fred fell asleep at the keyboard.”
2. “The day Fred . . . keyboard” in “The day Fred fell asleep at the keyboard was very hot, and he had had too much to drink at lunchtime.”
3. “Noun phrase” in “That was a noun phrase.”

noun phrase:

1. banana (a noun)
2. big bananas (an adjective 'big', and a plural noun)
3. a big banana (an article 'a', an adjective and a singular noun)
4. this big banana (a determiner 'this', an adjective and a singular noun)
5. a very big banana (an article, an adverb 'very', defining an adjective, and a singular noun)
6. a very big banana which tastes great (an article, an adverb defining an adjective, and a singular noun; followed by a relative clause made up of a relative pronoun 'which', a verb 'tastes', and an adjective 'great' )

Translations

• Dutch: naamwoordelijk gezegde n
• Interlingua: phrase substantival