Noun Phraseswrkshopplat.docx

JUAN PABLO RENDON 1623049 Activity 1: What is a noun phrase? 'A noun' is the generic name we give to a word which names a person, place, object, thing, concept or event. Whilst there are some exceptions to the rule, this basic description works in most cases. However, in academic writing, using one word or one noun is not always enough. Quite often we need to describe a place, object, person, concept or event with more than one word, in order to convey a complete message. For example, 'The Francis Bancroft Building'.

In this example, it was not enough for Lucy to say 'building' as there are many buildings on the Mile End Campus. Juan needed to know exactly which building she was talking about. Lucy therefore modified the term 'building' with the words Francis and Bancroft. Collectively, the three words behave as one. This is, in essence, a noun phrase; a collection of words which work together.

Instruction

Read the sentences below and identify which sentences have noun phrases and which do not. Put a tick or a cross in the appropriate button, before checking your answer with the feedback.

The People's Palace is in the Queen's Building. The teacher told the students to be quiet. The James Mason Lecture Theatre is in the Francis Bancroft building. The Cultural and Social Anthropology Department deal with the many aspects of the social lives of people around the world. The English for Academic Purposes Modules run by the highly qualified teachers in the language and learning unit, are available to all students of Queen Mary University of London. 1

Science and Engineering degrees are run by the school of Science and Engineering. Not all noun phrases are preceded by an article (see sentence 6). You will have to apply the rules of articles to any noun phrase that you use. For more information, take a look at the articles learning object.

Activity 2: Constructing a noun phrase As already shown, using one noun is not always sufficient to convey a full message. Quite often nouns needs to be modified (have information added to them) in order to communicate the full message. Such information can be added before, or after the main noun.

Imagine you were standing in a bicycle shop, trying to buy a bike which was not out on display, but which was in a catalogue (which you had left at home). You would need to give a considerable amount of information to the sales assistant, so that when s/he went into the stock room to get the bike for you, they would know exactly which bike you were referring to. If they did not have all of the necessary information, they would have to keep coming back to the shopfloor to ask you questions about the bike. I want to buy the bike. I want to buy the mountain bike. I want to buy the red, mountain bike. I want to buy the red, Marin, mountain bike. I want to buy the red, Marin, women's, mountain bike. I want to buy the red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain bike. I want to buy the lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain bike. I want to buy the expensive, lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain bike. I want to buy the expensive, lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain bike [with the shimano gears]. I want to buy the expensive, lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain bike [with the shimano gears and disk brakes]. I want to buy the expensive, lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain bike [with the shimano gears, disk brakes and front suspension]. I want to buy the expensive, lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain bike [with the shimano gears, disk brakes, front suspension and alloy pedals]. I want to buy the expensive, lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain bike [with the shimano gears, disk brakes, front suspension, alloy pedals and Bontranger tyres]. 2

All of the information which has been added between the word 'buy' and the word 'with', is the noun phrase. Any information after the word 'with' is part of a prepositional phrase. Linguistically speaking, this prepositional phrase is a separate entity. However, for the purposes of 'chunking' ideas and conveying a complete message you should think of it as being part of the noun phrase, as it gives information about the main noun 'the bike'.

Instruction

Modify the noun phrase 'the lecturer' by adding information in between the words 'the' and 'lecturer'. Show help Hide help The

math

lecturer

Show feedback Hide feedback The

math

,

old

lecturer

Show feedback Hide feedback The

math

,

old

,

friendly

lecturer

Show feedback Hide feedback The

math

,

friendly

,

high

,

old

,

educated

lecturer

,

friendly

,

educated

,

Show feedback Hide feedback The

high

,

math

,

old

charismatic

lecturer

Activity 3: Grammar patterns of noun phrases In the following exercise we will look a little closer at the grammar of noun phrases.

Instruction

Look at the noun phrase 'I want to buy the expensive, lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain bike'. Answer the questions beneath by putting a mark in the correct check box. 3

Show help Hide help Q1) Look at the example of the noun phrase about the mountain bike. Which is the head (main) noun? frame bike mountain buy Q2) What is the position of the words 'expensive, lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain' in the sentence? Do they appear before or after the main noun? before after

Q3) What type of words are expensive, lightweight, red, 17" frame, Marin, women's, mountain? adjectives nouns nouns and adjectives

Activity 4: Recognising the head noun In the following activity you will learn how to identify the head noun of a noun phrase. This will help you to deconstruct the noun phrase, which in turn will help you to feel more confident about building them.

Instruction

Look at the sentences below and decide which word is the main noun in the noun phrase. Tick the correct option and then check your answers with the feedback. 1. Government web activity was frozen during the general election campaign.

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Government web activity the general election campaign Show feedback Hide feedback 2. Mouse-wielding civil servants across Whitehall are engaged in a frantic rush to archive old pages full of defunct policies. Mouse-wielding civil servants Whitehall frantic rush old pages defunt policies 3. The Downing Street site has undergone a few changes too. Downing Street site changes 4. She swallowed the dog which ate the cat which ate the bird which chased the spider that wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her. She the dog the cat the bird the spider Ll

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