Welcome to the complete guide to Advanced Grammar!especially Noun phrase. This post breaks down every concept from your notes, starting from the basic building blocks and moving up to complex sentence structures.


A prof explains a nounr phrase structure

Part 1: The Building Blocks (Parts of Speech)

Your notes split the parts of speech into two categories: what they mean (Semantical) and what they do (Functional).

Semantical (Meaning-Based) Definitions

Nouns

Words that represent a person, place, thing, or idea.

  • Concrete: Can be touched (table).
  • Abstract: An idea or concept (love).
  • Proper: A specific name (John).
  • Common: A general item (man).
Verbs

Words that express an action or a state of being.

  • Transitive: Needs an object (e.g., "She read ___?").
  • Intransitive: Does not need an object (e.g., "He slept.").
  • Copular (Linking): Connects a subject to a complement (e.g., "He is a doctor.").
Adjectives & Adverbs

These are "describing" words.

  • Adjectives: Modify nouns or pronouns (e.g., tall man).
  • Adverbs: Modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs (e.g., quickly ran, very tall).

Functional (Role-Based) Definitions

Pronouns

Words that replace nouns to avoid repetition (e.g., he, she, it, they).

Prepositions

Words that show the relationship between nouns and other words (e.g., in, on, at, to, from).

Conjunctions

Words that connect words, phrases, or clauses.

  • Coordinating: Connects equal parts (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).
  • Subordinating: Connects a dependent clause to a main one (because, if, when).
  • Correlative: Work in pairs (either...or, neither...nor).

Part 2: The Sentence Blueprint (SVOCA)

Your notes explain the 5 main "slots" or functions that make up a sentence's structure.

S (Subject)

Who or what performs the action.

V (Verb)

The action or state.

O (Object)

The receiver of the action.

C (Complement)

Gives more info about the Subject or Object.

A (Adjunct)

Extra, optional info (time, place, manner).

Deep Dive: Complements

A Subject Complement is the key type mentioned. It follows a linking verb (like is, seem, become) and describes the subject. It can be a noun or an adjective:

  • Predicate Nominative (a Noun): "He became a teacher". (The noun "teacher" renames the subject "He").
  • Predicate Adjective (an Adjective): "The soup smells delicious". (The adjective "delicious" describes the subject "soup").

Part 3: Structure & Dependency

This section explains *how* word groups are built and relate to each other.

Constituents

A "constituent" is a group of words that functions as a single unit in a sentence. Your notes list 4 key properties:

  • Divisible: It can be broken into parts.
  • Different Categories: The parts have different types (e.g., noun, verb).
  • Arranged: The parts are in a specific order.
  • Functional: Each part has a specific job.

Dependency

This describes how "obligatory" a modifier is.

  • One-way dependency: An optional modifier (like an Adjunct). (e.g., "He read" vs "He read in the park." - "in the park" is optional).
  • Two-way dependency: An obligatory modifier (like a Complement). (e.g., "He became ___." This sentence is broken and *needs* the complement "a doctor").

Part 4: The Deep Dive: The Noun Phrase (NP)

This is the most detailed topic. A Noun Phrase (NP) is a group of words with a Noun or Pronoun as its central part, called the Head. The entire phrase gets its identity from the Head.

A Noun Phrase can do several jobs in a sentence:

  • Act as the Subject
  • Act as the Object
  • Act as a Subject Complement
  • Act as an Object of a Preposition

The Full NP Structure

An NP is built by adding modifiers before (pre) or after (post) the Head Noun.

Deconstructing Your Example:

Pre-Determiner All
Determiner these
Pre-Modifier interesting
THE HEAD NOUN books
Post-Modifier on the desk

NP Component: Determiners

Determiners are a set of words that specify or limit the noun.

  • Articles: a, an, the
  • Demonstratives: this, that, these, those
  • Quantifiers: some, any, each, every, all, both, half
  • Possessives: my, your, his, her, our, their, John's
  • Pre-Determiners: Come *before* other determiners (e.g., All, both, half).

NP Component: Pre-Modifiers

These are words that come before the Head Noun to describe it.

  • Adjectives: "a tasty meal".
  • Numerals: "two students".
  • Participles (Verbal Adjectives): These are verb forms used as adjectives. Present: "the crying child". Past: "a faded dream". Passive: "a forgotten valley".
  • Nouns as Modifiers: A noun used as an adjective. "a chess piece". "a traffic light".

NP Component: Post-Modifiers

These are phrases that come after the Head Noun to add more detail.

  • Prepositional Phrase: "The way to heaven".
  • Adjective Phrase: "The student present".
  • Relative Clause: "The students who are present".
  • Appositive (a re-namer): "My brother, the doctor...".

A Quiz to test your self!