Presentation on theme: "Complex noun phrases Chapter 9 Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English Biber; Conrad; Leech (2009, p. 263-306)"— Presentation transcript:
Complex noun phrases Chapter 9 Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English Biber; Conrad; Leech (2009, p. 263-306)
Knock knock Jokes Knock, knock Who’s there? Arthur. Arthur who? Arthur-mometer is good for measuring the temperature Knock, knock Who’s there? Philip. Philip who? Philip the tank, I’ve got a long way to go. CONVERSATION HAS MANY NOUN PHRASES, BUT THEY ARE USUALLY VERY SHORT AND HAVE CONCRETE REFERENTS.
Introduction The basic noun phrase can be expressed with noun modifiers. Premodifiers, like attributive adjectives, occur before the head noun. Postmodifiers, like relative clauses, occur following the head noun. All noun phrases include a head, while determiners, premodifiers, and postmodifiers are optional. – He’s looking for a small wooden box that he owned. Noun phrases can have a pronoun instead of a noun as the head. Pronoun-headed phrases usually do not include a determiner or premodifiers, but they may have postmodifiers (look at exception below). – I’d rather stay at the big one in town. There are different levels of embedding within noun phrases. – [The latest problem for the government] is [increasing competition for mobile cellular radio services, which have a small bunch of frequencies around 900 MHz.]
Types of noun modification There are different types of premodifiers (adjective: special project; participial: written reason; noun: bus strike). There are also different types of postmodifiers (Clausal post- modifiers: finite – relative clauses; non-finite – to-clauses, ing-clauses, ed-clauses) NOUN COMPLEMENT CLAUSES ARE DIFFERENT FROM POSTMODIFIERS IN STRUCTURE AND MEANING, ALTHOUGH THEY ALSO OCCUR FOLLOWING NOUN HEADS. the idea that he was... Adjectives are the most common premodifier type. – Nouns are also common as premodifiers in the written registers. Prepositional phrases are by far the most common type of postmodifier. – Relative clauses are also common. Premodifiers and postmodifiers are distributed in the same way across registers: rare in conversation, very common in informational writing. Different types of noun phrase heads (e.g. common noun, personal pronoun: rarely occur with modifiers, demonstrative pronouns: take only postmodifiers) are associated with different types of modifiers.
Premodifiers: condensed postmodifiers Premodifiers are condensed structures. They use fewer words than postmodifiers to convey roughly the same information. Most adjectival and participial premodifiers can be re-phrased as a longer, postmodifying relative clause. premodifiersrelative clause as postmodifier A staff roomA room where staff members work A big pillowA pillow which is big A restricted areaAn area which is restricted An established traditionA tradition which has been established Flashing lightsLights which are flashing THE EXTREMELY PRODUCTIVE USE OF NOUN + NOUN SEQUENCES IN NEWSPAPER LANGUAGE RESULTS IN A VERY DENSE PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION!
Premodification There are four major types of noun premodifier: general adjective, ed-participial modifier, ing-participial modifier, and noun. – Nouns as premodifiers are especially rich in meaning because they express a wide array of logical relationships (composition: metal seat, purpose: pencil case, identity: member country, content: algebra text...). – A few nouns, like car, school, government, and TV, are especially productive as premodifiers. – Plural nouns can also occur as premodifiers, as in savings account. This pattern is more common in British English. When noun phrases have multiple premodifiers, they tend to occur in a predictable order depending on their grammatical category: e.g. adverb + adjective + head (a really hot day); adjective + noun + head (black leather jacket); descriptor + classifier + head (clear blue eyes). Coordinated premodifiers (e.g. male and female workers, racial or religious cohesion) are found primarily in academic prose. – Coordinated premodifiers are surprisingly complex because their meaning is not explicit.
Relative clauses Relative clauses, and other postmodifiers, are classified into two main types by their function: restrictive, helping to identify the reference of the head noun (He hit the ball on the car that was going past), and non-restrictive, adding descriptive details about the head noun (He looked into her mailbox, which she never locked). – In general, restrictive relative clauses are more common than non-restrictive. – Most other postmodifier types are restrictive, but can occasionally be non- restrictive (... picture of Victorian urban society, concentrating on the capitalist...). Relative clauses have three key components: the head noun, the relativizer, and the gap (location of the missing constituent in the relative clause). There are eight different relativizers in English. The most common ones are which, who and that. Pronouns: whom, whose. Adverbs: where, when, why. – In some cases, the relativizer can be omitted altogether, although its meaning is still implied. This is referred to as the zero relativizer. Some relativizers (such as which and that) are similar in their potential uses, but there are differences in their actual patterns of use. The gap refers to the location of a missing constituent in the relative clause. The gap can occur at almost any noun phrase position (e.g. subject, direct object, adverbial) – Relative clauses with adverbial gaps involve special choices for the relativizer.
Relative pronoun choices The choice among relative pronouns is influenced by a number of other factors, including gap position, and restrictive v. non-restrictive function. In general, that is usually used only with restrictive relative clauses, while which is used with both restrictive and non-restrictive clauses. – Who v. which with human OR non-human head nouns – That and zero with human AND non-human head nouns – Whom (non-subject gap) v. who v. that with human head nouns THERE MIGHT BE PEOPLE THAT WE DON’T KNOW OF. – Whose v. of which (alternative to whose with inanimate head nouns) – Zero relativizer: e.g. the way the man used to watch him WHICHTHAT Rare with animate headsCommon with animate heads, especially in conversation or with non-subject gaps Common in non-restrictive relative clausesRare in non-restrictive relative clauses Usually considered more formalUsually considered less formal Can follow a preposition (e.g. of which)Cannot follow a preposition (e.g. *of that)
Relative clauses with adverbial gaps When relative clauses have adverbial gaps, speakers and writers have four choices for the use of relativizers. – Relative adverbs: where, when, why The time when I began – Preposition + relative pronoun which The time at which I began – Stranded preposition The time that I began at – Omitted preposition The time that I began OR The time I began – Manner adverbial gaps and way There is no relative adverb available for relative clauses with manner adverbial gaps (*the way how I look at it). Instead, these structures almost always use the same head noun: way. They’re not used to the way we live.
Other postmodifier types non-finite clauses, prepositional phrases, appositives Postmodifiers can be clauses or phrases. In addition to relative clauses, three types of non-finite clauses can be noun postmodifiers: ing-clauses, ed-clauses (SUBJECT GAP), or to-clauses. – The verbs in ed-clauses correspond to passive verbs in relative clauses. – The verbs in ing-clauses sometimes correspond to progressive verbs in relative clauses (travelling), but often do not (involving). – Postmodifying to-clauses are more flexible than participial clauses; for example, they can have subjects that differ from the main clause subject. Prepositional phrases are by far the most common type of phrasal postmodifier. feedback systems with chaotic behavior – They can express an extremely wide range of meanings. of phrases, for instance Noun-phrases can also be postmodifiers, called appositive noun phrases. – Appositive noun phrases are non-restrictive; they are especially common in the written registers. former secretary of state Jim Baker When a noun phrase has two postmodifiers, they are usually both the same structural type (e.g. both are prepositional phrases) – One exception is that relative clauses commonly occur following other structural types of postmodifier. car in the driveway, which had been set on fire
Noun complement clauses Noun complement clauses can easily be confused with relative clauses. report that its leading indicator fell in September They differ in that they are structurally complete (i.e. noun complement clauses do not have a gap) and the complementizer that cannot be omitted. There are two types of noun complement clause: finite that- clauses and non-finite to-clauses (permission to wear them). Ing-clauses intention of singing and wh-clauses question why the devil can be used as noun complements clauses, but are less common. The most common function of noun complement clauses is restrictive. However, they can be used in non-restrictive functions (parenthetical). Noun complement clauses occur with only a few abstract nouns. Each structural type of complement clause occurs with a different set of head nouns. the idea of putting a lamp The head nouns that take that-clauses (e.g. fact, possibility, claim) mark stance. The head nouns that take to-clauses (e.g. chance, attempt, plan) mark human goals or actions.
Tongue Twisters Hungry hippos hate horribly hot hamburgers. Big bad baboons blow up beautiful blue baloons. Vain vultures in vivid velvet vests. My mean monster munches marmalade muffins. Five friendly frogs feast on fat figs. Rude rats run round ruffled rabbits.