Noun Phrase (NP)
What Are Noun Phrases? (with Examples)
A noun phrase is a phrase that plays the role of a noun. The head word in a noun phrase will be a noun or a pronoun.
In the examples below, the whole noun phrase is shaded and the head word is in bold.
- I like singing in the bath.
- I know the back streets.
- I've met the last remaining chief.
Compare the three examples above to these:
- I like it.
- I know them.
- I've met him.
In these three examples, the words in bold are all pronouns. The ability to replace the noun phrases in the first three examples with a pronoun proves that the shaded texts are functioning as nouns, making them noun phrases.
Like any noun, a noun phrase can be a subject, an object, or a complement.
The Noun Phrase
Recognize a noun phrase when you see one.
A noun phrase includes a noun—a person, place, or thing—and the modifiers which distinguish it.
You can find the noun dog in a sentence, for example, but you don't know which canine the writer means until you consider the entire noun phrase: that dog, Aunt Audrey's dog, the dog on the sofa, the neighbor's dog that chases our cat, the dog digging in the new flower bed.
Modifiers can come before or after the noun. Ones that come before might include articles, possessive nouns, possessive pronouns, adjectives, and/or participles.
Articles: a dog, the dog
Possessive nouns: Aunt Audrey's dog, the neighbor's dog, the police officer's dog
Possessive pronouns: our dog, her dog, their dog
Adjectives: that dog, the big dog, the spotted dog
Participles: the drooling dog, the barking dog, the well trained dog
Modifiers that come after the noun might include prepositional phrases, adjective clauses, participle phrases, and/or infinitives.
Prepositional phrases: a dog on the loose, the dog in the front seat, the dog behind the fence
Adjective clauses: the dog that chases cats, the dog that looks lost, the dog that won the championship
Participle phrases: the dog whining for a treat, the dog clipped at the grooming salon, the dog walked daily
Infinitives: the dog to catch, the dog to train, the dog to adopt
Less frequently, a noun phrase will have a pronoun as its base—a word like we, everybody, etc.—and the modifiers which distinguish it. Read these examples:
We who were green with envy
We = subject pronoun; who were green with envy = modifier.
Someone intelligent
Someone = indefinite pronoun; intelligent = modifier.
No one important
No one = indefinite pronoun; important = modifier.
Examples of Noun Phrases
Noun phrases are extremely common. A noun with any sort of modifier (including just a number or an article) is a noun phrase. Here are some examples of noun phrases: