By Yang Ying & Janet Chan
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What do we mean by a noun group?
What can noun groups do in a sentence?
What are the various forms of noun groups?
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Nouns
Noun phrases
Pronouns
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David smiled.
David is a friendly boy.
David loves his computer.
David bought himself a gift.
Nobody could make David angry.
The old man died last year.
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Bananas are cheap here.
Kate likes fruits.
He is not in town.
He became Chairman in 2009.
A noun/pronoun on its own
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Ming is a monkey.
The boys were restless.
Take an apple, please.
Article + Noun
(a, an, the)
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We have a peaceful neighborhood here.
I don’t like living in a big city.
We must learn word combinations, not just
single words.
She is good at baking chocolate cakes.
Jane’s hand was trembling.
The ship’s radio is not working.
My dog is very quiet.
Noun phrase
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The girl in a blue dress is my niece.
You need to think of a way to stop him.
I don’t want to talk to the man who insulted
me.
The handle of the door suddenly came off.
I hated the idea of leaving the child alone at
home.
The cover of the book was torn.
Noun with adjectival, adverbial
or prepositional phrases
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She pointed at the man sitting in the corner.
The lady holding a book in her hand is my
aunt.
Noun with -ing form
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I had to pay a thousand dollars for the
damage.
Three tall and strong men rushed into the
house.
Number + Noun
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Someone is asking to see you.
Everyone is busy at the moment.
Each of the members is responsible for
writing one chapter of the book.
Some students are very interested in the
course.
Some of the books are missing.
Some of the rice is gone.
Pronoun: Someone; Everyone
Some (of) + Noun
Identify the noun groups and their forms:
 I have a fond memory of my grandmother.
 An increase in salary is always good news to
the workers.
 I disliked the man who wanted to marry my
sister.
 My three children are all studying in the
university.
 Do you see the elderly lady in a pink gown?
 Some of the visitors are not allowed to enter
the building.
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Your son was not willing to join us.
Her emails are always short.
Some of the food we prepared for the guests
was gone before the guests arrived.
Half of the workers are willing to stay behind
to get the job done.
I don’t have two hundred dollars on me.
The head of the school is a very nice and
friendly lady.
Identify the noun groups in the passage below:
 Speed-reading courses often claim that an increase in
speed will mean an automatic increase in comprehension.
But this claim is simply not true. With difficult material,
understanding is likely to fall as rate rises. Speed-reading
courses may increase the number of words your eyes take
in and "read" per minute. In addition, comprehension may
improve while you take such a course. The cause for this,
however, is that you tend to concentrate more as you read
faster. The best way to increase reading speed and
comprehension is to develop reading comprehension
skills. Speed will come as you learn how to identify main
ideas and go quickly over lesser points and supporting
details. Also, speed will come as you learn how to vary
your reading rate according to the nature of the material
and your purpose in reading.
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Speed-reading courses often claim that an increase in
speed will mean an automatic increase in comprehension.
But this claim is simply not true. With difficult material,
understanding is likely to fall as rate rises. Speed-reading
courses may increase the number of words your eyes take
in and "read" per minute. In addition, comprehension may
improve while you take such a course. The cause for this,
however, is that you tend to concentrate more as you read
faster. The best way to increase reading speed and
comprehension is to develop reading comprehension
skills. Speed will come as you learn how to identify main
ideas and go quickly over lesser points and supporting
details. Also, speed will come as you learn how to vary
your reading rate according to the nature of the material
and your purpose in reading.
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Adapted from:
ES1000 course materials
Langan, J. (2002). Reading and Study Skills
(7th edition, p.580). New York:
McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Willis, D. (1991). Collins Cobuild Student’s
Grammar: Self study Edition with Answers
(p. 4). Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers.
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http://linguapress.com/grammar/grammar3.
htm
http://www.eslgold.com/grammar/noun_ver
b_phrases.html
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/tta/p
hrases/phrases.htm
This PowerPoint file was created by
Yang Ying
Janet Chan
Centre for English Language Communication
National University of Singapore