Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
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Understanding English Variation, Week 9
Understanding English Variation
Week 9 – Coordination and more on the noun phrase
1 Noun Phrases
1.1 Pronouns
So far we have looked at personal pronouns such as he, she and it, that refer to a
specific entity. There are also different classes of pronouns:
Indefinite: anyone, someone, some etc
Demonstratives: this, that, these, those etc
Interrogative: who, which, what, where etc
Possessive: ours, hers, mine, ours etc
Reflexive: myself, yourself etc
1.2 Modification
The NP we have looked at so far have consisted of just a noun (Sheila), just a pronoun
(she) or a determiner and common noun (the woman). However, other things can
form part of the NP where they modify the noun.
1.2.1 Pre-modification (modifiers that come before noun)
1.2.1.1 Determiners
Determiners are pre-modifiers. We have already looked at the articles (the, a and an).
Other determiners are:
Demonstratives: This, that, these, those etc
Quantifiers: some, every, each, another etc.
Possessives my, his their etc
Wh- Determiners whose, what, which etc
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
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Understanding English Variation, Week 9
You can see that determiners and pronouns often look alike or may even be identical.
If they occur on their own to make up the NP they are a pronoun, if they occur with a
noun they are a determiner.
Exercise 1
Decide if the highlighted elements are functioning as determiners or pronouns
(a) This painting is beautiful
(b) This is beautiful
(c) Which is the coach to Victoria?
(d) Which coach goes to Victoria?
(e) Her cat is the black one
(f) The black cat is hers
(g) Each to his own
(h) Each person to his own
1.2.1.2 AP
Adjective phrases can also pre-modify nouns
In the phrase
(1) the black cat drank the milk
The word ‘black’ is an adjective which tells us the colour of the cat. Because it
occurs before the noun we say that it pre-modifies it. In this case the structure of the
noun phrase is as follows:
(2)
NP
DET
AP
N
A
The
black
cat
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
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Understanding English Variation, Week 9
In this example then the subject of the sentence is ‘the black cat’ as the whole thing
can be replaced with a pronoun, e.g. she drank the milk.
1.3 Post modification (modifiers after the noun)
1.3.1 PP
Prepositional phrases can post-modify nouns.
(3) The boy with the glasses is a magician
The PP is part of the noun phrase but comes after the noun:
(4)
NP
DET
N
PP
P
NP
DET
The
boy
with
the
N
glasses
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
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Understanding English Variation, Week 9
1.3.2 Relative clauses
Relative clauses can also modify nouns. Relative clauses form a mini sentence on
their own
(5) The boy who owns an owl is a magician
(6)
S
NP
VP
Vgp
PRO
NP
[trans]
AUX
V
DET
N
an
owl
TENSE
Who
(pres)
owns
Exercise 2
Decide what the modifiers are in the following. Are they pre- or post-modifiers and
are they determiners, APs, PPs or relative clauses.
(a) Every cat likes milk
(b) The pigeon with the white feathers flew to London
(c) The cow that is eating grass is Daisy
(d) The red hen ate the corn
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
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Understanding English Variation, Week 9
1.3.3 Subordination and coordination
Relative clauses are an example of subordination as one clause is included inside
another. Another way to join clauses is with the coordinators and, but and or.
(7)I like the horse and Jane likes the horse too
In (7) both I like the horse and Jane likes the horse too are clauses. They are both of
equal weight in the sentence and, unlike relative clauses are not dominated by a NP
node.
See Thomas (chapter 7) for more about subordination and coordination
Rachael-Anne Knight, 2003, University of Surrey – Roehampton
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Understanding English Variation, Week 9
Tree drawing practise:
Draw full trees for the following, remembering to label the verb group:
(a) In two years, she will get her degree
(b) Her brother should have delivered the letters
(c) This food tastes nice
(d) He might have left before dinner
(e) Maybe he will bring me another drink
(f) The toddler may be colouring the picture brown
Function analysis practice
Do a function analysis for the following, remembering to state the transitivity type of
the verb.
(a) He rang Sue a cab
(b) He owes the milkman some money
(c) He rang for a pizza
(d) He built a ship
(e) He ran a marathon
(f) He built a ship for his girlfriend
(g) He rang before work
(h) He sings in the bath
(i) He called Sue a fool