1

Challenging Grammar

Spring 2015 – Handout #2

Institute of English and American Studies

University of Debrecen

Instructor: Éva Kardos

Nouns and Noun Phrases (based on Chapter 5 of Huddleston and Pullum 2005)

1. Introduction to nouns and noun phrases

Nouns

A working definition of nouns: a grammatically distinct category of words which includes those

denoting all kinds of physical objects, such as persons, animals and inanimate objects.

Subclasses of nouns:

(1) a. I, me, you, who, what

b. Jane, John, Kate, Germany, Washington

c. boy, book, chair, dog

Distinctive properties of prototypical nouns:

Nouns typically inflect for number and case.

(2) a. student vs. students

b. boy’s vs. boys’

Nouns fill the head position in noun phrases.

A variety of dependents can occur with nouns as head.

(3) a. the student

b. a big sandwich

c. the student who aced the exam

Noun phrases

A typical NP consists of a noun (the head of the phrase) and various dependents.

The function of noun phrases:

(4) a. Kate ran.

b. Kate ate a sandwich.

c. Kate is a student.

d. Kate is talking to a friend.

The dependents:

(5) a. the students

2

b. the fact that she knows the answer

c. the big sandwich

Internal and external dependents:

(6) a. the king of France

b. the book

c. a big book

d. even a young student

2. Number and countability

Number: the system that contrasts singular and plural

(7) dog vs. dogs

Singular-only nouns

(8) a. dross, footwear, harm, nonsense, perseverance, crockery

b. linguistics, mumps, news, physics

Plural-only nouns

(9) a. auspices, belongings, scissors

b. cattle, police, vermin

A different but related classification: count vs. non-count nouns

Count nouns can take cardinal numbers.

(10) two dogs, three chairs

Non-count nouns cannot take cardinal numbers.

(11) *one furniture

Non-count nouns that are invariably singular

(12) furniture

Non-count nouns that are invariably plural

(13) remains

Nouns with count and non-count uses

(14) a. Would you like a pie?

3

b. Would you like some pie?

A short detour: the distinction between count and non-count in the nominal domain

(15) book vs. water

A similar distinction in the verbal domain:

(16) ???

Collective nouns:

(17) board, committee, jury, staff, team, crew

Different Englishes: AmE vs. BrE

3. Determiners

The determiner position is filled by either a determinative (e.g. the, some, few) or a genitive

determiner (my, Susan’s).

The main semantic contribution of the determiner is to mark the NP as definite or indefinite.

Definite determiners: the, this, that; all, both; relative which, what, etc.

Indefinite determiners: a, each, every, some, any, either, no, another, a few, a little,

several, many, much, enough, sufficient, interrogative which, what, etc.

Let us devote some more attention to the definite and the indefinite article.

the definite article: the capital city of Hungary, the car

The function of the definite article: It indicates that the head of the NP is considered sufficient in

the context to identify the referent.

By way of illustration, let us look at the following examples:

(18) a. The President of the United States of America is a strong man.

b. The book that she is reading must be fascinating.

The indefinite article: Descriptions containing indefinite articles are not unique in the

context.

(19) a. A man has just arrived.

b. I’ll show you a book on that topic.

4

4. Complements

PP complements

(20) the return of the warriors, the consent of your advisor, the opinion of your mother

Characteristic properties of PP complements:

o They correspond to object or subject NPs.

(21) a. I criticized her decision.

b. my criticism of her decision

(22) a. The warriors returned.

b. the return of the warriors

o The choice of preposition is specified by the head noun.

(23) a. an introduction to the history of the USA

b. your opinion of UD

c. their request for an independent review

o The PP is obligatory.

(24) the feasibility of the plan

Subordinate clause complements

They can be finite or non-finite.

(25) a. The fact that she knows the answer to one question does not guarantee that she

will pass the test.

b. It was never my intention to brag about my achievements.

5. Internal and external modifiers

Internal modifiers

pre-head modifiers

(26) a long letter, another two candidates, a Unites States warship, a sleeping

child

post-head modifiers

5

(27) your husband 'Nick', a woman my age, the tree by the gate, people fond of

chocolate, the guy who spoke first, students living on campus

the combination of modifiers

(28) a. a beautiful big red car

b. *a big red beautiful car

External modifiers

quantificational expressions

(29) all the children, both her sons, half a day

adjectives or AdjPs before the indefinite article a

(30) such a disaster, too risky a venture, so difficult a task

adverbs and reflexive pronouns

(31) even the children, only a politician, the husband himself

6. Pronouns

Pronouns form a subclass of nouns distinguished syntactically from common nouns and proper

nouns by not being able to take determiners as dependents.

There are different kinds of pronoun, as shown in (32).

(32) a. personal: I like him.

b. reciprocal: They don’t like each other.

c. interrogative: Who asked this?

d. relative: The man who needs help is Bill.

Deictic and anaphoric uses of pronouns

The term deixis applies to the use of expressions in which the meaning can be traced

directly to features of the act of utterance – when and where it takes place, and who is

involved as speaker and as addressee. Consider (33).

(33) Can you do it now?

6

The term anaphora applies to the use of expressions in which the meaning is derived from

another expression in the surrounding linguistic material. That other expression is called

the antecedent.

(34) Anna says she needs a car.

Personal pronouns

This subclass of pronouns is called 'personal' because it is the one to which the

grammatical distinction of person applies.

Gender

The 3rd person singular pronouns contrast in gender, which in English revolves

mainly around sex. There is a distinction between masculine, feminine, and neuter

gender.

The pronoun most widely used in cases where sex is not specified is they, as in

(35).

(35) a. Everyone told me that they had wanted to contact you.

b. We need a doctor who knows what they are doing.

Case

The grammatical category of case applies to a system of inflectional forms whose

primary use is to mark various syntactic functions. Consider the contrast between

nominative and accusative forms in (36).

(36) a. They called my mom.

b. My mom called them.

When it comes to case-forms in certain verbless constructions, there are two

options:

(37) a. She’s a year younger than I. (formal)

b. She’s a year younger than me.

Homework: Please do exercises 2, 3, and 4 on pages 110-111 of Huddleston and Pullum (2005).