Chapter 5

Nouns and noun phrases

Noun PhrasesNPs usually function as Subject The students have a presentation. Object The students chose a group

leader. PC She is the group leader. Complement We were talking to a student.

*preceded by a prep

Properties of Prototypical NounsA. Inflection: Nouns typically inflect for number (singular/plural) and case (plain/genitive)

student >students plainstudent’s>students’ genitive

B. Function: Nouns are typically heads of phrases.

C. Dependents: Certain dependents occur in NPs

Determiners The students are preparing for their presentation.Pre-head adjectives Careless students are fooling around.(modifier)Relative clauses Students who have presentations are nervous.(modifier)PP complement The loss of blood terrified me.

Nominals:

Subclasses of nouns Pronouns he, she, mine, myself Proper nouns Fatima, Riyadh, Olaya Common nouns table, book, chair

Number and CountabilityNumber is the system contrasting singular and plural.1. Nouns with fixed numberA. Singular only nounsNouns which have a singular form but no pluralFootwear, nonsense, linguistics, italics, phonetics, newsThe final /s/ is not a plural marker. The news is good. Linguistics is a great class.

B. Plural only nounsNouns which have plural form but no singularAlms, clothes, scissors, cattle, policeThe police are helpful. The police have arrive.

2. Count and non-count nounsFurniture, chairOne chair, two chairs*one furniture?

3. Subject verb agreementTheir dog eats a lot. Their dogs eat a lot.

Determiners and Determinatives Det can be part of the NP

The determiner position can be filled by:Determinative The city is

crowded.Determinative Phrase (DP) Almost all

students passed.Genitive NP Her child is sick.

DefinitenessDefiniteness marks the NP as definite or

indefinite.

Which determiners are definite and indefinite?

Definite: the, this, these, that, those, all, both, which, whichever, what, whatever.N.B.: that is a demonstrative not a relative

pronoun

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

Determinatives as ModifiersN.B.- Determinative = category, Determiner =

FunctionSome determinatives function as modifiers

Determiner ModifierThe younger son had died

I feel all the better for my holiday.

Determinative Phrases (DP)In DPs, the head is a determiner. Dependents: other determiners which serve as modifiers preceding the head. Not many people turned up.

ComplementsThe complement of the noun that corresponds to the object of the verb has the form of PP.

The properties of the PP complements.a) They correspond to object or subject NPs in clause

structure.b) The choice of preposition is specified by the head

noun.c) The PP is obligatory because the noun makes little

sense without it.

Verb + Object Noun + PPI criticized her decision. My criticism of her decision made

her upset.Sandy married Pat. Sandy’s marriage to Pat.

The Fused head construction The head is fused, or combined, with a

dependent, and forms a single word.1. Simple Kim has lots of friends, but Pat doesn’t seem to

have any.2. PartitiveSome of his remarks were quite flattering. (explicit)I have two photos of her, but both are out of focus.(implicit)3. Special Many would disagree with you on that point.

1. Simple Kim has lots of friends, but Pat doesn’t seem to

have any.

The fused head can be expanded and retrieved from the context. For example, any can be expanded by adding any friends.

2. PartitiveSome of his remarks were quite flattering. (explicit)

I have two photos of her, but both are out of focus.(implicit)

In an explicit partitive, the fused head is followed by a partitive PP complement. It is considered partitive because it means “some remarks from the set of his remarks.”In the implicit partitive the of complement is understood rather than being overtly expressed. Both refers to both of them.

3. Special Many would disagree with you on that point

Many is understood as “many people” but this represents a special interpretation because people is not retrievable from the context.

Fused determiner-headSimple They sent six copies though I had

ordered eight.Partitive They sent twenty copies but

several were damaged.Special This is infuriating.

Almost all determiners can occur in this construction except the, a, every, and what.

The, a, every1. The is replaced by appropriate form of that.The impact of war is more serious than the impact of drought.The impact of war is more serious than that of drought.2. A is replaced by one.I need a pen but I haven’t got a pen.I need a pen but I haven’t got one.3. Every is replaced by everyone.He inspected a dozen of cars but every dozen of cars was defective.He inspected a dozen of cars but every one (of them) was defective.

Fused Modifier HeadsAn adjective serves as modifier and as head at the same time.

Simple: Should I wear the red shirt or the blue?Partitive: The youngest of their children was still at

school.Special: The French don’t take these things too Seriously.

Modifiers cannot fuse with the head as readily as determiners can:Kim had hoped for a favorable review, but Pat wrote [a

critical].*

Pronouns Personal I like them. Your sister drives

herself.Reciprocal They dislike each other We were helping one another.Interrogative Who saw them leave? What do you want?Relative The guy who helped us The book which you

recommended

Personal pronoun1st person I we2nd person you you3rd person he, she, it theyGenderThe masculine: used for males humans or animals

(he)The feminine : used for female, political entities,

personified inanimate (she) France has recalled her ambassador.

The neutral: used for inanimates or for male and female animals (it)

InflectionInflectionThe personal pronouns have a great a mount of inflectional variation than other nouns. In the first place there is a distinction between reflexive and non-reflexive forms, and secondly they have up to four case -forms.

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Case in coordinationKim and I went over there.They invited Sally and me.Genitive case (dependent and

independent)I’ve lost my key This is mine.Reciprocal pronounsEach other and one another.They are similar to the reflexives in their

complement use:Lee and Pat cursed themselves

Genitive CaseGenitive NPs as subject-determiner[The teacher’s car] was stolen.They phoned [my mother].Genitive vs possessiveThe term ‘possessive’ is often used instead of ‘genitive’ especially for pronouns, but it is important to see that the semantic relation between the genitive NP and the following head is not limited to that of possession.Consider these cases:Her father, her infancy, her anger vs. her car.

Other uses of the genitiveSubject She didn’t approve of [his being

given a second chance].Fused Head They accepted Kim’s proposal but

not Pat’s.Oblique The argument was sparked by a

casual remark of Kim’s.Predicative Everything in this room is

Mary’s.Attributive They have just moved to an old

people’s home.