LECTURE 4

THE NOUN GROUP/PHRASE

DETERMINERS, MODIFIERS & PRONOUNS

CONTENTS
I. THE NOUN GROUP
II. DETERMINERS
III. MODIFIERS
IV. PRONOUNS

I. THE NOUN GROUP/PHRASE

= a cluster of words around a NOUN used to give more information about a person or a thing.
THE BASIC STRUCTURE OF A NOUN GROUP
A brave lieutenant who lost his life in Afghanistan.
The beautiful girl whose mother is a teacher.

MODIFIER NOUN QUALIFIER

subjective/opinion intrinsic/factual NOUN complementary

features features information

THE ORDER OF ELEMENTS OF A NOUN GROUP

 the six most common models for noun phrases:
 Pronoun: they
 Noun alone: apples
 Determiner + noun: the apples
 Determiner + modifier + noun: the biggest apples
 Determiner + noun + extension: the apples in this box
 Determiner + modifier + noun + extension: the biggest apples in this box

II. DETERMINERS
= a word/a group of words that introduces a noun/ comes at the beginning of a noun:
 an article (the, a, an, some, any);
 a quantifier (few, a few, many, a lot of, some, any etc.);
 a possessive (my, your, the man’ s, the boy’ s etc.);
 a demonstrative (this, that, these, those);
 a numeral (one, two, three; first, second, third, etc.);
 a question word (which, whose, how many, etc.).

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 ARTICLES THE & A/AN
• precede nouns and some other words in a noun group/phrase (few, little, adjectives)
• is usually the first word in a noun phrase, BUT:
 all/both/half/most/some + the: all the information, both the twins
I want to clean all of the rooms in the house before the guests arrive.
Most of the people are careful of their health in the winter.

 quite/rather/such/what/half + a/an: quite a difficult problem, such an interesting

movie
It was quite a pleasant experience.
He had rather a good idea.

 THE DEFINITE ARTICLE “THE”

- usually precedes a specific/particular or previously mentioned noun;
- can be used before singular and plural, count and non-count nouns, and for all genders:
The car over there is fast.
The president of the United States is giving a speech now.
I was happy to see the policemen who saved my cat.
The windows are open.
He drank the water.
He spilled the milk all over the floor.

 USES:

 to refer to something which has already been mentioned or it is well known:

Yesterday I saw a movie. The movie was interesting.
There's a position available in my team. The job will involve some international travel.
I saw a girl in the park. The girl was crying.

 in sentences/clauses where you define/identify a particular person/object:

The man who wrote this book is famous.
This is the boy who broke my window.
I live in the small house with a blue door.

 to refer to people/objects that are unique – “the only one”:

The sun rose at 6:17 this morning.
You can go anywhere in the world.
The president will be speaking on TV tonight.

 before superlatives and ordinal numbers:

This is the highest building in New York.
She read the last chapter of her new book first.
You are the tallest person in our class.

 before a singular noun used as a representative of a class:

The elephant is a big animal.
The kangaroo is found only in Australia.
The computer has changed our lives.

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 before adjectives, Past Participles and Gerunds used to represent a whole class/
group of people:
The French enjoy cheese.
She has given a lot of money to the poor.
The accused were sentenced to prison.

 with decades:
He was born in the seventies.
This is a painting from the 1820's.

 with clauses introduced by only:

This is the only day we've had sunshine all week.
You are the only person he will listen to.
The only tea I like is black tea.

 before a noun followed by a prepositional phrase:

The house with large windows belongs to my parents.
The capital of France is Paris.
This is the road to London.

 before names of musical instruments:

He can play the piano very well.
She is learning the guitar.

 before names of days, months, seasons:

I always remember the Monday when I had an accident.
The winter of 2005 lasted five months.
She visited us several times during the spring of that year.
 as an adverb with comparatives:
The more the merrier.
The more they get, the more they want.
The higher you climb, the cooler it gets.

 for currencies:
The U.S. dollar has risen against the yen but fallen against the euro.

 with forms of entertainment BUT NOT the medium of TV:

I go to the cinema, the theatre, the circus, the ballet and the opera.
In the daytime I listen to the radio, but in the evenings I prefer to watch television.

 in a number of phrases: by the way, on the one hand/on the other hand, in the
country, in the mountains, at the seaside, for the time being, on the whole, in the
morning, to tell the truth, in the afternoon, in the meanwhile, etc.

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 WITH PROPER NOUNS:

 rivers, seas, oceans, mountain ranges, group of islands:

the Amazon, the Nile; the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea; the Pacific Ocean,
Atlantic Ocean; the Carpathians, the Himalayas; the Canaries, the Hebrides, etc.;

 deserts, forests, gulfs, and peninsulas and canals:

the Sahara, the Gobi Desert; the Black Forest; the Persian Gulf, the Great Gulf; the
Iberian Peninsula, the Arabian Peninsula; the English Canal, the Panama Canal, etc.

 points on the globe: the Equator, the North Pole, etc.

 geographical areas: the Middle East, the West, the South, the Far East, etc.

 countries that have plural name: the Netherlands, the Philippines, etc.

 countries that include the words "republic", "kingdom", or "states" in their names: the
Republic of Ireland, the People’s Republic of China; the United Kingdom, the Kingdom
of Nepal; the United States, etc.
 newspapers: The Guardian, The Times, The Sun, etc.

 names of ships, trains, airplanes: the Titanic, the Sweet Judy; the Flying Scotsman; the
Enterprise, etc.

 famous buildings, works of art, museums, or monuments: the Empire State Building, the
White House; the Mona Lisa, the Sunflowers; the British Museum, the Louvre Museum;
the Coliseum, the Eiffel Tower, etc.

 the names of hotels, pubs & restaurants: the Hilton Hotel, the Ritz Hotel; the Golden
Lion, the King’s Head, the Déjà Vu, etc.

 the names of families: the Browns, the Obamas, the Smiths, etc.

 larger organizations and institutions: the EU, the BBC, the Commonwealth, the United
Nations, the Seaman’s Union, etc.

 THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE

A/AN & SOME
- used to refer to something in a less specific manner (an unspecified count(able) noun);

 a – used when the word starts with a consonant, or before words starting in u and eu
when they sound like you:
a boy, a car, a helicopter, a European, a university, a unit

 an – used when the word starts with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or with a mute h:
an apple, an elephant, an ugly duck, an hour, an honor

 some – used with plural nouns:

some men, some universities, some hair, some water

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  USES:

 to refer to something/someone for the first time in a conversation:

I've got two children – a boy and a girl.
I looked out of the window and I saw a big dog.

 to refer to one example of a class/species:

She is a pupil at London Road School.
My daughter really wants a cat for Christmas.

 the noun is not known to our listener/ reader:

Police are searching for a 14 year-old girl.
I’ve finally got a good job.

 before professions and job titles:

I am a teacher.
Mary is training to be an officer.

 with nationalities and religions in the singular:

John is an Englishman./Vic is an Australian.
Kate is a Catholic./Paul became a Muslim.

 with the names of days of the week when not referring to any particular day:
I was born on a Thursday.
Could I come over on a Saturday sometime?

 to refer to an example of something:

The elephant had a long trunk.
It was a very strange car.

 with expressions with what, such or so:

What a difficult problem!/What a shame!/What a day!
She is such a beautiful girl!/My boss is such an ass!
He was so good a worker!/Ann was so good a student!

 with some expressions of quantity, amounts, and frequency:

a pair of jeans, a few minutes, twice a year, two dollars a kilo, 50 miles a gallon, 20
km an hour, etc.

 with the meaning one/no matter which:

Mother, can I have an apple?
A cube is a solid body having six equal square faces.

 before a noun preceded by as:

He came to the ball dressed as a pirate.
She gave me a camera as a present.

 in a number of phrases:
as a rule, as a matter of fact, at a distance, at a time, all of a sudden, in a load voice, once
upon a time, once in a blue moon, three times a week, it’s a pity, it’s a shame, keep an eye
on, keep a secret, have a headache, put an end to, etc.

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  THE ZERO ARTICLE

- we do NOT use any article in front of a noun;

- is used to talk about plural and noncount(able) nouns or things in general.

 USES:
 with proper nouns:
Turner is my favorite painter.
Where's Peter?

 with names of places and institutions:

Johns Hopkins University, Trafalgar Square, Victoria Station, George Washington
Bridge, JFK Airport

 with meals:
We have breakfast at 7 o’clock every morning.
Let's go out for dinner tonight.

 with names of days, months, seasons, holidays, and parts of the day:
on Monday, in March, in summer, at Christmas, at noon

 with names of sports, games and activities:

I love swimming.
They play both volleyball and basketball.
Rummy is definitely much more difficult than solitaire.

 with geographical names:

 continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, Antarctica;
 countries: Chile, France, Romania, Namibia, Spain;
 lakes: Lake Geneva, Lake Michigan, Lake Victoria;
 mountains: Mount Everest, Mount Blanc, Mount Fuji;
 cities: New York, London, Barcelona, Bucharest;
 streets and roads: Downing Street, Michigan Avenue.

 with places – if we talk about the purpose they are used for:
go to church (to a service), go to bed (to sleep), go to prison (as a punishment), go to
school/college/university (to study as a student), go to hospital (as a patient), etc.

 with means of transport:

by air, by boat, by bus, by plane, by train, by car, on foot

 with materials:
milk, bread, butter, coffee, gold, iron, snow, cotton, wool

 with subjects/sciences:
physics, math, chemistry, music, ballistics, geography, etc.

 in phrases:
in charge, in tears, in danger, at war, by heart, on time, face to face, come to light, make
fun of, keep in mind, in front of,
beyond control, shake hands with, in case of, catch fire, etc.

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 QUANTIFIERS

= a type of determiner (an adjective/adjectival phrase) which denote imprecise quantity

and modify (pro)nouns:

+ COUNT NOUNS + UNCOUNT NOUNS + BOTH

many, a couple of, (not) much, no, all (of the), enough

several, none of the, a little/little/very little, a bit more/most (of the)

(of),
a few/few/very few, less/least, no/none
a great deal of,
a number (of), not any, some, any
a good deal of,
a large number of, a lot of, lots of,
a large amount of,
a great number of, plenty of, a lack of
a large quantity of
a majority of

Many children start school at How much money have you There are some books on
the age of five. got? the desk.

He's got only a few dollars. There is a large quantity of Give me some water, please.
fish in this river.

POSSESIVES

 they are used as adjectives;

 POSSESSIVE NOUNS:
the nation’s gas revolution, the Pope’s last day, this week’s news, the marketing’s rapid
growth, the world’s most famous family, the duchess of Cambridge’s younger sister, etc.

 POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES:
This is my book.
Where is their school?
Samantha will fix her bike tomorrow.
Mrs. Baker wants to see your homework.

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 DEMONSTRATIVES
• are used as adjectives before nouns to refer to someone or something known to both
speaker and listener;
• are used to distinguish between near/close and far/distant things (in both space and time)

NEAR/CLOSE FAR/DISTANT

singular THIS THAT

plural THESE THOSE

space This book in my hand is well That book over there, on the
written. table is trash.

These pancakes on my plate Those pancakes I had

are delicious. yesterday morning were
better.

time What are you doing this What did you do that
weekend? weekend?

There’s so much crime these People didn’t use drugs in

days. those days.

NUMERALS

• CARDINAL NUMERALS = adjectives referring to quantity;

There are twenty-five people in the room.
Six hundred thousand people were left
homeless after the earthquake.
I must have asked you twenty times to be quiet.

• ORDINAL NUMERALS = adjectives referring to position/ distribution;

He was the fourteenth person to win the award.

They went to Israel for the third time this year.
I didn't do very well in the competition. I only was in the ninth place.

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 III. MODIFIERS
= a word/phrase/clause which functions as an adjective/an adverb to describe/qualify a
word

a) A MISPLACED MODIFIER – is improperly separated from the word it describes:

We returned the toy to the store that was broken. – WRONG
We returned the toy that was broken to the store. – RIGHT

b) A DANGLING MODIFIER – modifies a word not clearly stated in the sentence:

Struggling to find the right language, the story was vivid and powerful. – WRONG
Struggling to find the right language, the writer created a vivid and powerful story. –
RIGHT

a) PREMODIFIERS – before the noun/head:

 an adjective: the beautiful girl, the big dog, the cute smile
 an adverb + adjective: a highly successful company, extremely high temperatures,
frequently asked questions
 an adjective phrase: a black-and-white striped vest, sweet juicy peach, dark brown
briefcase
 a secondary noun: a beer glass, a race car, the police inspector
 a noun + a noun: soil erosion process, oil pressure emergency level, electronic
devices installation book
 an adjective + noun: a long car journey, slow motion camera, late night show
 a participle: the barking dog, boiling oil, a closed door, the well trained soldier, strongly
motivated students
 a hyphenated noun + a participle: window-cleaning liquid, time-saving process, crop-
watering pipes
 a compound adjective: one-way traffic, long-range communication, lead-free gasoline
 a long compound adjective: life-and-death decisions, out-of-date book, stronger-than-
steel alloy
 a comparative/superlative: a better job, a much better report; the most dangerous
materials, the most popular tourist attraction, the newest technological gadget

b) POSTMODIFIERS – after the noun/head:

 a prepositional phrase: the students in our class, the woman in the window, a book on
the table, the edge of the desk

 an adverb of place: the room upstairs, the man outside, the road ahead, the way down

 a relative clause: the man who employed me, a person whom everybody knew and
everybody liked, the book that I told you about

 a participle phrase: the cat jumped daily, the girl dancing on the stage, the boy walking
down the road

 an infinitive: the train to catch, the child to adopt, the man to talk to, some delicious
cakes to taste

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 IV. PRONOUNS

= a word that can be used in a place of a noun/ noun phrase

PERSONAL POSSESSIVES
PRONOUNS REFLEXIVE/EMPHATIC
SUBJECT OBJECT PRONOUNS ADJECTIVES
PRONOUNS
PRON. PRON.

1st I ME MINE MY (car) MYSELF

pers.

2nd YOU YOU YOURS YOUR (car) YOURSELF

pers.
SG.
3rd HE HIM HIS HIS (car) HIMSELF
pers.

3rd SHE HER HERS HER (car) HERSELF

pers.

3rd IT IT ITS ITS (car) ITSELF

pers.

1st WE US OURS OUR (car) OURSELVES

pers.
PL.
2nd YOU YOU YOURS YOUR (car) YOURSELVES
pers.

3rd THEY THEM THEIRS THEIR (car) THEMSELVES

pers.

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SUBJECT I go to job by car. – SB
PRONOUNS You passed the exam successfully. – SB

OBJECT I like her very much. – D.O.

PRONOUNS You wrote that letter to us. – I.O.

POSSESSIVE That big house is ours.

PRONOUNS Those buses are theirs.

POSSESSIVE Your car is red.

ADJECTIVES This is his jacket.

REFLEXIVE/ - after verbs: behave, burn, cut, enjoy, hurt, kill, behave,
EMPHATIC look, laugh at, teach, introduce, dry, etc. when the SB and
PRONOUNS the OBJECT of the verb are the SAME:

The cat keeps itself clean by licking.

You should be ashamed of yourselves!
Help yourself to the food!

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS & ADJECTIVES

This is an interesting book. Ann and Paul are cousins: the former (=
first) is a student, the later (= the second
That is all I wanted from you!
of two) is a pupil.
These are my best friends.
The same student came in./I did the
What are those on the table? same.
Some guests drank beer, the others One cannot do the work of twenty./The
drank wine. little ones impressed me a lot.
Such is life./Have you ever read such
stories?
I’m afraid so./I don’t think so.

RECIPROCAL PRONOUNS
We could hardly see each other in the fog.
They loved each other.
The students of this group help one another.
We understood one another.

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 INDEFINITE PRONOUNS
= do not refer to any specific person/thing/amount

SINGULAR PLURAL BOTH

anybody/one/thing several all

somebody/one/thing both more
everybody/one/thing any most
nobody/one/thing others any
other, another, each, either, few some
neither, none, much, one, fewer none
enough, less, little
many such

Is anyone/body at home?
Each has his own ideas.
Either choice has its
advantages.
Much has happened since
we met.
Many are called, but few All were late to the
are chosen. party./All is forgiven.
Several signed the card. Here is some./Some
have arrived.
The girls are both
sleeping. Most is lost./Most have
refused.

RELATIVE INTERROGATIVE IMPERSONAL

PRONOUNS
PRONOUNS PRONOUNS

who (people) who (people) you

whom (people) whom (people) one
whose (possession) whose (possession) they
which (things) which (things)
that (people/things) what
what

This is the girl who/that
comes from Spain.
I have a friend whose cat is
annoying.
The dog which/that was lost
has been found.
Tell me what you want to
know.
Who has broken this One should always be
vase? polite.
Whose are these gloves? You never know what you
can do till you try.
Whom did you meet
there? They speak English in this
hotel.
Which of you saw her
yesterday?
What is she doing now?

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