Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Thanks and Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Tasks
- Introductory unit
- 1 Language standards and rules
- 2 Varieties of English
- 3 Types of grammar
- 4 Language systems and syllabuses
- 5 Forms and functions
- 6 An introduction to phonology
- 7 The consonants
- 8 The vowels
- 9 Rhythm and connected speech
- 10 Sentence stress and intonation
- 11 Word formation, spelling and word stress
- 12 Lexical meaning
- 13 Word classes and phrases
- 14 Sentence structure: the simple sentence
- 15 Sentence structure: the complex sentence
- 16 Negatives and questions
- 17 The verb phrase
- 18 Time and tense
- 19 Aspect: progressive
- 20 Aspect: perfect
- 21 Modality
- 22 Futurity
- 23 Hypothetical meaning and conditionals
- 24 The noun phrase
- 25 Determiners
- 26 Adjectives and adverbs
- 27 Prepositions and phrasal verbs
- 28 Cohesion
- 29 Texts
- 30 Conversation
- Key and commentaries
- Introductory unit
- 1 Language standards and rules
- 2 Varieties of English
- 3 Types of grammar
- 4 Language systems and syllabuses
- 5 Forms and functions
- 6 An introduction to phonology
- 7 The consonants
- 8 The vowels
- 9 Rhythm and connected speech
- 10 Sentence stress and intonation
- 11 Word formation, spelling and word stress
- 12 Lexical meaning
- 13 Word classes and phrases
- 14 Sentence structure: the simple sentence
- 15 Sentence structure: the complex sentence
- 16 Negatives and questions
- 17 The verb phrase
- 18 Time and tense
- 19 Aspect: progressive
- 20 Aspect: perfect
- 21 Modality
- 22 Futurity
- 23 Hypothetical meaning and conditionals
- 24 The noun phrase
- 25 Determiners
- 26 Adjectives and adverbs
- 27 Prepositions and phrasal verbs
- 28 Cohesion
- 29 Texts
- 30 Conversation
- References
- Index
24 - The noun phrase
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 February 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Thanks and Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Tasks
- Introductory unit
- 1 Language standards and rules
- 2 Varieties of English
- 3 Types of grammar
- 4 Language systems and syllabuses
- 5 Forms and functions
- 6 An introduction to phonology
- 7 The consonants
- 8 The vowels
- 9 Rhythm and connected speech
- 10 Sentence stress and intonation
- 11 Word formation, spelling and word stress
- 12 Lexical meaning
- 13 Word classes and phrases
- 14 Sentence structure: the simple sentence
- 15 Sentence structure: the complex sentence
- 16 Negatives and questions
- 17 The verb phrase
- 18 Time and tense
- 19 Aspect: progressive
- 20 Aspect: perfect
- 21 Modality
- 22 Futurity
- 23 Hypothetical meaning and conditionals
- 24 The noun phrase
- 25 Determiners
- 26 Adjectives and adverbs
- 27 Prepositions and phrasal verbs
- 28 Cohesion
- 29 Texts
- 30 Conversation
- Key and commentaries
- Introductory unit
- 1 Language standards and rules
- 2 Varieties of English
- 3 Types of grammar
- 4 Language systems and syllabuses
- 5 Forms and functions
- 6 An introduction to phonology
- 7 The consonants
- 8 The vowels
- 9 Rhythm and connected speech
- 10 Sentence stress and intonation
- 11 Word formation, spelling and word stress
- 12 Lexical meaning
- 13 Word classes and phrases
- 14 Sentence structure: the simple sentence
- 15 Sentence structure: the complex sentence
- 16 Negatives and questions
- 17 The verb phrase
- 18 Time and tense
- 19 Aspect: progressive
- 20 Aspect: perfect
- 21 Modality
- 22 Futurity
- 23 Hypothetical meaning and conditionals
- 24 The noun phrase
- 25 Determiners
- 26 Adjectives and adverbs
- 27 Prepositions and phrasal verbs
- 28 Cohesion
- 29 Texts
- 30 Conversation
- References
- Index
Summary
Introduction
It may be the case that the preoccupation with the verb phrase in language teaching materials has been at the expense of due attention to the noun phrase: a simple count of errors in the writing produced by intermediate students often reveals a higher proportion of noun-phrase-related errors than errors in the verb system. This unit, and the following unit on determiners, attempt to redress the balance.
Tasks
1 Noun types
In the following text, find an example of each of the following:
a A proper noun: the name of a specific, and unique, person, place, etc. (Be careful: a capital letter
does not necessarily make something unique!)
b A common noun: any noun that is not a proper noun, often divided between concrete and
abstract nouns. Can you find an example of each?
c A count noun: a noun that refers to an object that can be counted, and therefore allows a plural
form, and takes a plural verb.
d A collective noun: one that refers to a group, and may take either a singular or plural verb.
(There is one example in the text, although it is not the subject of a sentence.)
e A non-count noun (also called ‘mass’ noun): a noun that is uncountable, has no plural form and
always takes a singular verb.
f A noun modifier: a noun that functions like an adjective and modifies the meaning of the noun
that follows.
g A pronoun: a word that can substitute for a noun.
h An adjective functioning as a noun.
2 Countability
Which of the following combinations of determiner and noun are grammatical? For example, which could answer the question: Who or what did you see?
Can you identify each of the noun types in columns (1–5) in the above exercise?
3 Errors
With reference to the chart in task 2, explain what is the noun phrase problem in each of these examples of learner writing (from the Cambridge English Corpus).
a Here are some advices which I think will be very helpful.
b She is a sixteen-year-old girl, blond with a long hair and lives next my house.
c After a while an other taxi took me to the John’s house.
d His name is Luca, he is 25 years old, he is student.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- About LanguageTasks for Teachers of English, pp. 150 - 156Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2017