LESSON 9 – THE NOUN PHRASE

Objectives: I want my students to identify noun phrases and the elements in them

produce correctly- formed phrases

Hello people. As you can see, our topic today is “Noun Phrases”. So before any other activity,
we need to understand what a noun phrase is. This video will help you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2r4QUjiyhE

As you have probably understood, a noun phrase is made up of minimum one noun that is or
can be accompanied by other words (categories) that may appear before or after the noun
and that give information about that noun

The noun, then, is the most important concept in the phrase and it is marked as the HEAD.
The words which appear before the noun are called the PRE MODIFIERSand those which come
after the noun are called POST MODIFIERS. At the beginning of the noun phrases, there comes
a word which helps to identify which noun specifically we are talking about and that word is
the DETERMINER

In all, a noun phrase may look like this, the pre and post modifiers being optional:

DETERMINER + PRE MODIFIER(S) + HEAD NOUN + POST MODIFIER(S)

Let’s analyse each element in the noun phrase so as to know how to form noun phrases
correctly:

DETERMINERS

Determiners are the words that tell us exactly which noun we are speaking about by giving
information about its owner, its position, its quantity, etc.

There are five different types of determiners and they can be classified into the following
categories:
Articles: the / a / an /zero article

Articles tell us if the noun we are talking about has been mentioned before or if it is the only
one in its group or if it is simply one in a bigger group

Eg. A DOG is one of the many dogs that exist

THE DOG is one already mentioned.

Demonstratives: this / that / these / those

Demonstratives tell us where the object/person (noun) is situated; next to the speaker or at a
distance. They “demonstrate” or point to which noun we are speaking about.

Eg. THIS man is one man near the speaker

THOSE books speak about more than one book separated from where the speaker is.

They tell us who the object (noun) belongs to.

Eg. HIS mother we are talking about the mother(noun) of a boy/man.

Quantifiers: some / a lot of / little / no (among others)

They give us information about the exact number/amount of people/objects(noun) or just give
us an idea of the quantity.

Eg. FEW children: not an exact number, not a big number, but more than one.

Distributives: both / none / every ( among others)

They tell us if the object/person (noun) is separated, or together with others.

Eg. EACH student shows one student separated from the other.

ALL students speak about sudents all together.

Possessives and demonstratives do not have any special rule for their use, except their
meaning. But the others need some more detailed analysis.

ARTICLES

There are different uses of the indefinite article A(N) , the definite article (THE) and the zero
article or no article.

To learn about the correct uses of the articles, you should go to Chapter 20 of the grammar
book Macmillan English Grammar in Context. You will find a digital copy of this book in the
part of Files in our virtual classroom. Chapter 20 deals with the difference between the three
 articles and how to use them correctly and Chapter 21 includes some other groups that need
the use of articles.

PLEASE. Do not overestimate what you know and feel that you don’t need to read those
two chapters. Remember that you will have to explain articles to your students one day and
you need to know how to use them. I’m sure there is always something to learn.

Once you have read the theory, you can complete the following chart with your own
examples of the main uses of the articles:

INDEFINITE ARTICLE example DEFINITE ARTICLE example ZERO ARTICLE example

instruments noun + post modifier Plural nouns

set of named things singular noun (class) Uncountable noun (class)

shops or place as a
measurements general reference abstract ideas

symptoms of illnesses unique object proper names

exclamations with sing. places, when they begin
nouns plural nationality nouns with a name
singular nationality
nouns Oceans/rivers illnesses
islands unless they are
cardinal points post modified

Collective nouns months/days of the week

Deserts Places in general

buildings

Now that you have a reference, you can complete the many exercises that the book has for
your practice and check your answers with the key the book brings at the end.
 QUANTIFIERS

When dealing with quantifiers, you must be very careful and identify what type of noun you
are using; countable or uncountable, because many of the quantifiers can be used with only
one type. To learn about quantifiers, read Chapter 22, page. 104 from your book on Grammar
to see which ones indicate a big number or a small number; which ones are used with
countable nouns, which one with uncountable ones and which ones with the two

ATTENTION: The author of the grammar book does not make any difference between
quantifiers and distributives so they appear all together in this chapter. So after reading about
how they work, you will divide them into groups.

1. The following is the list of the most frequent quantifiers. Sort them out according to
the quantity they express: a big quantity or a small quantity or simply quantity (not
big, not small). You will need a dictionary for some of them because they are not
included in chapter 22 of the book

MANY – A LOT OF – A BIG NUMBER OF – PLENTY OF – FEW – MUCH – A FEW – LOTS OF –

LOADS OF – SEVERAL – LITTLE – FEWER - A GREAT DEAL OF – A SMALL AMOUNT OF – SOME -
ENOUGH – MOST - LESS – MASSES OF – MORE - ANY

A big number

A number:

A small number

2. Now in the three groups, divide them according to the type of noun they are used
with: countable or uncountable:
 With countable nouns:

BIG NUMBER

With uncountable nouns:

With countable nouns:

A NUMBER
With uncountable nouns

A With countable nouns:

SMALL NUMBER

With uncountable nouns:

THINGS TO PAY ATTENTION TO:

 There is no difference between a lot of – lots of

 Few and a few express a small amount but few indicates a small amount and
not enough (negative) and a few indicates a small amount but OK (positive)

 The same difference exists between little and a Little

 To express no quantity at all, you can use no and the verb must be affirmative.
The other possibility is to use any and the verb in the negative form.

 Many and a lot of express a big number but a lot of is used in affirmative
sentences and many in negative and interrogative. The exception is when
many is at the beginning of the sentence: e.g. Many people like this program.

 The same happens between much and a lot of

 Less and more are quantifiers when they are followed by a noun. Careful
because they can also be followed by adjectives to compare characteristics

 The use of too is to indicate excess. So too many people for example, indicates
that the number is not only big; it is excessive.

 Quite, rather and very intensify the idea of quantity. Very is more than quite
and rather has a negative implication.
 DISTRIBUTIVES

BOTH: indicates the two together. It is followed by a plural verb

Both men admire Sheila

NEITHER: speaks about two nouns but it is negative meaning not one, not the other. As it is a
negative word, the verb should be affirmative. The verb agrees with the second noun (plural if
it is plural or singular if it is singular

They were able to make contact with neither parent

EITHER: refers to two nouns, too but from the point of vie of alternatives (this one OR this one)
It is used in questions and negative statements. It is used with singular verbs.

They made no attempt to rescue either dog.

ALL: indicates the whole group of a certain type; it has a collective use Use a singular verb
when you are using an uncountable or singular noun and a plural verb when you are using a
plural noun.

All wine contains alcohol

NONE: refers to all the group but with a negative meaning (not any of all the elements). It is
used with a verb in the singular form

None of letters was for me.

EVERY: speaks about the whole group but emphasising an individual one-by-one point of view.
It is followed by a singular noun and a singular verb.

EACH: is the same as every but usually preferred when you are speaking about a group of two
elements. The verb that follows is singular.

They checked every/each table before the guests arrived

ANOTHER: emphasises that something is additional to an existing number or quantity.

Another is used with singular nouns

OTHER: is used to indicate the remaining elements in a group. It is used with plural nouns

One boy is here. Another boy is coming. The other two boys stayed at home.

USING QUANTIFIERS AND DISTRIBUTIVES WITH OTHER DETERMINERS

We generally don’t use quantifiers or distributives before or after other determiners.

However, all and both can immediately precede the or a possessive.

We can combine the following quantifiers:

Every + few I travel every few weeks

A few + more / less He needed a few more votes
We can also link quantifiers and distributives to nouns by using of the or of + possessive.

Give it to either of the children

Many of our friends came.
Now, you can do the activities in the book and check with the key.

HOMEWORK

 Decide on a building that you would like to describe. It can be an iconic building, a
monument or a house that you know.

 Prepare the outline for your description. Follow the model text you have about the
castle.

 I hope that by now I don’t need to see your outline before you write the description
but the outline should be ready before you start to write the description. All the
paragraphs must have a topic sentence with the controlling idea identified, support
and concluding idea.

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KEY TO THE EXERCISES IN LESSON 9

1. The following is the list of the most frequent quantifiers. Sort them out according
to the quantity they express

A big number:
many, a lot of, abig number of, plenty of, much, lots of, loads of, a great deal of , most,
masses of, more

A number:
some, several, any, a few, enough

A small number
few, little, fewer, a small amount of, less

2. Now in the three groups, divide them according to the type of noun they are
used with: countable or uncountable:

With countable nouns:

many, a lot of, a big number of, plenty of, lots of, loads of,
most, masses of, more
BIG NUMBER
With uncountable nouns:

a lot of, much, plenty of, lots of, a great deal of, loads of, most,
masses of, more

With countable nouns: some, several, enough, any

A NUMBER
With uncountable nouns: some, enough, any

With countable nouns:

few, fewer
SMALL NUMBER
With uncountable nouns:

little, a small amount of, less