Longman
Cap.9
Complex noun phrases
The basic noun phrase, can be expanded with noun modifiers. Premodifiers, like attributive adjectives,
occur before the head noun. Postmodifiers, like relative clauses, occur following the head noun. In total,
noun phrases can be composed of four major components: determiner+ premodifiers+ head noun +
postmodifiers. All noun phrases include a head, while determiners, premodifiers and postmodifiers are
optional.
A noun head can have a pronoun as the head instead as a noun. Anyway, pronoun-headed phrases usually
don’t include a determiner or premodifiers, but they may have postmodifiers.
Ex. Anyone who is willing to listen (pronoun +postmodifier)
Noun phrases can be expanded in many ways and often involve both premodifiers and postmodifiers. As a
result, noun phrases are often structurally complex, especially in written discourse.
Ex. The latest problem for the government-is- increasing competition for mobile cellular ecc.
(determiner+premodifier+headnoun+postmodifier/premodifier+headnoun+postmodifier)
So there are different levels of embedding within noun phrases.
There are several different types of premodifiers and postmodifiers. Premodifiers include:
Adjectives premodifiers;
Participial premodifiers;
Other nouns premodifiers.
There are also different types of postmodifiers including clauses and phrases