Traditional grammars define nouns as words that refer to people, places, things, and ideas. A noun phrase is a phrase that consists of a noun functioning as the phrase head plus any modifiers, complements, or determiners. A subcategory of nouns, pronouns are words that take the place of nouns and noun phrases.
In grammar, a noun phrase modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that modifies or describes a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase. Nouns often function as noun phrase modifiers to describe other nouns in English. Examples of nouns and noun phrases as noun phrase modifiers include the following:
- My toddler daughter is quite mischievous. (noun)
- Please bring me a clean water jug. (noun)
- Ameda makes a fine breast pump. (noun)
- Grandma installed a baby gate system throughout her house. (noun phrase)
- The hotel room bathroom is disgusting. (noun phrase)
- My husband and I are shopping for a new dining room table. (noun phrase)
Noun as Noun Phrase Modifier
Noun Phrase as Noun Phrase Modifier
References
Brinton, Laurel J. & Donna M. Brinton. 2010. The linguistic structure of Modern English, 2nd edn. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Hopper, Paul J. 1999. A short course in grammar. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Huddleston, Rodney. 1984. Introduction to the grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.