NOUN PHRASE Postmodification

1
NOUN PHRASE Postmodification

Units functioning as postmodifiers:
Relative clauses: The house that they bought was rather expensive. NonNon-finite clauses: The girl waiting for you is Mary Marys sister. Prepositional phrase: the table in the corner Adjective phrase: The attorney, confident of victory, sued. Adverb phrase: The meeting yesterday was boring. Noun phrase: William the Conqueror mode mode qualifiers: lobster Newburg; steak Napoleon (usually expressions expressions from French cuisine to mark style).
Relative clauses
Relative clause is a type of embedded clause which modifies a Head Head Noun in the matrix clause. Three types of relative clauses: Restrictive (PoM): My friend who works in the library is here. NonNon-restrictive (PoM): My friend Peter Jones, who works in the library, is here. Sentential (SM): He admires Ms Brown, which is natural.
Functions of relative markers:

Subject: The house which has long been their home is now empty. Subject complement: He is not the driver (that) I thought him to be. Direct object: The woman that he loves is very attractive. whose as Premodifier or Determiner: This is the book whose cover is missing.
Object of preposition: The company for which he worked has closed. Indirect object: The doctor to whom she sent her. Adverbial: The place where they met was very misterious.
Gap in relative clauses and omission of relative pronoun:

Relative clauses always contain a gap, that is why the embedded clauses cannot stand alone. The gap within the relative clause is known as the relativized position, in English it can be any position that could contain a noun phrase. Relative pronoun can be omitted when it is a direct object but not not when it is an object of preposition, if preposition is fronted. When relative pronoun is a part of a noun phrase it cannot be deleted. deleted.
Appositive clause (nominal clause)
It always has an abstract factive noun and it is always the head of a Noun phrase. It explains the head of a Noun phrase It can also be restrictive and nonnon-restrictive E.g.: The fact that he came so late doesn doesnt surprise me. (restrictive) That crazy idea of his, that she would return, was funny to everybody. (non(non-restrictive)
8
Nominal appositive clauses can be transformed into verb structures, structures, e.g. - The belief that no one is perfect is widely accepted. - People believe that no one is perfect. Difference between Relative and Nom.appositive clauses: a. The fact that you told your mother about it surprised me. b. The fact that you told your mother about surprised me.
9
NonNon-finite clauses as postmodifiers

1. Postmodification by VV-ed clauses, e.g.
The only car repaired by that mechanic is mine. (restrictive) This substance, discovered almost by accident, revolutionized medicine. (non(non- restrictive).
10
2. Postmodification by VV-toto-inf. Clauses, e.g. The next train to arrive is from New York. such clauses may be separately introduced by the forfor- device, e.g. The man for John to consult is s Wilson. nonnon-restrictive postmodification is also possible: This last appeal, to come and visit him, was never delivered.
11
3. Postmodification by VV-ing clauses, e.g. The girl sitting in the corner is Mary Smith. some of them cannot be treated as reduced relative clauses as their their source is not progressive: e.g. He talked to the girl resembling Joan. (who resembles..) they can also be restrictive and nonnon-restrictive Non restrictive: Robert, hoping to finish college in three years, worked very hard.
12
Postmodification by prepositional phrases:

A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition followed by a prepositional prepositional complement or object of preposition. Object of preposition can be: a) Noun phrase: at the bus stop b) Ving clause: by signing peace treaty.. c) whwh-nominal clause: from what he said...
13
d) adverb/adjective (mainly in idioms): at once, before long, at worst, in brief..
prepositional phrase can also be an object of preposition: e.g. He crawled from under the table.
14
apart from simple prepositions which consist of one word, there are also complex prepositions which can consist of:
adverb/preposition + prepositions: as for, along with..... verb/adjective/conjunction + preposition: owing to, due to, because of.. preposition + noun + preposition: by means of, in case of ...
15
Syntactic function of prepositional phrases:

Postmodifiers Adjunct (adverbial): The people were singing on the bus. Disjunct: To my surprise, the doctor phoned. Conjunct: On the other hand, he made no attempt to help the victim.
16
Postmodifier in a noun phrase: The people on the bus were singing. Complementation of a verb: We depend on you. Complementation of an adjective: I am sorry for his parents. Subject: Between six and seven will suit me.
17
Exercise:
Please examine the following sentences, and work out: 1. what are the head nouns (the nouns being modified in the matrix clause) 2. what are the relative clauses 3. where is the relativized position (the gap) in each relative clause clause
18
a. That storm we had last night was amazing. b. I wouldn wouldnt want the job Lee applied for last week. c. The application forms that arrived yesterday look quite hard. d. Kim picked up a book Lee had left lying on the stairs.

NOUN PHRASE Postmodification

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

NOUN PHRASE Postmodification

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

NOUN PHRASE Postmodification

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

1

NOUN PHRASE Postmodification

Functions of relative markers:

Gap in relative clauses and omission of relative pronoun:

Appositive clause (nominal clause)

NonNon-finite clauses as postmodifiers

Postmodification by prepositional phrases:

d) adverb/adjective (mainly in idioms): at once, before long, at worst, in brief..

Syntactic function of prepositional phrases:

You might also like