Collins Cobuild

Unit 2
The noun group
Main points
Noun groups can be the subject, object, or complement of a verb,
or the object of a preposition.
Noun  groups  can  be  nouns  on  their  own,  but  often  include  other
words such as determiners, numbers, and adjectives.
Noun groups can also be pronouns.
Singular noun groups take singular verbs, plural noun groups take
plural verbs.
1
Noun groups are used to say which people or things you are talking
about. They can be the subject or object of a verb.
Strawberries are very expensive now.
Keith likes strawberries.
A noun group can also be the complement of a link verb such as ‘be’,
‘become’, ‘feel’, or ‘seem’.
She became champion in 1964
He seemed a nice man.
A noun group can be used after a preposition, and is often called the
object of the preposition.

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I saw him in town.
She was very ill for six months.
2
A noun group can be a noun on its own, but it often includes other
words. A noun group can have a determiner such as ‘the’ or ‘a’. You
put determiners at the beginning of the noun group.
The girls were not in the house.
He was eating an apple.
3
A noun group can include an adjective. You usually put the adjective
in front of the noun.
He was using blue ink.
I like living in a big city.
Sometimes you can use another noun in front of the noun.
I like chocolate cake.
She wanted a job in the oil industry.
A noun with ‘s (apostrophe s) is used in front of another noun to show
who or what something belongs to or is connected with.
I held Sheila’s hand very tightly.
He pressed a button on the ship’s radio.
4
A noun group can also have an adverbial, a relative clause, or a ‘to’-
infinitive clause after it, which makes it more precise.
I spoke to a girl in a dark grey dress.
She wrote to the man who employed me.
I was trying to think of a way to stop him.
A  common  adverbial  used  after  a  noun  is  a  prepositional  phrase
beginning with ‘of’.

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He tied the rope to a large block of stone.
The front door of the house was wide open.
I hated the idea of leaving him alone.