Grammar for ielts fiona Aish & Jo Tomlinson ■L& 11

NOUN 
+ prepositional phrase + relative clause
The recent 
increase 
of fem ale graduates who have studied technical subjects...
The =
d e te rm in e r /
recent =
adjective /
increase = noun 
/
in female graduates =
prepositional 
phrase /
who have studied technical subjects 
= relative clause
Noun phrases can contain one, some or a ll of these parts.
It is im po rta n t to notice where the noun phrase begins and ends in a sentence to help you 
understand what the sentence means. The way to do this is to find the verb in the sentence; 
everything before the verb is the subject noun phrase and everything that comes a fte r the verb is 
the object noun phrase.
The recent increase in fem ale graduates who have studied technical subjects has changed the 
m odern job m arket.
(noun phrase & subject) + (verb in the sin g u la r form because it agrees w ith 
increase) +
(noun 
phrase & object]
The/an + general noun + specific noun
The general noun describes the category and the specific noun te lls us more about the category.
the developm ent of scientific analysis
the pattern of m arriage statistics
an approach of prim a ry school teachers
the num ber of male arts students
Relative clauses
The relative clause provides details which focuses the subject/noun. In the phrase 
the men who
make the operational decisions 
we know exactly w hich group of men.
the experts who advised the governm ent 
figures that support the doctors’ claim s
Multiple nouns
Some noun phrases are composed of a series of two o r more nouns. In the noun phrase 
female
business owners 
a ll the words are nouns w hich together form one specific meaning.
com m unity support w orkers
women governm ent officials