Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Û

539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

The noun phrase | 321

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Plurals

Some countable compound nouns do not form plurals in entirely regular ways.

The most common plural form is made by adding -s. So the plurals of lay-by and

take-over

are lay-bys and take-overs. 

In certain noun + adverb/prepositional phrase combinations, the plural -s is

usually added to the noun. So the plural of mother-in-law is mothers-in-law,

commander-in-chief

has the plural commanders-in-chief, and passer-by has the

plural passers-by. However, occasionally, plurals of some of these compounds

may be attached to the final item of the compound, especially in informal speech:

I’ve got two brother-in-law

s.

Pronoun heads

168c

A pronoun may act as the head of a noun phrase. The pronoun may be a personal,

possessive or demonstrative pronoun:

She hates me.

It happens all the time.

I’ll take that.

Is 

this yours?

Determiners,_modifiers_and_complements__169a'>DEPENDENT ELEMENTS 

169

Determiners, modifiers and complements

169a

A noun acting as the head of a noun phrase is often accompanied by one or more

dependent elements, before and/or after the head. Pronoun heads are only rarely

accompanied by other elements.

Noun heads may have three types of dependent element: determiners,

modifiers and complements. 

Determiners

Determiners indicate the type of reference made by the noun phrase (e.g. definite,

indefinite, possessive) (

Û

176–196 Nouns and determiners

). Examples of

determiners:

The tall woman

(definite reference)

My old school

(possessive reference)

That person

(demonstrative reference)

322 | The noun phrase

Cambridge Grammar of English

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Modifiers

Modifiers indicate qualities and attributes of the noun head (e.g. subjective

qualities, physical attributes such as size, colour, material, location in space and

time, restricted reference to a particular entity). Examples of modifiers:

those 

big boxes in the garage

a

little red lever which controls the temperature

Complements

Complements complete the meaning of the noun head. For example, nouns such

as fact, claim, suggestion, idea, thought, statement are always ‘about something’

and the complement completes the necessary information. Examples of

complements (in green):

the 

fact

that he was no longer a little boy

an American expert’s 

claim

that the monsters were wiped out after a massive

meteorite created devastating climatic changes 65 million years ago

the 

body

of a young man