84 Chapter 5 Nouns and noun phrasesfa inted or a young woman, for example, the first division is between the determiner
and the rest, with guy who fa inted and young woman each forming a nominal.
Simplified structures are as shown in [6]:
[6] a. NP b. NPA A
Determiner: Head: Determiner: Head:
Detenninative Nominal Detenninati ve Nominal� �
Head: Modifier: Modifier: Head:
Noun Relative clause Adjective NounI � I I
the guy whofainted a young womanHere the noun is head of the nominal, and not directly of the NP, but we will often
simplify by talking of NPs with various kinds of noun as head.Internal and external dependents
Dependents in the structure of the NP may be distinguished as internal or external,
according as they fall inside or outside the head nominal. Complements (with the
exception of the type discussed in §9.1) are always internal, and determiners are
always external. All the modifiers illustrated so far are internal, but there are also
external modifiers. Compare the following examples, where underlining marks the
dependent and brackets surround the head nominal:[7] COMPLEMENT internal
external
internal
externala [knowledge of Latin], the [idea that he liked it]
II DETERMINER these [old papers], some [people / met]
III MODIFIERSubclasses of noun
a [Qig dog], the [book I'm reading]
almost the [only survivor], even a [young woman]The three major subclasses of noun are pronouns, proper nouns, and common
nouns:[8] PRONOUNS
ii PROPER NOUNS
iii COMMON NOUNS/, me, my, mine, myself, you, he, she, it, who, what, ...
Kim, lones, Beethoven, Boston, Canada, Nile, Easter, ...
cat, day, furniture, window, fa ct, truth, perseverance, ...Pronouns constitute a fairly small class of words distinguished from other nouns
most clearly by their inability to combine with determiners (cf. *the me, *a
myself, etc.). The most central ones differ inflectionally from other nouns - e.g.
in having a contrast between nominative and accusative forms (l vs me, he vs
him, etc.).