The English Language english language

Phrases

This tree is generated by the PSR:

(23) b. NP ——> Nominal

We can read this as saying that an NP consists of any kind of nominal.

More complex NPs

We begin this section by presenting two very general functional formulas
for NPs. We give these two because it would be confusing to combine them
into a single formula.

(24) a. (Premodifier*) + HEAD + (Postmodifier*)

(Asterisks denote elements that may appear more than once.)

b. (Complement) + HEAD + (Complement)

Formula (24a) states that a noun phrase must contain a head word
(which, of course, must be a nominal) but need not contain anything else.
If the NP has more elements than the head, it may contain one or more pre-
modifiers (modifiers that precede the head) and/or one or more postmodi-
fiers (modifiers that follow the head). This formula thus abbreviates several
possibilities:

(25) a. Head
b. Premodifier(s) + head
c. Head + postmodifier(s)
d. Premodifiers(s) + head + postmodifiers(s)

Formula (24b) states that a noun phrase must contain a head, which may
be preceded or followed by a complement. It also abbreviates several pos-
sibilities:

(26) a. Head
b. Complement + Head
c. Head + Complement
d. Complement + Head + Complement

We will deal with these possibilities in sequence.