Phrasesd. a rock quarry
e. many such steamy scenes
More complex NPs: phrasal premodifiers
Multiple one-word premodifiers cause little trouble for students. But phrasal
prenominal modifiers are more complicated. Table 5 presents some major
types. (We deal with verbal phrases in our chapter on Multi-Clause Sentences.)
form of premodifier example
Genitive NP (GenNP) This friend’s hobby is knitting.
Adjective phrase (AP) Very old memories return easily.
Verbal phrase (VblP) Carelessly organized meetings annoy everyone.
table 5: phrasal premodifiers
Phrasal premodifiers can be expanded, adding greater complexity to the
structure. Moreover, genitive NPs and APs readily combine with other struc-
tures to create heavily premodified NPs:
(36) a. My friend’s hobby is interesting.
(GenNP my friend’s modifies hobby; genitive pronoun
(GenNP) my modifies friend.)
b. All my friend’s hobbies are interesting.
(GenNP my friend’s modifies hobbies; my modifies friend; all
modifies my friend’s hobbies)
c. All my friends’ very old plates (three premodifiers: quantifier all;
Gen NP with genitive premodifier my friends’; AP with intensi-
fier very old)
d. Those very old counterfeiting plates belonged to Capone.
(three premodifiers: demonstrative those; AP with intensifier
very old; verbal phrase counterfeiting)Exercise
Describe the meaning difference between (36b) and All my friends’
hobbies are interesting. Note the positions of the apostrophes.