Definition of noun phrase in US English:
noun phrase
nounˈnaʊn ˌfreɪzˈnoun ˌfrāz
Grammar A word or group of words that functions in a sentence as subject, object, or prepositional object.
Example sentencesExamples
- The subjects were given a pre-test on combining two sentences into one sentence containing a relative clause where either the subject, object, or object of a preposition was the relativized noun phrase.
- The grammar of this passage is interesting, too: an independent clause is followed by a noun phrase set off by a comma, i.e. a noun phrase appositive.
- In short, there is no doubt that the verb ‘to cause’ may take, as its grammatical subject, a noun phrase referring to a persisting object, either human or inanimate, quite as well as a noun phrase referring to a particular event.
- The English adverb is normally followed by a noun phrase.
- These criteria presuppose that we already have an understanding of ‘clause’, and of what it means for a noun phrase to function as ‘subject of a clause’.