UEfAP Nouns Grammar in EAPNouns and Nominal GroupsNominal Group A nominal group or nounbased phrase is typically a group with a noun as its Head. That noun is likely to be modified either before the noun (premodification) or after the noun (postmodification or qualification) or both Nominal groups typically function as as subject or object in a clause, but can also function as complements of preposaions in a prepositional phrase or as modifiers A typical structure is dmhq – determiner, modifier, head & qualifier. Written academic language uses nouns and nominal groups to a much greater extent than other word classes (Biber, 2006, p. 48, 137). It would therefore seem sensible for learners of EAP to concentrate on nouns and building nominal groups rather than verbs and verbal groups. Nominal groups include nominalisation Nominal groups (nounbased phrases): Grammar: Nominal Groups Noun Nouns are words such as “Smith”, “Oxford”, “letter”, “laughter” & “beauty”. They are defined partly by their form and partly by their position or function.There are several word endings that indicate that a word is a noun. Typical examples are “ity”, “ment”, “ness”, “tion”, & “hood”. They usually change their form (inflect) for plural: “s”, “es” With regard to their position, nouns frequently follow determiners “a”, “the”, “this”, “that” and their main function is Head of a nominal group. Nouns are often classified into common nouns, proper nouns and pronouns Written academic language uses nouns to a much greater extent than other word classes (Biber, 2006, p. 48) It would therefore seem sensible for EAP learners to concentrate on nouns and building nominal groups rather than verbs Articles A typical structure of a nominal group is dmhq – determiner, modifier, head & qualifier. An article is one important type of determiner Nominalisation Nominalisation is the process of forming a noun from some other word class. e.g. red + ness = redness. EAP uses a large number of nominalisations Plural In English nouns and verbs can be described as singular or plural, depending on the number of things being referred to. For example “report” is singular, “reports” is plural. Plural nouns are http://www.uefap.net/grammar/grammarineapnouns 1/3 common in academic writing (Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad & Finegan, 1999, p. 291292) Modification A nominal group consists of a head word which may be modified either before the head word (premodification) or after the head word (postmodification or qualification) or both Typical postmodifiers are: relative clause – students who have no previous experience toclauses – the solution to the problem of inflation, the question to be debated ingclauses – a brake consisting of a drum divided into twelve compartments edclauses – canoes preserved by a hard plaster, a brake consisting of a drum divided into twelve compartments, the curve shown prepositional phrase – we need to bring to the box a special tool with a readycompressed spring adverbial group – the road back, the people outside adjectival group – varieties common in India, the festival proper, something different According to Biber, Johansonn, Leech, Conrad & Finegan (1999, p. 606), nominal groups with post modifiers are common in written texts. The most common postmodifiers in academic texts are prepositional phrases, followed by relative clauses Postmodifiers can be either restrictive or nonrestictive. Overall, restrictive postmodifiers are more common (85%)in academic texts Complement clauses are common postmodifiers: Grammar: Postmodification Complement Clauses Typical premodifiers are: adjective – the constitutional aspects edparticiple – a balanced budget, from the confused events of 1924 August, the emitted light ingparticiple – growing problem, one striking feature of the years 192931, existing structures noun – market forces, cabinet appointments According to Biber, Johansonn, Leech, Conrad & Finegan (1999, p. 589), nominal groups with pre modifiers are three to four times more common in written texts than in conversation. Adjectives and nouns are the most common premodifiers in academic texts Participles are used for both preand postmodification: Grammar: Participles Adjectives & Adjectival Groups Adjectives and adjectival groups are commonly used in academic texts as pre or post modifiers in nominal groups. (Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad & Finegan, 1999, p. 506) For example: premodification – the constitutional aspects postmodification – varieties common in India, the festival proper, something different http://www.uefap.net/grammar/grammarineapnouns 2/3 Prepositional Phrases Prepositions are words such as: "up", "on", "in", or "over". A prepositional phrase is a preposition followed by a nominal group "in the laboratory" A prepositional phrase is a typlcal postmodifier http://www.uefap.net/grammar/grammarineapnouns 3/3