004 NOUN PHRASES

Noun Phrases

1. What are noun phrases?Phrases which do the work of a noun are 'noun phrases'.

2. How to recognise a noun phrase in a sentence?We use nouns either as subjects or objects in a sentence. Noun phrases also do the work of a 'subject' or an 'object'.

3. How to recognise a subject?a) The thing about which / person about whom the sentence is speaking is the subject.
b) Most sentences start with subjects.
c) Subjects tend to be doers of actions.

4. How to recognise an object?a) The objects follow transitive verbs.
b) We can ask a question like 'what, whom, which etc.' on a transitive verb.

E.g. : An entangled fish has to die.
PARSING
'An entangled fish' is the subject.
'Has' is the verb.
Has what?
'To die' is the object. It is a noun.
'To' + verb is called 'to infinitive'. 'To infinitives' can be used as nouns. There are two words in a 'to-infinitive'. Hence, we can treat a to-infinitive as a noun phrase.

Another example:

It is lawful for women and children to discharge offices by proxy.
We, now, question: What is lawful? "To discharge offices by proxy" is lawful. Thus, "To discharge offices by proxy" is a Noun-phrase.