Noun Phrase

What is Noun?

• Noun is a word that names a person, animal, place, thing, idea, or concept, or anything considered as noun

Note

• There are more nouns in the English Language than any other kind of words.

See the Noun examples

• Persons: girl, boy, instructor, student, Mr. Smith, Peter, president 
• Animals: dog, cat, shark, hamster, fish, bear, flea 
• Places: gym, store, school, Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota, village, Europe
• Things: computer, pen, notebook, mailbox, bush, tree, cornflakes 
• Ideas: liberty, panic, attention, knowledge, compassion, worship

The Functions of Nouns in Sentences

• Subject of the sentence 
• Predicate Noun (also Predicate Nominative or Subjective Complement)
• Appositive (noun in apposition) 
• Direct object of a verb 
• Indirect object of a verb 
• Object of the preposition 
• Object Complement (Objective Complement)

Gerunds can also be classified as noun
For example:

• I like swimming 
• The word ‘swimming’ is a gerund

Phrase

• A phrase is a group of related words that lacks both a subject and a predicate. Because it lacks a subject and a predicate it cannot act as a sentence.

Noun Phrase

• A noun phrase consists of a pronoun or noun with any associated modifiers, including adjectives, adjective phrases, and other nouns in the possessive case. 
• Like a noun, a noun phrase can act as a subject, as the object of a verb or verbal, as a subject or object complement, or as the object of a preposition, as in the following examples: 
• subject
• Small children often insist that they can do it by themselves.

• More examples: 
• object of a verb 
• They have found Eugene's goal.

• object of a preposition
• The arctic explorers were caught unawares by the spring break up.

• subject complement 
• Frankenstein is the name of the scientist not the monster. 

• object complement 
• I consider Loki my favourite cat.