Complex Noun Phrases: Authentic Text Examples

Most academic or journalistic texts are quite dense with complex noun phrases. The reason for this is that they can present a lot of information in a few words. The examples shown in previous pages were chosen from real texts but each one was chosen to exemplify one particular aspect of noun phrase modification. The following examples are also from real texts, but they have been chosen to show how various types of noun modification are commonly used in such texts. Each example demonstrates more than one type of modification (both premodification See the glossary definition and postmodification See the glossary definition ).

Each example highlights various aspects of noun phrase modification along with an explanation. Click in each textbox to start and to cycle through each animation.

• Example 1

  Premodification: adjective
  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, ing-clause

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• Example 2

  Premodification: noun, adjective
  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, ed-clause

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• Example 3

  Premodification: adjective, compound noun
  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, ing-clause, appositive noun phrase, to-clause

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• Example 4

  Premodification: adjective
  Postmodification: prepositional phrase

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• Example 5

  Postmodification: relative clause

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• Example 6

  Postmodification: relative clause

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• Example 7

  Premodification: adjective
  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, ing-clause, appositive noun phrase,

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• Example 8

  Premodification: adjective
  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, ing-clause, appositive noun phrase, noun complement clause

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• Example 9

  Premodification: noun, adjective
  Postmodification: ing-clause, relative clause, prepositional phrase

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• Example 10

  Premodification: ed-participle, adjective, ing-participle, noun
  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, ed-clause

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• Example 11

  Premodification: ed-participle, adjective, noun
  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, relative clause

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• Example 12

  Premodification: ed-participle, adjective, noun
  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, ed-clause

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• Example 13

  Premodification: ed-participle, adjective, ing-participle, noun
  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, ing-clause

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• Example 14

  Premodification: adjective
  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, appositive noun phrase

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• Example 15

  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, relative clause, appositive noun phrase

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• Example 16

  Premodification: adjective, noun
  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, ed-clause

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• Example 17

  Premodification: noun
  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, to-clause

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• Example 18

  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, ing-clause

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• Example 19

  Premodification: adjective
  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, ing-clause, ed-clause

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• Example 20

  Premodification: adjective, noun
  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, ed-clause, ing-clause

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• Example 21

  Premodification: noun, adjective
  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, appositive noun phrase

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• Example 22

  Premodification: noun, adjective
  Postmodification: relative clause, prepositional phrase

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• Example 23

  Premodification: adjective, noun ing-participle
  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, ed-clause

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• Example 24

  Premodification: determiner See the glossary definition
  Postmodification: prepositional phrase, ing-clause

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