English Syntax

Head & Modifier

 A modifier’s meaning serves to broaden,
qualify, select, change, describe, or
effect the meaning of the head.

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Noun as Head & Adjective as
Modifier
Adjective (the most common noun modifier)
 Before Noun (almost always) or between the
noun-determiner and noun: intense
concentration & his cheerful smile
 After Noun (very rarely)
- In certain fixed phrases: grace abounding &
darkness visible
- Adjective is part of a larger structure that as
a whole acts as a noun-determiner: a wish
intense beyond belief & a man taller than I
thought

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Noun as Head & Noun as
Modifier
 Before Noun
- Possessive construction: my father’s
house & that woman’s doctor
- Noun-adjunct construction: that father
image & that woman doctor

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Noun as Head & Noun as
Modifier cont’
 Appositive (after noun)
- May have a noun-determiner: his
brother, a doctor, was there too
- Close appositive (two nouns together):
the disease poliomyelitis (appositive)
the disease germ (noun-adjunct)
the product cellophane (appositive)
the product control (noun-adjunct)

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Noun as Head & Verb as
Modifier
Verbs are nearly always marked in one of
three ways
1. By present-participle inflection {-ing}
2. By past participle inflection {-ed}, or
3. By the infinitive-marker to

 Before Noun: running water, baked

potatoes
 After Noun: water running in the street,
potatoes baked slowly, money to burn

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Noun as Head & Verb as
Modifier Cont’
 A pleasing table (-ing adj)
We can put ‘very’ before pleasing and
we cannot place pleasing after table.
 A rotting table (-ing verb)
we can move rotting after table.
 A dining table (-ing noun)
we can neither put ‘very’ before dining
nor move it after table.

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Noun as Head & Adverb as
Modifier
 Always after Noun
The people here
Heavens above
Europe now
His speaking rapidly

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Prepositions
 Simple P: only one base with a single
morpheme (after/in/up), two morphemes
(before/until/toward), three morphemes
(against/considering/regarding)
 Compound P: two or more free bases
(along with/out of/without)
 Phrasal P: three = simple p + a noun +
another simple p (in regard to/in front of/
on behalf of)

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Pattern of Noun-Modifiers
1. Noun (head): rate
2. noun-adjunct: birth rate
3. Adjective: high birth rate
4. PP: high birth rate in America
5. Adverb: high birth rate in America today
6. Noun determiner: the high birth rate in
America today

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Verb as Head
 Adverb after verb:
he works successfully
he step inside
 Adverb before verb:
he successfully tried
 Adverb between auxiliary and verb or
between two auxiliaries:
he has sometimes seen
he has seldom been heard
it may even rain
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Verb as Head
 Nouns as modifiers of verbs, follow the
verb and may have noun-determiners:
he walks this way
he saw a mile

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Verb as Head
 Adjectives as modifiers of intransitive
verbs: the children ran wild
the dog went crazy

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Verb as Head
 Verbs as modifiers of verbs
- Present participle:
the children came running
- The infinitive (to – base form):
they live to eat

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Verb as Head
 Prepositional phrases as modifiers:
he spoke about his work

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Adjective as Head
 Qualifiers (very, rather, etc) as modifiers:
very good
 Adverbs as modifiers:
the widely famous singer
 Nouns as modifiers: stone cold coffee
 Verbs as modifiers: boiling hot, tight shut
 Prepositional p as modifiers:
green as grass, stronger than ever

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Adverbs as Head
Adverbs modifiers are:
 Qualifiers: very easily
 Adverbs: far away
 Nouns: that easily
 Prepositional P: away for a week

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Function words as Head
 Qualifiers: rather too strong

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