30 An N-bar can be replaced by the pro-N-bar, one, as shown in the NPs consisting
of Attribute + Head. 16.i 1. Which student? The high quality one.
2. Which high quality student? This one. However, in Complement + Head, the proformed one can only occur as 16j.1.
16.j 1. Which Physics student? That one. 2. Which student? The Physics one.
In addition, Radford 1988 explains that prenominal NPs have close
relation to postnominal PPs p. 204. Postnominal PP complements in 1 have prenominal NP complement counterparts as shown in the examples 2.
16.k 1. the ban on pornography 2. the pornography ban
16.l 1. damage to the brain 2. brain damage
Radford, 1988, p. 204-205 The relation also occurs between postnominal PP adjuncts and prenominal NP
attributes. It is presented below. 16.m 1. the shop on the corner
2. the corner shop 16.n 1. the bridge over the river
2. the river bridge Radford, 1988, p. 205
In addition to nominal premodifiers and postmodifiers, Radford 1988 states that they have an important difference. The NP in the postmodifier can be
positioned to precede the head in the premodifier, as shown in 16o. 16.o 1. a lover of classical music
2. a classical music lover Radford, 1988, p. 207
31 However, the rule cannot exist in an NP in which both the N head and the N in the
PP postmodifier by of employ determiners, as shown in 16p. 16.p 1. a lover of the opera
2. a the opera lover Example 16p.2 is not grammatical due to the use of indefinite and definite
articles at the same time in the determiner position. The possible and correct alternative of premodification of example 16p.1 will be
„an opera lover‟.
2. Adjectival Premodifier
Besides being modified by nominal premodifiers, an NP is modified by adjectival premodifiers. Adjectives function as attributes in an NP. Because
attributes can be stacked on top of each other, an NP can be modified by some APs, as examples in 17a show.
17.a 1. a beautiful girl 2. a tall beautiful girl
3. a slim tall beautiful girl
Each of the NP can be proformed by the pro-N-bar, one, as presented below. 17.b 1. Which girl? The beautiful one.
2. Which beautiful girl? The tall one. 3. Which tall beautiful girl? The slim one.
4. Which slim tall beautiful girl? This one.
Sometimes ambiguity occurs in an NP, shown by example 17c, in which the modifier may function as an NP or AP.
17.c an English teacher It can be interpreted as:
17.d 1. someone who teaches English English as N 2. a teacher who is English English as ADJ
32 In order to see the distinction of „English‟ functioning as an N and an ADJ, the
phrase can be expanded as the following. 17.e 1. an [Old English] teacher
2. a [very English] teacher It is clear that „English‟ can function as either an N or an ADJ. When it functions
as an N, it becomes a complement, while as an ADJ, it becomes an adjunct.
Figure 2.6 Complement + Noun Head Figure 2.7 Attribute + Noun Head
e. Multiple Premodification in English Noun Phrase
The multiple modification also exists in a premodification. An ADJ or an N premodifier can be premodified by other ADJs or Ns.
18.a 1. income tax office furniture 2. overseas income tax office furniture
3. expensive overseas income tax office furniture
The same premodifier in different NPs can result different meanings to the whole NPs.
18.b 1. the food price rise warning system 2. the voluntary price rise warning system
The premodifiers „food‟ and „voluntary‟ give different meanings to the two NPs,
although structurally they look the same. The NP in 18b.1 means a system for warning against rises in the price of food. By contrast, the second NP in 18b.2
33 means a system that is voluntary for warning against rises in prices Quirk et al.,
1985, p. 1343. In short, the word „voluntary‟ modify the noun head „system‟, but
the word „food‟ directly modifies the premodifier „price‟.
3. Prenominal Genitive ‘s versus Postnominal of-construction
There are two syntactic devices in ENPs to indicate possession. One is by the genitive inflection
‘s, or known as a Saxon genitive, and the other one is by the of-phrase. Although they share the same meaning, Quirk et al. 1985 explain
the difference between the two constructions. The genitive construction consists of two NPs. The first NP shows the genitive case by the inflection
‘s, while the second is the superordinate phrase in which the genitive NP is embedded with a
determinative function. The determinative function means that the genitive NP, by inflection
‘s, functions the same as the determiners, like the p. 1276.
19.a 1. the book
2.
the student’s book
Compared to the genitive construction, the superordinate phrase in the of- construction precedes the NP that is introduced by of. Structurally, the difference
between the genitive and of-construction, in which N
2
is the superordinate phrase or the noun head, is shown as:
Genitive: N
1
‘s N
2
of-phrase: N
2
of N
1
19.b 1. the first grade student‟s English book
2. the English book of the first grade student Quirk et al. 1985 also explain five factors influencing the choice between
the genitive and of-phrase constructions. Those are lexical factors, relational
