Noun

== Noun phrases ==
{{main|Noun phrase}}

A noun phrase (or '''NP''') is a phrase usually [[Head (linguistics)|headed]] by a common noun, a proper noun, or a pronoun. The head may be the only constituent, or it may be modified by [[determiner]]s and [[adjective]]s. For example, "The dog sat near Ms Curtis and wagged its tail" contains three NPs: ''the dog'' (subject of the verbs ''sat'' and ''wagged''); ''Ms Curtis'' (complement of the preposition ''near''); and ''its tail'' (object of ''wagged''). "You became their teacher" contains two NPs: ''you'' (subject of ''became''); and ''their teacher''.<ref group=note>In this position ''their teacher'' would be analysed variously under different linguistic theories. For example, some would classify it as a "predicate nominal over the subject" (as in the article [[Predicative expression]]); but all would agree that it is not an object since ''became'' is not [[Transitive verb|transitive]]. Traditionally, and very commonly in mainstream linguistic analysis, it is classified as a complement or ''predicative complement'' (PC); see extended treatment in Chapter&nbsp;4 ("The clause: complements") of Huddleston and Pullum (2002), pp.&nbsp;213–321: for example in §5.1 at p.&nbsp;253, where the NP ''a minister'' is taken as a PC in "Ed became <u>a minister</u>" contrasting with its role as an object (O) in "Ed attacked <u>a minister</u>".</ref>