A noun group is a unit used as a noun in English, consisting of a head, premodifiers, and postmodifiers. The order of words conveys meaning through rank-shifting. Noun groups are used throughout sentences and can be joined together.
A noun group is a grammatical unit or group that can be used as a noun in the English language. A noun is typically surrounded by other words that describe or reflect the noun’s character, making up a noun phrase. An example of a noun phrase would be “the cute bunny on the table” where “bunny” is the noun.
A nominal group consists of three different functional elements. The first element is the interpersonal, i.e. how the use of the clause affects the interaction between two speakers, i.e. a reader and a writer. The second is the ideative, which is the meaning of the clause. The third element is the textual, i.e. the structure of the words within the clause, as well as the placement of the clause in the surrounding text. These functional elements work together to create the general meaning of the clause.
When used as a noun, a noun group could be used in a sentence. The noun group or unit must be attached to a determiner, such as “the” or “every” for it to work in a clause or in the main part of a sentence. The name in the group is called the head. All descriptive words in the group that precede the noun are called premodifiers. Descriptive words following the noun in the group are called postmodifiers. Because of their use as noun phrases, some people might use the term noun group as a synonym for noun phrases.
The order of words in a noun group conveys meaning, which is different from the meaning of individual words. Premodifiers in a group describe the head of the group at the highest ranking position in the group. Postmodifiers in a nominal group are then placed in a lower rank. This classification of words describing the head into a group is called rank-shifting. English speakers naturally also place words describing more permanent attributes of the head closer to the location of the head, with less permanent descriptive words taking up residence near the start or end of the cluster.
The English language makes constant use of noun groups. Such clauses are easily used in a variety of situations and at the beginning, middle and end of sentences. In fact, some sentences are made up of two or more noun groups placed together. For example, the sentence “what you look for in a car is the feel of the seats” is made up of two noun groups that are joined together by the word “is”.
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