Editing Noun phrase (section)

==Components==
A typical noun phrase consists of a noun (the [[head (linguistics)|head]] of the phrase) together with zero or more dependents of various types. (These dependents, since they modify a noun, are called ''adnominal''.) The chief types of these dependents are:
*[[determiner (linguistics)|determiner]]s, such as ''the'', ''this'', ''my'', ''some'', ''Jane's''
*[[attributive adjective]]s, such as ''large'', ''beautiful'', ''sweeter''
*[[adjective phrase]]s and [[participial phrase]]s, such as ''extremely large'', ''hard as nails'', ''made of wood'', ''sitting on the step''
* [[noun adjunct]]s, such as ''college'' in the noun phrase ''a college student''
* nouns in certain [[oblique case]]s, in languages which have them, such as [[German grammar|German]] ''des Mannes'' ("of the man"; [[genitive]] form)
*[[prepositional phrase]]s, such as ''in the drawing room'', ''of his aunt''
*adnominal [[adverb]]s and [[adverbial]]s, such as ''(over) there'' in the noun phrase ''the man (over) there''
*[[relative clause]]s, such as ''which we noticed''
*other [[clause]]s serving as complements to the noun, such as ''that God exists'' in the noun phrase ''the belief that God exists''
*[[infinitive phrase]]s, such as ''to sing well'' and ''to beat'' in the noun phrases ''a desire to sing well'' and ''the man to beat''

The allowability, form and position of these elements depend on the syntax of the language in question. In English, determiners, adjectives (and some adjective phrases) and noun modifiers precede the head noun, whereas the heavier units – phrases and clauses – generally follow it. This is part of a strong tendency in English to place heavier constituents to the right, making English more of a [[head-initial]] language. Head-final languages (e.g. [[Japanese language|Japanese]] and [[Turkish language|Turkish]]) are more likely to place all modifiers before the head noun. Other languages, such as [[French language|French]], often place even single-word adjectives after the noun.

Noun phrases can take different forms than that described above, for example when the head is a pronoun rather than a noun, or when elements are linked with a [[coordinating conjunction]] such as ''and'', ''or'', ''but''. For more information about the structure of noun phrases in English, see {{slink|English grammar|Phrases}}.