the basic noun phrase in news headlines

Noun phrases often function as verb subjects and objects, as predicative expressions, and as the complements of prepositions.” Wikipedia “The noun phrase typically functions as subject,

THE BASIC NOUN PHRASE IN NEWS HEADLINES

I Definitions

1 News Headline

“News is information about current events This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, and also on the testimony of observers and witnesses to events

It is also used as a platform to manufacture opinion for the population.”

(Wikipedia)

“News is information that is punlished in newspapers and broadcast on radio and television about recent events in the country or world or in a particular area of activity.”

(Collins Dictionary)

➢ In conclusion, a news headline is a very short summary of a news report, which is printed in large letters at the top of story, quickly and briefly draw the content of the main news story of the day

2 The basic noun phrase

“A noun phrase is a phrase which has a noun (or pronoun) as its head word,

or which performs the same grammatical function as such a phrase Noun

phrases often function as verb subjects and objects, as predicative expressions, and as the complements of prepositions.”

(Wikipedia)

“The noun phrase typically functions as subject, object, complement of

sentences, and as complement in prepositional phrase.”

(Randolph Quirk, “A University Grammar of English”)

➢ In conclusion, a noun phrase is a group of word with a noun or a pronoun

as its head and other constituents as modifiers

➢ The basic noun phrase is a phrase which has a noun as its head and other constituents as determiners

(3) “These companies really, really, really want to freeze your eggs”

(The New York Times)

II Features of the basic noun phrase

1 Elements

1.1 Head noun

Nouns are words that name people, places, things or ideas

Noun is the most meaningful part of a noun phrase

Noun is a obligatory constituent and the head of the noun phrase

A head noun is the main noun that is modified by other elements (determiners) in

(2) “The last two video-game fads show off a DIY ethic.”

Det Post-det head

(4) “The race is on to dominate quantum computing”

(6) “The world’s three biggest makers hit a snag”

Det post-det head

(The Economist)

(7) “Germany’s two biggest utilities strike a deal”

Det post-det head

(The Economist)

(8) “All the buzz at AI’s big shindig”

Pre-det det head

In grammar, determiner is a word that is used before a noun to show which particular example of the noun you are referring to

Fraction One-third, two-fifth,

Determiners

Another

type All, half, both

Both of them Half my cake

Example:

“Smarter Not Harder: How to double your output in half the time

pre-det det head

(Business.com) Exercise: Find the pre-determiners and the head in the sentence below:

“Double duty for Jack Dorsey: Is it possible to successfully run two companies?”

(Business.com)

1.2.2 Central determiners

Traditionally, the determiner which appears in the middle is called a central

determiner, the one in front a pre-determiner and the one following a

post-determiner

(Cambridge Dictionary)

Possessive: In grammar, a possessive word, form, etc shows who or what

Articles are among the most common of the determiners

A, an, and the all express the definiteness and specificity of a noun

Demonstratives:

these, that, this, those

Some, any, each, either, every…

Definite article head

(Business.com)

(2) “How Starting a business is similar to starting a marriage”

indefinite article head

(Business.com)

Demonstratives:

- In grammar, it shows which person or thing is being referred to

- That, this, these, those are three types of demonstratives

(The New York Times)

(2) "Hidden Business Gems for the every entrepreneur

PreD CenD Head

(Business.com)

1.2.3 Post-determiners

Traditionally, this group of quantifiers are known as post-determiners as

they always follow other determiners (which are sometimes called central

determiners)

Cardinal numerals: apart from one which can co-occur only with singular count

nouns, all cardinal numerals (two, three, ) co-occur only with plural count

nouns

Examples:

(1) “The twofactors influencing online sales: trust and authority”

Cen-det Post-det Head

Opened-system quantifiers

(Business)

Ordinal numerals: In addition to the ordinals which have one-for-one relation

with the cardinals (fourth- four, twentieth- twenty), we consider here items like

next, last, (an) other, additional, which resemble them grammatically and

semantically Ordinal numerals, except first, co-occur only with count nouns

Examples:

(1) “How Vivaldi used feedback to get 700,000 downloads in their first two weeks

Det post-det head

(Business)

(2) “Be prepared: make paying ransomware the last resort”

(Business)

Close-system quantifiers

- Before count Ns: many, a(few), several

- Before non-count Ns: much, (a) little

Example:

“A few words about coaches”

Det Post-det Head

(Business)

Open-system quantifiers:

- Include: plenty of, a lot of, lots of, a great of, a large of, etc

- Verbs have number concord with the second nouns, not the quality nouns ( lot,

deal, lost, plenty, etc)

Example:

“Leadership means lots of massages”

Post-det Head

(Business)

Exercise 1 Identify the elements of each noun phrase in these sentences below:

1 (Many buildings) were destroyed in the earthquake

2 (All her colleagues) are married

3 Did you know (both his brother) had emigrated to New Zealand?

4 For years (the house) had no electricity

5 He did it in (one-third (of) the time) it took me

6 He published (his first two novels)

7 There was (a lot of food) on the table

KEY:

1 (Many buildings) were destroyed in the earthquake

Cen-det head

2 (All her colleagues) are married

Pre-det cen-det head

3 Did you know (both his brother) had emigrated to New Zealand?

Pre-det cen-det head

4 For years (the house) had no electricity

Cen-det head

5 He did it in (one-third (of) the time) it took me

Pre-det cen-det head

6 He published (his first two novels)

Cen-det post-det head

7 There was (a lot of food) on the table

Examples:

(1) “Many results are shaky in microeconomics.”

(The Economist, July 2018)

(2) “The two biggest factors Influencing Online Sales: Trust and Authority”

(Business Insider, June 2018)

2.2 Subject Complement

Noun phrases secondly function as subject complements A subject

complement is a word, phrase, or clause that follows a copular verb and describes the subject Copular verbs are also called linking and state-of-being verbs and include verbs like be, become, and seem

Examples:

(1) “Leadership means lots of massages.”

(Business)

(2) “Entrepreneurship is lots of hard work”

(Business Insider, April 2018)

(1) “Vingroup and NAPAS offer a promotion for Vinmart”

(Vietnam News August 2018)

(2) “FWD celebrates the 5th anniversary”

(Vietnam News July 2018)

2.4 Object Complement

Similar to subject complements, nouns and noun phrases can function as object complements An object complement is a word, phrase, or clause that directly follows and describes the direct object

(1) “Dutch government lends the government 11.9 billion euros”

(Centraal Bureal voor Statistiek, Feb 2018)

(2) “Facebook's CEO and wife give their foundation 99 percent of shares”

(Thanh Nien News, May 2018)

2.6 Prepositional Complement

Noun phrases function as prepositional complements A prepositional

complement is a word, phrase, or clause that directly follows the preposition in a prepositional phrase Prepositional complements are also called complements of prepositions and objects of prepositions

2.7 Noun Phrase Modifier

Although adjectives are traditionally defined as words that describe nouns, nouns and noun phrases can function as noun phrase modifiers A noun phrase modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that describes another noun or noun

phrase

Examples:

(1) Two Trade Wars Worries Iowa Republicans in a Close House Race

(The New York Times Aug.17, 2018)

(2) Many Commerce secretaries face scrutiny for investments, not selling certain

holdings

(The Washington Post Aug.17, 2018)

(3) Every fare rises enrages rail commuters 'in this terrible mess'

(The Guardian Aug.15, 2018)

2.8 Determinatives

Like other determiners, noun phrases can also function as determinatives A determinative is a noun or noun phrase plus the possessive clitic (apostrophe s

or s apostrophe) that indicates possession of or some other relationship to

another noun or noun phrase

Examples:

(1) Google Incorporation's New Office Complex Will Use a Massive Heat

Pump Instead of Fuel

(Fortune Jan.25, 2018)

(2) US Army’s future missile defense battle manager put to test in multidomain

ops

(Defense News Aug.16, 2018)

Noun phrases functioning as determinatives can simultaneously function as subject complements

Examples:

(1) More than half of the works in France's Terrus Museum is not the country’s

(National Graphic July 12, 2018)

(2) The strange gun found in Yellowstone Park is a guardian’s

(BBC News April 25, 2018)

2.9 Appositive

Noun phrases also function as appositives An appositive is a word, phrase,

or clause that modifies or explains another noun or noun phrase

Examples:

(1) Apple, Iphone X’s producer, reveals its future plans

(The Wall Street Journal July 9, 2018)

(2) Stephen Hawking, 21 st century’s physicist, dies aged 76

(The Guardian March 14, 2018)

(3) Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, passes away

(The Hindu Jan.29, 2018)

2.10 Adverbial

Finally, nouns and noun phrases can function as adverbials An adverbial is a word, phrase, or clause that describes an entire clause by providing information such as time, place, manner, condition, reason, or purpose Adverbials answers such questions as "when?" "where?" "why?" and "how?"

Examples:

(1) S&P 500 nears record high this week

(The Financial Times Aug.18, 2018)

(2) Netflix suffers a big wobble this quarter

(The Economist July 19, 2018)

Exercise: Match the basic noun phrase in column A with its function in

column B

A B

1 This book is very boring

2 Van Toan kicked the ball

3 He gives his lover a broken

heart

4 He is my sweatheart

5 We elected you our leader

6 I live in this house

KEY: 1-b ; 2-d ; 3-f ; 4-c ; 5-e ; 6-a

III The basic noun phrase in News headlines

1 Figures

From 300 news headlines that have been researched, there are only 90 ones which have basic noun phrase

➢ In business news headlines, the basic noun phrase are not frequently

used

2 Element

In one basic noun phrase:

- There are only 20 percent of pre-determiners used in which “all” and “half” are two pre-determiners which appear most in news headlines

- Post-determiners account for 10 percent According to research, the cardinal numerals occupy the highest rate in the role of post-determiners in one basic noun phrase with 6 in the total 9 basic noun pharses which have post-

determiners The next higher rate is ordinal numerals and other types

- Central determiners make up 70 percent with 63 in total 90 basic noun

phrases have this element Most of the central determiners appeared in basic noun phrase are articles and demonstratives with over 50 headlines

30%

70%

The frequency of using basic noun phrases in

business's news headlines

news headlines which have basic noun phrases

total news headlines

In conclusion, central determiners make up the largest proportion in the formation

of a basic noun phrase that is used in News headlines

The frequency of use of Pre-determiners, Central Determiners

and Post-determiners in one basic noun phrase

Pre-determiners Central determiners Post-determiners

Of 90 noun phrases spotted in 300 headlines, there are 22 noun phrases playing the role of subjects, 18 noun phrases functioning as subject

complements, 11 noun phrases acting as direct objects, 7 noun phrases playing the role of object complements, 11 noun phrases functioning as indirect objects,

9 noun phrases performing the function of prepositional complements and 12 noun phrases acting as modifiers, determinatives, appositives and adverbials in total

The pie chart presents information on the proportion of each function that noun phrases play As can be easily seen, subject is the major funtion that is performed, constituting 23 percent of all 90 noun phrases In the second and third positions, subject complement and direct objects account for 19 percent and

18 percent, respectively By contrast, object complement is the least frequent

Subject 23%

Subject complement

19%

Direct object 18%

Other functions 13%

FUNCTIONS OF THE BASIC NOUN PHARSE IN

SURVEYED NEWS HEADLINES

function that noun phrases fulfil with only seven percent of all 90 headlines

Meanwhile, prepositional complement, indirect object and other functions are performed on a moderate basis of frequency with the percentage being 9, 11 and

12, respectively

Overall, subject is evidently the most significant function that basic noun phrases perform whereas object complement is the least important one