Chapter published in:
Grammar of Spoken and Written English
Douglas Biber, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey N. Leech, Susan Conrad and Edward Finegan
[Not in series 232] 2021
► pp. 567–650

Chapter 8
Complex noun phrases

Article outline
  • 8.1Overview
    • 8.1.1Register distribution of noun phrases with pre- and postmodifiers
      • corpus findings ,
      • discussion of findings
    • 8.1.2Co-occurrence of modifiers with head noun types
      • corpus findings ,
      • discussion of findings
    • 8.1.3Discourse distribution of noun phrase types in academic prose
      • corpus findings
      • discussion of findings
  • 8.2Structural types of premodification
    • 8.2.1Structural types of premodification across registers
      • corpus findings ,
      • discussion of findings
  • 8.3Meaning relations expressed by noun + noun sequences
    • 8.3.1Noun + noun sequences across registers
      • corpus findings
      • discussion of findings
    • 8.3.2Plural nouns as premodifiers
      • corpus findings ,
      • discussion of findings
  • 8.4Noun phrases with multiple premodifiers
    • 8.4.1Length of sequences of premodifiers
      • corpus findings ,
      • discussion of findings
    • 8.4.2Order of multiple premodifiers
      • corpus findings ,
      • discussion of findings
    • 8.4.3Coordinated premodifiers
      • corpus findings
      • discussion of findings
  • 8.5Restrictive v. non-restrictive postmodifiers
    • 8.5.1Distribution of restrictive v. non-restrictive relative clauses
      • corpus findings
      • discussion of findings
  • 8.6Major structural types of postmodification
    • 8.6.1Postmodifier types across registers
      • corpus findings , ,
      • discussion of findings
  • 8.7Postmodification by finite relative clause
    • 8.7.1The discourse choice among relativizers
      • 8.7.1.1Variant relativizers in non-standard dialects
      • 8.7.1.2Distribution of relativizers across registers
        • corpus findings
        • DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
      • 8.7.1.3 Who v. which, that, and zero
        • corpus findings
        • discussion of findings
      • 8.7.1.4Who v. whom, that, and zero
        • corpus findings
        • discussion of findings
      • 8.7.1.5 Which v. that
        • corpus findings
        • discussion of findings
      • 8.7.1.6Discourse choice between whose and of which
      • 8.7.1.7 Whose v. of which across registers
        • corpus findings ,
        • discussion of findings
      • 8.7.1.8Discourse choice of the zero relativizer
        • corpus findings ,
        • discussion of findings
    • 8.7.2Grammatical role of the relative clause gap
      • corpus findings
      • discussion of findings
      • 8.7.2.1Relative clause gaps in conversation
    • 8.7.3Subject v. non-subject head nouns
      • corpus findings
      • discussion of findings
    • 8.7.4Relative clauses with adverbial gaps
      • 8.7.4.1Relative adverbs across registers
        • corpus findings
        • discussion of findings
      • 8.7.4.2Head nouns taking relative clauses with adverbial gaps
        • DISTRIBUTIONAL FINDINGS
        • discussion of findings
  • 8.8Postmodification by non-finite clause
    • 8.8.1Participle clauses as postmodifiers
      • 8.8.1.1Passive and -ing forms of verbs in postmodifying participle clauses v. relative clauses
        • corpus findings
        • discussion of findings
    • 8.8.2 To-clauses as postmodifiers
      • 8.8.2.1Structural types of postmodifying to-clause
        • corpus findings ,
        • discussion of findings
  • 8.9Postmodification by prepositional phrase
    • 8.9.1Common prepositions in postmodifying prepositional phrases
      • corpus findings ,
      • discussion of findings
    • 8.9.2Choice of prepositional phrase v. relative clause
      • corpus findings ,
      • discussion of findings
  • 8.10Postmodification by appositive noun phrase
    • 8.10.1Appositive noun phrases in news and academic prose
      • corpus findings ,
      • discussion of findings
  • 8.11Noun phrases with multiple postmodifiers
    • 8.11.1Order of constituents in postmodifier complexes
      • corpus findings ,
      • discussion of findings
  • 8.12Noun complement clauses v. nominal postmodifiers
  • 8.13Structural types of noun complement clause
    • 8.13.1Noun complement clause types across registers
      • corpus findings ,
      • discussion of findings
  • 8.14Head nouns taking noun complement clauses
    • 8.14.1Head nouns taking that-clauses
      • corpus findings
      • discussion of findings
      • 8.14.1.1Head nouns that take both that-complement clauses and relative clauses
        • corpus findings
        • discussion of findings
    • 8.14.2Head nouns taking to-clauses
      • corpus findings
        • DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
    • 8.14.3Head nouns taking of + ing-clauses
      • corpus findings
      • discussion of findings
    • 8.14.4Head nouns taking wh-interrogative clauses