Skip to main content

Postmodifiers

Postmodifiers

Postmodification or qualification consists of the modification that occurs after the headword. These are the words that come after the main noun. 

They consist of finite clauses, non-finite clauses, and prepositional phrases. Postmodifiers give extra or specific information about the noun and they are not necessary to complete the meaning.

Types of postmodifiers

Finite clauses

These are clauses that are introduced by relative pronouns such as who, whom, whose, which, and that. 

Some examples are: 

Non-finite clauses

The non-finite post modifying clause can be considered a reduced form of the finite relative clause. It does not have the relative pronoun and the finite. There are three main types of non-finite postmodifying clauses: ing-clauses (verb in gerund), ed-clauses (verb in participle), and to-clauses (verb in infinitive).

Some examples are: 

Prepositional phrases

There is a prepositional phrase (which begins with a preposition) that post modifies the head noun.

Some examples are: 


Click here to find more information about noun phrases and postmodifiers on the British Council website. 

References

• Bloor, M., Bloor, T. (2004). The Functional Analysis of English: A Hallidayan Approach.Oxford University Press Inc. New York. 

• Gillett, A. (1999). Using English for Academic Purposes For Students in Higher Education. UEFAP. Taken from: http://www.uefap.com/grammar/gramfram.htm

• Lock, G. (1996). Functional English Grammar: An introduction for second language teachers. Cambridge University Press. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Analysis of 'Thinking Out Loud' by Ed Sheeran

Thinking Out Loud Structural Nominal Group Analysis Findings Meaning of the song The song is trying to communicate how true love can cross all kinds of difficulties. No matter how time changes our appearance, beliefs, or fame, even if we become weak, the important thing is to feel the same love as when we were young. Ed Sheeran uses this romantic story, between 2 people, to show us how love can last forever and can be found in ways people can't understand. Analysis of the Nominal Group structure The lyrics of the song 'Thinking Out Loud' have a total of 86 nominal groups. Among these, we can find 52 simple nominal groups, 22 NGs with only premodification, 2 NGs with only postmodification, and 10 NGs with both pre and postmodification. In terms of premodification, we find that there are 22 nominal groups. These are divided into those with the possessive adjectives 'my' and 'your' (12), the definite article 'the' (4), the describer 'mysterious...
Post a Comment
Read more

Premodifiers

Premodifiers When people use their languages, they tend to form grammatical structures such as nominal groups. In the previous post, about Nominal Group , you learned that nominal groups are composed of a word called head, and that they can have other kinds of words added. Those words are called modifiers. Modifiers are the words that modify something. In nominal groups, modifiers modify the head, how it is understood. The premodification is the first component in the nominal group structure, in which you can find words that enrich the significance of the head after it is mentioned. The words are known as Deictic, Numerative, Epithet and Classifier. The examples were taken from the book Moby Dick by Herman Melville (Chapters 2, 4 and 16). Below, you will find other examples of how the head can be modified in pre-modification:  Deictic     Numerative     Epithet     Classifier     Thing No gentleman were admitted, so Jo played male parts t...
Post a Comment
Read more