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 to her heart’s content and took immense satisfaction in a pair of russet leather boots given her by a friend, who knew a lady who knew an actor.

• Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (Chapter ll)

Once upon a time there was a gentleman who married, for his second wife, the proudest and most haughty woman that ever was seen. She had two daughters of her own, who were, indeed, exactly like her in all things. The gentleman had also a young daughter, of rare goodness and sweetness of temper, which she took from her mother, who was the best creature in the world.

• Cinderella, Charles Perrault

Mr. Bingley was good-looking and gentlemanlike; he had a pleasant countenance, and easy, unaffected manners. His sisters were fine women, with an air of decided fashion. His brother-in-law, Mr. Hurst, merely looked the gentleman; but his friend Mr. Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and the report which was in general circulation within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year.

• Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (Chapter III)

References

• Alcott, L. M. (2004). Little women. New York: Signet Classic.
• Austen, J. (1995). Pride and prejudice. New York: Modern Library.
Benaim, S. (2017). Explaining My Depression to My Mother. Genius.
• Bloor, T. & Bloor, M. (2004). Structure of the nominal group. The functional analysis of English. Arnold.
• British Council. Learn English. Taken from: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/english-grammar-reference/possessives-adjectives  
• Cambridge Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. Taken from: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es-LA/grammar/british-grammar/determiners
• Lock, G. (1996). Functional English Grammar: An Introduction for Second Language Teachers (Cambridge Language Education) (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• Melville, H. & Schaeffer, M. (1922) Moby Dick. New York, Dodd, Mead and company.
• Schulte-Hillen, S., Oré, M., Valenti, L. (2022). The 31 Best Met Gala Beauty Looks of All Time. Vogue. Taken from: https://www.vogue.com/article/best-met-gala-beauty-looks-all-time
• Sewell, A. (2018). Black Beauty. Wordsworth Editions.
• Sun, L. (2019) A New Approach of Grammar Teaching: Pre-modifiers in Noun. Studies in English Language Teaching ISSN 2372-9740 (Print) ISSN 2329-311X (Online) Vol. 8, No. 1, 2020. Taken from: https://doi.org/10.22158/selt.v8n1p38 
• Perrault, C., & Brown, M. (1954). Cinderella: Or, The little glass slipper. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.