THE BASIC NOUN PHRASE IN NEWS HEADLINES I Definitions 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) “The headline is the text indicating the nature of the article below it A headline's purpose is to quickly and briefly draw attention to the story.” (Wikipedia) “A headline is the title of a newspaper story, printed in large letters at the top of the story, especially on the front page If a newspaper or magazine article is headlined a particular thing, that is the headline that introduces it.” (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 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 Examples: (1) “Vietnam spends $5.71 billion on petro imports in first eight months” (Vietnam News) (2) “A disaster leaves a European infrastructure giant on edge” (The Economist) (3) “These companies really, really, really want to freeze your eggs” (The New York Times) II Features of the basic noun phrase Elements Basic noun phrase Determiners Head 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 a noun phrase The head noun is the central element and core component of the basic noun phrase Examples: (1) “A few companies are bitcoining it.” Post-det head (The Economist) (2) “The last two video-game fads show off a DIY ethic.” Det Post-det head (The Economist) (3) Many results are shaky in microeconomics Post-det head (The Economist) (4) “The race is on to dominate quantum computing” Det head (The Economist) (5) “Six muddles about share buy-backs” Post-det head (The Economist) (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 (The Economist) 1.2 Determiners The determiner is an important noun modifier which give more informations about the noun and put it into a context, often in terms of quantity and possession Determiners in English precede a noun or noun phrase and include articles, demonstratives, quantifiers and possessives In grammar, determiner is a word that is used before a noun to show which particular example of the noun you are referring to Examples: (1) The best way to Staff Your Business Det head (Business) (2) Four reasons to invest in the Gig Economy det head (Business) Determiners Pre-determiners Central Determiners Post-determiners 1.2.1 Pre-determiners Multiplying expressions Fraction Twice, double, ten times One-third, two-fifth, threequarter, Twice my salary Double my salary One-third my salary 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 postdeterminer (Cambridge Dictionary) Central Determiners Possessive: My, her, his, their, our… Article: the, a, an Demonstratives: these, that, this, those Some, any, each, either, every… Possessive: In grammar, a possessive word, form, etc shows who or what something belongs to Example: (1) “2018 IoT Trends and their effects on GDPR” Possessive head (Business.com) (2) “Change is our chance to reinvest in professional learning” Possessive head (Business.com) Article: Articles are among the most common of the determiners A, an, and the all express the definiteness and specificity of a noun Examples: (1) “5 Ways to Start the Mental Health Conversation in Creative Industries Definite article head (Business.com) (2) “How Starting a indefinite article business is similar to starting a marriage” 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 Examples: (1) “Free SEO courses you should sign up for this summer singular (Business) (2) “Business Insurance Demystified: consider these policies” plural (Business.com) Other cases: Some, any, either, much, etc Examples: (1) “Woods: 'I didn't make any putts this week” Cen-det (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) Post-determiners Cardinal numerals Ordinal numerals Closed-system quantifiers Opened-system quantifiers 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 two factors influencing online sales: trust and authority” Cen-det Post-det Head (Business) (2) “Three questions you need to ask to drive successful sales conversations” Post-det Head (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 Det words about coaches” 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 Identify the elements of each noun phrase in these sentences below: (Many buildings) were destroyed in the earthquake (All her colleagues) are married Did you know (both his brother) had emigrated to New Zealand? For years (the house) had no electricity He did it in (one-third (of) the time) it took me He published (his first two novels) There was (a lot of food) on the table KEY: (Many buildings) were destroyed in the earthquake Cen-det (All Pre-det head her colleagues) are married cen-det head Did you know (both Pre-det his brother) had emigrated to New Zealand? cen-det head For years (the house) had no electricity Cen-det head He did it in (one-third (of) the Pre-det cen-det time) it took me head He published (his first two novels) Cen-det post-det head There was (a lot of food) on the table Post-det head Functions of basic noun phrase 2.1 Subject Noun phrases first function as the subject of clauses A subject is a word, phrase, or clause which performs the action of or acts upon the verb Clauses contain both a subject and a predicate Although other grammatical forms can function as the subject of clauses, nouns and noun phrases most frequently perform the function 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) 2.3 Direct Object Noun phrases can also function as direct objects A direct object is a word, phrase, or clause that follows a transitive verb and answers the question "who?" or "what?" receives the action of the verb Examples: (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 Example: (1) “GAF elected Vietnam their chair” (Vietnamnet June 2018) 2.5 Indirect Object Noun phrases can also function as indirect objects An indirect object is a word, phrase, or clause that follows a ditransitive verb and answers the question "to or for whom?" or "to or for what" is the action of the verb performed Examples: (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 Examples: (1) “Why people move to these nation?” (Reuters March 13, 2018) (2) Tzipi Hotovely: Iran should 'stay away' from the conflicts” (BBC News May 10, 2018) 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, 21st 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 This book is very boring a Prepositional complement Van Toan kicked the ball b Subject He gives his lover a broken c Subject complement heart d Direct object He is my sweatheart e Object complement We elected you our leader f Indirect object 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 Figures From 300 news headlines that have been researched, there are only 90 ones which have basic noun phrase The frequency of using basic noun phrases in business's news headlines 30% news headlines which have basic noun phrases total news headlines 70% ➢ In business news headlines, the basic noun phrase are not frequently used 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 in the total basic noun pharses which have postdeterminers 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 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 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 Pre-determiners Functions Central determiners Post-determiners FUNCTIONS OF THE BASIC NOUN PHARSE IN SURVEYED NEWS HEADLINES Other functions 13% Subject 23% Prepositional complement 9% Indirect object 11% Subject complement 19% Object complement 7% Direct object 18% 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, noun phrases playing the role of object complements, 11 noun phrases functioning as indirect objects, 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 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  ... have basic noun phrase The frequency of using basic noun phrases in business's news headlines 30% news headlines which have basic noun phrases total news headlines 70% ➢ In business news headlines, ... 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, noun. .. 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 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 Pre-determiners