Chapter 3 - Useful Sentence Structures and Language for Academic Writing

Chapter 3: Useful Sentence Structures and Language for Academic Writing

Noun phrases

A noun phrase acts as a noun and can be the subject or object of a sentence. It is formed by a group of words consisting of a noun/pronoun and words that add meanings to it. The words that help add meanings to a noun/pronoun are called “modifiers” and they can be placed before or after the noun/pronoun.

Modifiers	Examples of Noun Phrases
determiners	the/these/my opinions
quantifiers	a lot of/some of them
adjectives	novel/inspiring ideas
prepositional phrase	the equipment with a new design
present participle	those (the people) supervising the production
past participle	the products exported

Noun clauses

A noun clause is a group of words acting together as a noun to add more details to a sentence. Unlike noun phrases, noun clauses contain both a subject and a verb, while a noun phrase does not have any verbs.

Noun clauses are dependent clauses. They cannot stand alone as full sentences. They can be the subject or object of a sentence.

“That-clauses” are also examples of noun clauses. They can be the subject or object of a sentence.

Examples:

A. Noun clauses as subject:

How often people shop will affect the sales strategies.
(The idea) that humans and chimpanzees share the common ancestor is widely accepted.

B. Noun clauses as object:

3a 3b 3c 3d

Decide whether the underlined parts are noun phrases (NP) or noun clauses (NC).

		NP or NC
e.g.	A short circuit can overheat cables and cause a fire.	e.g. NP
1.	Nylon was one of the earliest synthetic fibres.
2.	The main concern is how the government can prevent a further increase in crime.
3.	The chart shows what students usually buy online.
4.	Mendel’s work on genetics provided new perspectives for agronomists.
5.	The survey identified three categories of voluntary workers.