NOUN AND VERB By: Tanaya Rose

PHRASE ELABORATION
BROADER PERSPECTIVE OF
GRAMMATICAL
DEVELOPMENT
In the field of speech language pathology, perspectives of grammatical development
have focused on mean length of utterance (MLU) and grammatical morphemes, such
as plural –s and progressive –ing (Owens, Pavelko, & Bambinelli, 2018).

 While MLU and grammatical morphemes have their clinical utility, it is important to
take a broader approach to grammatical development by also focusing on the
grammatical targets of noun phrase elaboration, verb phrase elaboration, and
complex syntax.

 Children with language impairments (LI) produce (Eisenberg, 2013):

 Fewer two and three element noun phrases than their typically developing peers
 Less elaborate verb phrases
 Fewer complex sentences
OVERVIEW OF OBJECTIVES
From this PowerPoint presentation you will learn:
1. How to identify elements of elaborated noun phrases (ENPs) and elaborated verb
phrases (EVPs)
2. How to use sentence-combining techniques to facilitate noun phrase elaboration
IDENTIFYING A NOUN PHRASE: THE
MAIN VERB
How do you know what group of words form a noun phrase (NP) in a
sentence?
1. Begin by locating the main verb in the sentence. Ask yourself:
 What is the action that the subject is doing (Writing Explained, n.d.)?
 What is the most important verb in the sentence?

 Example: “The really tall giraffe at the zoo ate the green leaves off the
tree.”
IDENTIFYING A NOUN
PHRASE: SUBSTITUTION TEST
2. Once you have located the main verb, ask yourself what words before/after the main verb
can be substituted by a single pronoun.

 Examples:
 “The really tall giraffe at the zoo ate the green leaves off the tree.”  “He ate them.”
 “The silly frog hopped over the fence.” “He hopped over it.”
 “Playing soccer all day made the boy tired.”  “It made him tired.”
 “The toy car was going really fast.” “It was going really fast.”

 If the string of words can be substituted by a single pronoun, you have evidence that
those words form a noun phrase!
ELABORATED NOUN PHRASE
(ENP) ELEMENTS
The most basic noun phrase consists of only a single word/noun.
 Example: “Bears like honey.”

Children can expand on a single noun by using the following elements:

 Articles
 Possessive pronouns
 Adjectives
 Descriptors
 Quantifiers
 Demonstratives
 Numerical Terms
ENP ELEMENTS: ARTICLES
What is an article?
 A function word that determines if the speaker is referring to a specific or unspecific noun (Grammarly, n.d.).

1. The definite article the

 Used when the speaker is referring to a specific noun
 Example: “Pass me the cup.”
 Meaning: there is a specific cup that the individual wants passed to them.

2. The indefinite article a/an

 Used when the speaker is referring to an unspecific noun
 Example” “Pass me a cup.”
 Meaning: the individual is not requesting a specific cup.

ENP: Article + Noun

ENP ELEMENTS: POSSESSIVE
PRONOUNS
What are possessive pronouns?
 Pronouns that convey ownership
 They do NOT contain an apostrophe

1. Independent possessive pronouns

 Can stand alone: replace a noun in a sentence

Independent Possessive Pronouns

mine ours
yours yours (pl)
his theirs
hers its

 Example: “The book on the desk is Sally’s.”  “The book on the desk is hers.”
ENP ELEMENTS: POSSESSIVE
PRONOUNS CONTINUED
2.Dependent possessive pronouns (aka possessive adjectives)
Can NOT stand alone: occur before a noun

Dependent Possessive Pronouns

my our
your your (pl)
his their
her its

 “His train set.” vs “The train set was his.”

Dependent vs independent

ENP Example: Possessive Pronoun + Noun

*** Owens et al. (2018) also count independent possessive pronouns as an element of an ENP.
ENP ELEMENTS: ADJECTIVES
What is an adjective?
 A word that modifies or describes a noun.
 It must occur in a noun phrase to be considered an element of an ENP.

1. Possessive noun
 Noun that conveys ownership
 Contains an apostrophe
 Example: “Dad’s new car.”
 Incorrect example: “The new car is Dad’s,” as Dad’s is not modifying a noun in a NP.

2. Ordinal
 Conveys position in a series (e.g., first, second, last, next)
 Occurs before a noun
 Example. “He won first place in the race.”
 Incorrect example: “He will always come first,” as first is not modifying a noun; thus, is not an ENP.
ENP ELEMENTS: ADJECTIVES
CONTINUED
3. Adverb
• An adverb is considered an adjective when it modifies an adjective (e.g., really, very)
• Example: “She was a very happy girl.”
• Incorrect example: “The girl was very happy,” as “very happy” is an adjective phrase, not a noun
phrase.
4. Adjective
• Occurs before a noun
• Describes a quality of the noun
• Example: “The funny puppy rolled over.”
• Incorrect example: “The puppy was funny,” as funny is in its own adjective phrase, not a noun
phrase.

ENP Example: Article + Adjective + Noun

ENP ELEMENTS: DESCRIPTOR
What is a descriptor?
 An open compound noun  noun + noun
 The first noun modifies the second noun.
 There is a space between the two nouns.
 A descriptor is considered a type of adjective by Owens et al. (2018), but is counted
separately from adjectives when scoring the language sample.
NP
 Examples:
 “Fish tank”
 “Bus stop” NP
 “Apple tree”
NI
NI
ENP Example: Article + Descriptor
Noun 1 Noun 2
ENP ELEMENTS: QUANTIFIER
What is a quantifier?
 A function word that specifies an amount.

Quantifiers
some a lot
any a few
much several
many enough

 Example: “I would like some cake.”

ENP Examples:
Quantifier + Article + Noun  “I would like some of the cake.”
Quantifier + Possessive Pronoun + Noun  “All of my friends are nice.”
ENP ELEMENTS:
DEMONSTRATIVE
What is a demonstrative?
 A function word that indicates the identity of the thing being referred to by the subsequent noun.

Demonstrative
this that
these those

Example: “Look at that bird.”

ENP Example: Quantifier + Demonstrative + Noun  “Some of those apples have gone bad.”
ENP ELEMENTS: NUMERICAL
TERM
What is a numerical term?
 A function word that conveys an actual or specific number (e.g., one, two,
three…).
 Example: “Goldilocks and the three little pigs.”

TWO UR F S HT
IVE EVE
NE
THREE FO SIX N EIG
O

ENP Example: Quantifier + Numerical + Noun  “All four dogs had black
spots.”
ENP ELEMENTS: TRICKIER
CASES
Embedded clauses
 A clause that is inserted into the main clause.
 It contains its own subject and verb; thus, it contains its own NP(s).

 Example One: “The waitress who served us our food was friendly.”
 NP in the main clause: “the waitress”
 NP in the embedded clause: “our food”

 Example Two: “The soup, that’s in the pot, is very hot.”

 NP in the main clause: “the soup”
 NP in the embedded clause: “the pot”
ELABORATED VERB PHRASE
(EVP) ELEMENTS
 Like NPs, as children develop, they also produce more elaborate verb phrases (VPs).
 Elements of EVPs include:
 BE copula
 Irregular past
 Infinitive phrases
 Prepositional phrases
 BE Auxiliary
 Do/does + verb
 Modal Auxiliaries

NOTE about gerunds: a gerund functions as a noun even though it looks like a verb.
 Examples:
 “Talking in the library is not allowed.”
 “She loves singing.”
 “Singing” could be replaced by an object and the sentence would still make sense.
EVP ELEMENTS: BE COPULA
When the verb “be” is used as the main verb in the sentence, it is called a
copula.
 Example: “The kitten was sleepy.”

Be Copula
is
am
are
was
were
EVP ELEMENTS: IRREGULAR
PAST
Some verbs are not inflected with the regular past tense marker –ed.
 Instead, they change forms when in the simple past tense.
 Examples:
 Choose  chose
 Eat  ate
 Hear  heard
 Freeze  froze
 Speak  spoke
EVP ELEMENTS: INFINITIVE
PHRASES
Infinitives have the structure to + simple form of the verb.
 The simple form of the verb has no inflection or tense marking: it is the
root/stem form.
 When infinitive phrases occur after a verb, they are technically gerunds, as
they can be replaced with a noun and the sentence would still make sense.
 An infinitive phrase is considered an element of an EVP regardless of if it is a gerund.
 Examples:
 “She loves to read.”

 “I like to bake chocolate chip cookies.”

EVP ELEMENTS:
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES (PP)
Prepositional phrases contain a preposition and a NP (P + NP).
 Prepositional phrases are complements of the verb.
 Examples:

 “The fireman went up the ladder.” PP

 “I keep my bicycle in the garage.”

PI NP

Preposition Noun Phrase

EVP ELEMENTS: BE
AUXILIARY
The verb “be” functions as an auxiliary when it supports the main verb.
 It helps supply tense information.
 Examples:
 “She was walking on the sidewalk.”
 “He’s singing in the school concert.”
 Incorrect example: Tense Phrase
 “One of my favourite things is painting.”
 “Is” functions as a copula here, as “painting” is a gerund.
Be Auxiliary VP
TI
is were
am been
are being
BE Auxiliary Verb Phrase
was
EVP ELEMENTS: DO/DOES +
VERB
The verb “do” can also function as an auxiliary or “helping” verb.
 Examples:

 “She does look nice in her yellow dress.”

 “He doesn’t eat brussels sprouts.”

___ + verb
do
does
don’t
doesn’t
EVP ELEMENTS: MODAL
AUXILARIES
Modal auxiliaries express (Grammarly, n.d.):
 Possibility
 Permission
 Ability
 Obligation
Modal Auxiliaries
can used to
could ought to
may shall
might should
must will
need would
INTERVENTION IDEA FOR
NOUN PHRASE ELABORATION:
SENTENCE-COMBINING
 Sentence combining is a writing intervention that involves systematic instruction and structured
practice (Saddler & Asaro-Saddler, 2010).
 While technically a writing intervention, its strategies can be applied to oral language intervention.
 The child practices combining two or more short sentences into a more complex sentence.

 If a clinician was targeting articles and adjectives, as well as expanding ENPs to three elements,
they could get the child to practice combining sentences such as:

Base clause: The bird sat in the nest.

Sentence to be combined: The bird is red.
Combined: The red bird sat in the nest.
Result: The child produced a three-element ENP that has both an article and an adjective:
“the red bird.”
SENTENCE-COMBINING:
PRACTICE
After tallying the results of a 50-utterance language sample, you decide to work on
thee element NPs that contain a possessive pronoun and an adjective. What sentence
could be combined with the following base sentence to get the desired result?

Base Sentence: My bicycle is in the shed.

Sentence to be combined:
SENTENCE-COMBINING:
PRACTICE CONTINUED
Example sentences to be combined:
 “My bicycle is purple.”
 “My bicycle is new.”

Once the child is successful with combining two sentences, you could work on
combining more than two sentences to get NPs with multiple adjectives, such as:
 “My new purple bicycle is in the shed.”
REFERENCES
Eisenberg, S. L. (2013). Grammar intervention: Content and procedures for facilitating children's
language development, Topics in Language Disorders, 33(2), 165-178.
doi:10.1097/TLD.0b013e31828ef28e
Grammarly. (n.d.). Articles. Retrieved from https://www.grammarly.com/blog/articles/
Grammarly. (n.d.). Modal verbs: Definition and usage. Retrieved from https://www.grammarly
.com/blog/modal-verbs/
Owens, R. E., Pavelko, S. L., Bambinelli, D. (2018). Moving beyond mean length of utterance:
Analyzing language samples to identify intervention targets. Perspectives of the ASHA Special
Interest Groups, 3(SIG 1), 5-22. doi:10.1044/persp3.SIG1.5
Saddler, B., & Asaro-Saddler, K. (2010). Writing better sentences: Sentence-combining instruction
in the classroom, Preventing School Failure, 54(3), 159-163. doi:10.1080/10459880 903495851
Writing Explained. (n.d.). What is a main verb? Definitions, examples of main verbs. Retrieved from
https://writingexplained.org/grammar-dictionary/main-verb