Complex noun phrases

Rules

• Rule 1: Hyphenated modifiers and noun strings

  When several words work as one adjective before a noun, they are hyphenated and the noun inside stays singular: state-of-the-art, hard-to-reach, award-winning, solar-powered. Active meaning takes -ing, passive meaning a past participle. In noun strings, the nouns in front are singular too. One small exception: fractions stay plural (a two-thirds majority).

  Pattern: number-noun / noun-participle / noun-ing + head noun · noun + noun + head noun

  Example: an award-winning documentary

  Example: a water purification system

• Rule 2: Noun complements: to-infinitive and that

  The content of some nouns is given by to + base verb: decision, ability, attempt, refusal, willingness (not ~~of + -ing~~). Nouns such as fact, idea, evidence, claim and news take that + a complete clause; which is not possible there, because nothing is missing from the clause.

  Pattern: noun + to + verb · noun + that + complete clause

  Example: Octopuses have the ability to change color.

  Example: There is evidence that water once flowed on Mars.

• Rule 3: Noun + preposition

  Many nouns take a fixed preposition, often the same one as their verb: *depend on* → dependence on, *invest in* → investment in. Watch out: a rise in prices (an amount goes up) but the rise of the printing press (something emerges and grows).

  Pattern: noun + preposition + noun phrase

  Example: a heavy dependence on a few crops

  Example: a sharp increase in the number of butterflies

• Rule 4: Postmodification, appositives and agreement

  A noun can be followed by an -ing phrase (active), a past participle (passive), a to-infinitive (after the first / the only…), an adjective phrase (the people responsible for…) or an appositive (a verbless noun phrase between commas). However long the phrase, the verb agrees with the head noun.

  Pattern: head noun + -ing / participle / to + verb / adjective phrase · noun, appositive, …

  Example: The accuracy of the measurements taken by the teams was impressive.

  Example: Marie Curie, the first person to win two Nobel Prizes, loved science.

Common mistakes

• the ability of changing color → the ability to change color

  ability, decision, attempt take to + verb, not of + -ing.

• a 75-million-years-old fossil → a 75-million-year-old fossil

  Inside a hyphenated modifier the noun stays singular.

• an investment on bike lanes → an investment in bike lanes

  Like the verb: *invest in* → investment in.