Introduction to the Noun Group

The following article is compiled from extracts from PETAA book Conversations about Text 1: Teaching Grammar Using Literary Texts, written by Joanne Rossbridge and Kathy Rushton, published in 2010.

How does knowledge of the noun group help make links between oral and written language?

The noun group is the way we are able to describe people, places and things and it is the last which is the most difficult and therefore the most important when learning how to write. When we have abstract concepts like pollution, environment, culture realised as nouns we are able to say a lot about them in a short space. For instance: The local environment of Sydney, which is very polluted... 

This is an extended noun group, which as well as an adjective uses an adjective phrase  and an adjectival clause to add information about the noun.

Oral language differs from written language and this is demonstrated by the choices we make when writing or speaking.

The spoken language presents a DYNAMIC view. It defines its universe primarily as process, encoding it not as a structure but as constructing - or demolishing. In the spoken language, phenomena do not exist; they happen. They are seen as coming into being, changing, moving in and out of focus, and as interacting in a continuous onward flow. The cost of this perspective is that we may have less awareness of how things actually are, at a real or imaginary point in time; and a lessened sense of how they stay that way. (Halliday, 1885: 97)

These differences are clearly demonstrated in children's writing, which is most often dynamic and therefore characterised by a clause pattern which includes an 'actor' and an action verb/material process, for instance I went; I played; I ate rather than the use of extended noun groups. This is to be expected because, as Halliday has pointed out, it is written language that is characterised by the extended noun group as a way of compacting and manipulating information. 

As young children develop their writing they use their main resource, which is their own experience with oral language. The writing process is a reflective one and the writer composes and rehearses using familiar voices. Writing is developed by interaction with both other speakers and writers, through the process of speaking and reading. However if all the familiar voices reflect only the writer's daily oral interactions this oral mode will also be reflected in the child's writing. It is the child's interaction with the written mode which will be most helpful in developing their own writing.

What do you need to know about the noun group?

Most people feel comfortable with the concept of adjectives preceding a noun but perhaps need reminding of the number and type of adjectives that we can use and of the post modifiers which come after and also describe the noun, the adjectival phrases and adjectival clauses. The easiest ways to identify adjectival phrases and clauses are:

  • Adjectival phrases and clauses follow right after a noun and add information to that noun, e.g. The worried little girl who had just met a wolf.
  • If they are removed, in the same way that adjectives can be removed, the noun group still makes sense, e.g. The girl.
  • Adjectival phrases start with a preposition and usually answer the questions Where? With what? (Derewianka, 1998:42).
  • Adjectival phrases are those groups of words which we teach in the early years in Mathematics to help students develop the language of position, e.g. in the circle, under the tree, behind me.
  • Adjectival clauses usually start with a trigger word 'Who' for people 'Which' for things and 'That' for people and things (Derewianka, 1998: 42).

How does knowledge about the noun group help to develop writing?

The noun group is the basic element in language for building abstractions; its use is the main indicator of the written mode and it is the key to successful writing in the mandatory years of schooling, and beyond. It students are able to master the use of the noun group it gives them the power to manipulate text, to give prominence to important information in their writing and to build tension and suspense in literary texts. 

Supporting young students to develop the use of the extended noun group prepares them for the more abstract concepts that they will encounter in upper primary and secondary school. Being able to develop extended noun groups will help students with both their reading and writing as they will more easily be able to manipulate their own texts and to understand others. When developing oral or written expository texts, for instance, it is vital to move away from the more spoken mode and to remove the actor, to give authority to the argument.

How does knowledge about noun groups help to develop literacy?

In the early years, especially, developing talking and listening can support students to move towards the written mode. Before students have become skillful at decoding or writing words they have learnt a whole language and sometimes several languages. The development of oral language is an important resources for developing literacy. Even if students have not had rich encounters with literature outside the classroom, by the thoughtful development of an oral language program, features of the written mode can be introduced through both modelled reading and the daily oral language program. 

As description is part of all literary texts and indeed more texts which students will be required to read and write in primary school, it is a wonderful context in which to introduce the extended noun group. Giving and listening to oral descriptions is a great starting point where the teacher can provide support for students to move along the continuum to the written mode.

Where to next?

Check out PETAA's key grammar textbooks: