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Playing with Phrases
Task C - Noun Phrase Texts
A good place to find interesting NPs is in the 'Lonely Heart' column
of your newspaper or magazine The one below is quite fun:
Lonely
Hearts'
Classified Ads |
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BEAUTIFUL, BOUNTIFUL, buxom blonde,
bashful yet bawdy, desires masterful,
masculine, magnetic male for friendship,
frolic and future. Forward photo and facts.
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The Subject and Object NPs in the first sentence of this ad (on either
side of the Predicator 'desires') are indicated clearly for us by the
italicisation. The headword of the Subject NP is 'blonde', a noun derived
from an adjective. The three premodifiers are all adjectives which alliterate
with the headword, and the conjoined postmodifiers 'bashful' and 'bawdy'
continue this 'b'-alliteration. The length of the NP and the alliterative
pattern, combined with the unusual semantic relations in 'bashful yet
bawdy' give the ad a playful tone, and this is continued in the Object
NP.
The Object NP has 'male' as the headword and this time all the premodifiers
'm'-alliterate with each other and the headword. The adjectives all have
strong 'dominating' connotations, but given that the male is in the Object
position and the female in the Subject position in the sentence, the grammar
seems to work playfully against these connotations.
The last phrase of the first sentence is a PP with a list of three nouns,
all 'f'-alliterating, and the last sentence, which consists of a Predicator
and an Object also has 'f'-alliteration on the conjoined nouns within
the Object NP.
NP length, alliteration and odd semantic relations thus give this ad
a playful, fun tone. Is the person being serious in looking for a partner?
Is she showing us what a clever and fun-loving creature she is? Us lonely
hearts can only find out by answering the ad . . .
Make up a lonely hearts advertisement for yourself.
Discuss it with your neighbour, and if you think you have a good one,
post your examples on the Language
and Style chat-café, along with your commentary.
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