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antecedent

English translation: modified noun

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:antecedent (noun)
Selected answer:modified noun
Entered by: Gayle Wallimann

20:37 Feb 13, 2004
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Linguistics
English term or phrase: antecedent
I need the correct word to use in a linguistic text to describe the noun to which an adjective refers (German Bezugswort - usually translated as antecedent). Thus, in "the red house", red is the adjective and house is the noun to which it refers, called the XXX.

The Oxford dictionary defines an antecedent as "a word, phrase, clause, or sentence to which another word refers", which seems to fit the bill for XXX above. But the word antecedent itself implies a reference to something which has gone before - and grammatically it is usually used for the antecedent of a relative pronoun (e.g. the house which ....), where the noun does go before and is therefore literally an antecedent. So is it correct to use the word antecedent in a phrase like "the red house" where the word I want a name for (house) comes AFTER the thing which refers to it.

Initially I used referent to do this job, but on reflection I think I'm incorrect to do so - strictly speaking, in "the red house" the referent of red is, I think, not house but the actual state of redness - the referent being, in Oxford Dict. terms "the idea or thing that a word symbolizes".

Can someone help me out on this one?
Armorel Young
Local time: 12:28
modified noun
Explanation:
We learned it that way in English class way back in the fifties in the US. It's still used in grammar books, I now teach English and still see it.

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Note added at 3 hrs 21 mins (2004-02-13 23:59:18 GMT)
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I could not add to this a few hours ago, there was no access to questions. Now I can. I wanted to take your example, \"the red house\" to sa that \"house\" in this sentence is the modified noun.
Selected response from:

Gayle Wallimann
Local time: 13:28
Grading comment
Thank you - I shall go with the general consensus.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
5 +4modified noun
Gayle Wallimann
4headword
Kim Metzger
2qualified noun
Chris Rowson (X)


  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
headword


Explanation:
"A noun phrase consists of a noun and all the words and word groups that belong with the noun and cluster around it. The noun itself is called the 'headword' or 'head' and the other words and word groups are modifiers of the noun.

The yellow tulips
The yellow tulips in the garden
The yellow tulips in the garden which were gaily blooming

In these examples 'tulips' is the head. Of the rest of the words, the modifiers, we observe that the single-word modifiers, like 'the' and 'yellow' precede the head and that the word-group modifiers, like 'in the the garden' and 'which were blooming' follow the head."

An Introductory English Grammar, Norman C. Stageberg



Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 05:28
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 187
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5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +4
modified noun


Explanation:
We learned it that way in English class way back in the fifties in the US. It's still used in grammar books, I now teach English and still see it.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs 21 mins (2004-02-13 23:59:18 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I could not add to this a few hours ago, there was no access to questions. Now I can. I wanted to take your example, \"the red house\" to sa that \"house\" in this sentence is the modified noun.


    www.discoverylanguage.com/ Test%20Yourself%20in%20English.htm - 29k
Gayle Wallimann
Local time: 13:28
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you - I shall go with the general consensus.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  David Knowles: I would say "noun modified", but that's just a wrinkle!
3 mins
  -> Could be. Is it a UK /US English difference?
agree  Fuad Yahya
59 mins
  -> Thank you, Fuad.
agree  Roddy Stegemann: Since a modifed noun is necessarily modifed, it will almost always appear as "the modifed noun". :-)
2 hrs
  -> Thank you Hamo.
agree  Nado2002
4 hrs
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23 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
qualified noun


Explanation:
When I learned Latin and Greek grammar we referred to an adjective as qualifying a noun. Thus in "the red house", "house" is the noun qualified by the adjective "red" (regardless of word order).

Chris Rowson (X)
Local time: 13:28
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



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