Noun complements and post nominal modifiers follow the nouns consistently in advanced writing. The placement of a noun complement after the noun is essential as it is necessary for expressing the core meaning of the noun. Contrarily, a modifier supplies additional information as it is a non-essential element. A successful use of noun complements and post-nominal modifiers in a noun phrase is not something simple for the learning writers. Therefore, an in-depth information about the use of the essential and additional grammatical resources has been presented in this post.
1. Complements and Post-Nominal Modifiers in Writing
In some noun phrases, noun heads are partial ideas, i.e., they express meaning incompletely in themselves. Therefore, they license (i.e., require) some other element to complete the meaning of the phrase. In other words, complements are licensed by the head noun in a noun phrase in order to express a complete meaning, i.e. complete idea. Contrarily, modifiers are not indispensable for the expression of a complete idea as they are not required by the head nouns of phrases. However, their role is to add some interesting and important information (details) simply to enrich the idea being expressed. For example:
a. His reason that he is unable to pay his debt is not acceptable. (noun complement)
b. He purchases books that are supplied digitally. (post-nominal modifier)
In example (a), that he is unable to pay his debt is a that clause (content clause) and it supplies a specific content about ‘reason’. In (b), that are digitally supplied is a relative clause and is functioning as a post-nominal modifier for ‘books’.
1.1 Distinguishing Complements from Post-Nominal Modifiers
Mostly, complements and post-nominal modifiers are recognizable on the basis of the head noun’s demand whether it requires a complement or not. However, at times, it is difficult to distinguish complements from the post-nominal modifiers. For example:
| Integral Prepositional Phrases | Non-integral Prepositional phrase |
| a. a man of principles | b. a man with a wrist watch |
| a. a house of cards | b. a house with glowing paint |
The prepositional phrases in both the paired examples (given above) appear as performing post-nominal modification function. However, the prepositional members of each pair carry a subtle difference. The post-nominal elements in (a) examples, i.e. a man of principles and a house of cards are integral to the head nouns, i.e. man and house. Contrarily, in (b) examples, i.e. a man with a wrist watch and a house with glowing paint, the post-modifiers stay distant from the head nouns. Difference of both these categories of post-nominals can be accounted for through the notion of licensing. For example, the head nouns in, a man of principles and a house of cards, demand that their post-nominal elements, i.e., of principles and of cards stay integrated to them. But, the head nouns (a man and a house) in phrases, i.e. a man with a wrist watch and a house with a glowing paint do not show such demand. The phrases with a wrist watch and with glowing paint can be replaced with some other similar phrases. The replacing phrases may be a man with a black umbrella and a house with high towers.
2. Characteristics of Post-Nominal Elements
It is important to identify whether post-nominal elements are integral or simply additional. Actually, it is the inherent meanings of the head nouns for which they demand post-nominal elements. These elements are either integral or distant. For example, houses are ‘structures’, therefore they are very likely to be identified in terms of some material they are made of. The meaning of the word house as a structure licenses a complement that refers to the material it is made of. No doubt many other things can be said about a house as a building, like where it is located or how big it is, etc. However, the materials of which it is made of is more central regarding its identification than any other random property. Similarly, we can talk of the noun man. Men are like houses as they have mental structures. Although the content of the mind of a man is not some physical substance, we think of a human mind as a structure. It may contain structures of knowledge, principles, social experiences, perspectives, etc. Thus the core area of interest regarding man is its mental structures as compared to some random properties like its height, color, etc.
3. Different Types of Noun Complements
In the present age, i.e., an age of high information flow, noun phrase post head modifiers tend to be heavy. These modifiers include prepositional phrases and relative clauses. For example:
- She teaches students with mental disorder.
- We can see very few such scholars in our age group.
- They have purchased a magnificent house of five bedrooms.
- There are a number of errors in your draft that I want you to remove.
- One of his sons who has done research in the area of business administration is one of the university scholars who has one distinguished honor.
- In 1980, I had a tour which I had taken with co-tourists I did not know and which had been engrossing for me.
As shown in example (f), one noun phrase (whose head is tour) is modified by two relative clauses. This type of post-nominal modification is very common in academic writing.
4. Semantic Weight of Complements and Modifiers
Some complements are obligatory (i.e., highly required) after the head noun as the noun phrase is uninterpretable without them. Such complements are characterized with high semantic weight. However, every complement is not obligatory. Actually, there is a continuum between prototypical complements and prototypical modifiers based on their semantic weight in respect of head noun. The post-nominal constituents that carry a lot of semantic weight which is necessary for the interpretation of the noun phrase as a whole are complements. On the other hand, the constituents that are ancillary (with non-essential semantic content), are possibly modifiers. For example:
- He received a parcel of books.
- He received a prize from the CEO.
The noun parcel itself does not really express a lot of semantic content. Thus the phrase a parcel does not look complete until some additional information is added. In other words, the function of the noun parcel is that of a quantifier instead of the head of the phrase. Actually, the most of the semantic content of the phrase a parcel of books is expressed by the prepositional phrase rather than the head. This is what makes of books essential and on the basis of this, it can be considered a complement instead of a modifier. When we see the example (b), the noun prize expresses a fair amount of semantic content of its own. The phrase from the CEO just further specifies what sort of the prize is and is not required for making the phrase coherent. In essence, when the semantic content level in head is relatively low, the following element is likely to be a complement. Contrarily, when the head is rich in semantic content and is able to express a coherent meaning, the following element is possibly a modifier.
5. Noun Complements Vs. Appositives
The clauses or phrases that follow the head noun and complete the meaning of a noun are known as noun complements. However, the words or phrases that follow noun and supply supplementary information through renaming or clarifying nouns are appositives. And if the information carried by appositives is nonessential they are set off by commas from the rest of the sentence. For example:
- My brother’s plan to establish a textile mill was life-changing.
- His sister Nasima has made a plan to study abroad.
- Imran, an outstanding researcher, has published almost one hundred research papers.
In example (a), the to-infinitive clause (to establish a textile mill) is a noun complement. Its presence is obligatory after the noun ‘plan’ to understand it. In (b), Nasima is an appositive and its presence is for the clarification which sister is essential. In (c), an outstanding research is an appositive phrase. Though it provides an additional information about Imran, its presence is not essential. That is why it has been set off with commas.
In sum, this post highlights why complements and post-nominal modifiers in noun phrases are required in advanced writing. For their proper use, both the complements and the post-nominal modifiers have been differentiated in terms of their character and role in writing. Particularly, these have been explained with reference to the level of semantic weight they carry in their respective noun phrases. Finally, it has been discussed how the noun complements and appositives differ from each other and how the writers should use them in their writing.
