Question

Select the noun phrase from the given sentence:
The blue house caught fire.
A) The blue
B) The blue house
C) Caught
D) Fire

Answer 1

Hint: A noun phrase is a collection of words that works as the subject or the object in the sentence. For such a group of words to act as the subject or object, it must contain at least one noun. This noun phrase can also act as a prepositional object, a participle, “to-infinitive” etc.

Complete answer:
To look for a noun phrase, we must first find out a phrase that is acting as a subject or an object in the statement. This phrase should also contain at least one noun to be a noun phrase. Here the given sentence is ‘The blue house caught fire’. Let us look at the options and see which one of them suffices both these criteria.
Option A) The blue – in this option, ‘The’ is a determiner or an article that is definite. It indicates a specific noun (a noun that is ‘blue’). The word ‘blue’ is the adjective of a noun and indicates its colour. But there is no noun in this option. A noun is an integral part of a noun phrase. Thus, this option is incorrect.
Option B) The blue house – in this option, we have a definite article, ‘the’. ‘Blue’ is the adjective in this part and it is describing the noun. The noun in this option is ‘house’. Therefore, this phrase has all the requirements to make it a noun phrase. Hence, this option is correct.
Option C) Caught – in this option, there is only one word, i.e. ‘caught’. ‘Caught’ is the past tense of the verb ‘catch’. This cannot be a noun phrase as (1) it is not a phrase, it is only a single word and, (2) the only word it has is a verb and not a noun. Therefore, this option is also wrong.
Option D) Fire – This option also has one word. The word ‘fire’ is a noun, but it cannot be called a ‘noun phrase’ because it is not a phrase. It does not have any modifiers. It is simply a noun acting as the object. Thus, this option is wrong.

Thus, the correct answer is Option (B) i.e, The blue house.


Note: In the statement in the question, “The blue house caught fire”, the noun phrase acts as the subject. Let us see how the noun phrases can be used in other sentences. For e.g.
At home, I have a spotted dog. (noun phrase being used as a direct object)
The prisoners were kept in very bad conditions. (noun phrase being used as prepositional object)