Head Noun

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A head noun is:

The word that is modified by an adjective clause.

Examples

Want to see an example? Look at this sentence:

• I like the car that you bought.

In this sentence, car is the head noun because the adjective clause modifies it.

Usually the head noun is the noun that comes right before the adjective clause, but not always.

Tricks

Look at these examples. The head nouns are underlined. Notice that the head noun is NOT the noun right before the adjective clause.

1. The people in Japan I met were very polite and friendly.

2. The CD in the purple jewel case that I was just listening to is not very good.

3. The TOEFL prep programs here in the USA that I visited seemed quite helpful.