How does a noun phrase differ from a noun?

Nouns denote persons, places, things, or ideas. Noun phrases contain one or more nouns. Within a sentence, noun phrases can be subjects, objects, or complements:

Nouns			Noun Phrases
studies			Formal research studies

attributes		identified ten attributes of highly

people			adaptable people.

child, family		The youngest child in the family

boy, Bill		was a boy named Bill.

Like nouns, noun phrases can also be the objects of prepositions:

for the complex experimental procedure

about the remaining six questions and answers

of the sequential program elements