How to recognize a " Noun Phrase"

•  A noun phrase includes a noun—a person, place, or thing—and the modifiers which distinguish it.

 You can find the noun 'dog' in a sentence, for example, but you don't know which canine the writer means until you consider the entire noun phrase: that dog, Aunt Audrey's dog, the dog on the sofa, the neighbor's dog that chases our cat, the dog digging in the new flower bed. 

• Modifiers can come before or after the noun.

 Ones that come before might include articles, possessive nouns, possessive pronouns, adjectives, and/or participles.

•  Articles: a dog, the dog Possessive nouns: Aunt Audrey's dog, the neighbor's dog, the police officer's dog 
• Possessive pronouns: our dog, her dog, their dog Adjectives: that dog, the big dog, the spotted dog
•  Participles: the drooling dog, the barking dog, the well trained dog 

Modifiers that come after the noun might include prepositional phrases, adjective clauses, participle phrases, and/or infinitives.

•  Prepositional phrases: a dog on the loose, the dog in the front seat, the dog behind the fence 
• Adjective clauses: The dog that chases cats, the dog that looks lost, the dog that won the championship 

• Participle phrases: The dog whining for a treat, the dog clipped at the grooming salon, the dog walked daily

•  Infinitives: The dog to catch, the dog to train, the dog to adopt