SECTION 15.1
Language Focus 2:
Noun phrases
A noun phrase is a group of words containing a noun and functioning in a sentence as subject, object, or prepositional object.
A noun phrase may contain determiners, quantifiers and modifiers, as well as a noun.

 

Determiner	Quantifier	Modifier	Noun
Determiners are the articles (a, an, the), demonstratives (this, that, these, those) and possessive (my, your).	Quantifiers come before the noun (much, many, a lot of, each, all, half some, etc.)	Nouns can be modified by an adjective or by another noun (small package, food label).	Nouns refer to physical things, ideas, qualities, events, roles and names.

 

Basic structure of noun phrases

 

Quantifier (+of)	Determiner	Adjective modifier	Noun modifier	Noun	Other modifiers
	a			company
	a	multinational		firm	in the ASEAN community
	the			business
all	these			regulations	here
lots of		medical		products
a lot of	their			food
enough				exits
some		nice	Halal	dishes
each  of	the	fresh	durian	chips	of the company

 

Example:

 

Quantifiers A quantifier can be more than one word, e.g. one hundred and fifty kilograms. A noun phrase can contain both a quantifier and a determiner, e.g. all that food. Some quantifiers come after a determiner, e.g. one of these products A possessive form functions as a determiner. ‘Many’, ‘few’, or ‘a number’ can be used after the, these, those or a possessive, e.g. the ten  countries A possessive form also functions as a determiner, e.g. the customer’s choice There can be more than one adjective or noun modifier, e.g. ASEAN Halal products The modifier can be a gerund or participle, e.g. some cooking oil,  a cooked meal An adverb can be used before a quantifier or an adjective, e.g., almost all the  time (adverb + quantifier), some really fine Thai silk (adverb + adjective) A noun phrase can be a subject, an object, a complement, or an adverbial, as well as the object of a preposition. Grammatical Unit Example subject ASEAN sets a food label standard. object Our company just launched a new product. complement The cost of a carton was 20 baht. adverbial That day something unusual happened in our warehouse. prepositional object The food was sold out in an hour after the opening.

 

SECTION 15.1
15.1.3 ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA)
Food production in ASEAN is export-oriented. When the non-tariff barriers are eliminated under AFTA, the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will lead to a real free trade and investment area within 15 years. Although trading across the region is becoming more aggressive, this provides new opportunities for larger sub-regional and national food businesses to develop regional marketing strategies, and target more than just their home food markets with their branded products. Consequently, there are more local businesses operating within ASEAN's borders stepping into stronger regional multinationals that are able to compete more effectively in the international markets.
Five areas in which the ASEAN community would bring the greatest benefits to the ASEAN food business:

1. nutrition labeling;
2. pre-market product registration;
3. import/export certification of food ingredients, additives and flavors; and     
4. contaminant limits and analytical methods.

After the ASEAN food business foundation changed during 1997 to 1988, the inflow of new investment entered the food manufacturing industry and distribution channels across the region. ASEAN states benefit from manufactured products that qualify for export under AFTA. The strategies taken by individual food manufacturers open up new markets for the full range of food and drinks. Markets over a period of years have competed with more efficient and dynamic competitors in the food supply chain, especially the major retailers and distributors who have more choice to import ASEAN-content products.

Tariff Elimination Schedule for the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) in 2010 (Unit: %)
(Source: Tariff Elimination Schedule for the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) in 2010)