A noun phrase is either a single noun or pronoun or any group of words containing a noun or a pronoun that function together as a noun or pronoun, as the subject or object of a verb.

For example, ‘they’, ‘books’, and ‘the books’ are noun phrases, but ‘book’ is just a noun, as you can see in these sentences (in which the noun phrases are all in bold)

Example 1:

Shaggy: Do you like APPLES?

Bean : Yes, I like THEM .

Shaggy: Do you like APPLES over there?

Bean : Yes, they are nice.

Shaggy: Do you like the APPLE I brought yesterday?

Bean : Yes, I like it. (Note: ‘It’ refers to ‘the APPLE’, not ‘APPLE’)