nonreferential np 's in english in a number of lgs ( roviana and yup ' ik eskimo being the two in which i have encountered this ) , nonreferential np 's are phonologically and / or morphologically / syntactically incorporated into the vrb / verb phrase / verb group . are there any similar structural clues which could be used to identify nonreferential np 's in english ? my interest is in identifying nonreferential np 's in written english so that a computer natural lg processing system would know not to set up referents for them to serve as antecedents for subsequent anaphora resolution . compounds ( e . g . duck-shooting season ) can i suppose be treated superficially as single words , but what about things like ' lose faith in ' , ' catch sight of ' . of course , some criteria will involve larger discourse issues , but it may be that it is possible to identify at least some nonreferential np 's " cheaply " , i . e . just by looking within a clause and / or considering inherent lexical semantics . i will summarize and post any replies to this list . regards , simon corston .