Abstract
National audience In this study, I analyse the MODIFIEUR + NOTE sequences that denote individuals with jobs or socio-professional functions in English (such a high executive), focusing on the syntax status of the first term. The meaning of this first term is metaphoric, which imposes a number of syntax constraints on the modifier (gradability, epithetic function, coordination, change by an adverb): I show that the syntax properties in sequence of the first term are very different from their free use. I have to consider the relationship between the two terms and the status of potential made up of the whole.