The term "Patriots Day cast list" (correcting the likely typo "li") functions grammatically as a noun phrase. In this construction, the primary or "head" noun is "list." The preceding words, "Patriots Day" (a proper noun) and "cast" (a common noun), act as noun adjuncts or attributive nouns, modifying "list" to specify its exact nature.
In this grammatical structure, each preceding noun progressively narrows the definition of the final noun. "List" is a general term. "Cast list" specifies the list as pertaining to actors. "Patriots Day cast list" further refines it to the specific group of actors in the film titled Patriots Day. This process of nominal compounding is a common English morphological rule for creating precise terminology. The element "li" is not a standard word in this context and is interpreted as a typographical error for "list," an interpretation potentially reinforced by the abbreviation for the HTML "list item" tag (<li>).
Understanding this term as a noun phrase is crucial because it defines the article's core subject as a specific entity or object. Consequently, the article's main purpose would be informational: to enumerate, describe, or present the contents of that list. The focus is on providing factual datathe names of the actors and their rolesrather than describing an action (a verb) or a quality (an adjective). The grammatical classification dictates that the article's central point is the presentation of this specific roster.