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While I was re-watching a Friends episode (S6E21), I stumbled the line as below.

Why can't you get a girlfriend your own age?

I can understand what he meant (a girlfriend from your own age group), but I thought I wouldn't be able to use this kind of expression because I'm not sure it's even a correct expression.

To be specific, if I were to express in this way, I would probably try to come up with a proper preposition to place before "your own age", like "from" preceding "your own age group". Why is this usage okay and is there any underlying grammar?

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  • There's no preposition because it's not a preposition phrase but a noun phrase, modifying "girlfriend". There's nothing wrong with the sentence as it is.
    – BillJ
    May 14, 2022 at 18:31

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See https://ell.stackexchange.com/a/312729/139225:

This is a very particular construction consisting of two noun phrases, where the second part is a noun phrase serving as modifier within the larger noun phrase. The second part describes some property, like size, shape, or color.

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  • Never heard of a noun phrase. I feel like I can finally use this kind of constructs with more confidence from now.
    – Gwangmu Lee
    May 15, 2022 at 9:56
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It was fairly simple. It's just that "who is" before "your own age" was omitted. I keep ignoring this kind of omitting is quite common.

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  • I disagree. There's nothing omitted. "Your own age" is simply a noun phrase modifying girlfriend.
    – BillJ
    May 14, 2022 at 18:33
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    @BillJ Yes, but it would be equally correct with "a girlfriend who is your own age", making this a kind of whiz-deletion.
    – stangdon
    May 14, 2022 at 18:44

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