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2011-12 LINGUA INGLESE 1 modulo A/B Introduction to English Linguistics prof. Hugo Bowles. Lesson 8 Syntax 1. Syntactic analysis – building a tree. For your exam you need to be able to analyse a simple sentence into its component parts and illustrate it as a tree structure - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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2011-12 LINGUA INGLESE 1 modulo A/BIntroduction to English Linguisticsprof. Hugo Bowles
Lesson 8
Syntax 1
1
Syntactic analysis – building a tree
For your exam you need to be able to analyse a simple sentence into its component parts and illustrate it as a tree structure
The aim of this lesson is to get you from words to sentences
So we start with words and build from there
Sentences
Sentences, like the morphology of individual words, can be analysed using trees to illustrate their phrase structure
In order to be able to analyse a sentence you need to understand the main grammatical categories
Grammatical categories
Nouns (N)dog, cat, apple, park etc.
Determiners (Det.)a, the, this, that etc.
Verbs (V)walk, come, go
Adjectives (A)big, black, hairy etc.
Adverbs (Adv)quickly, slowly etc.
Pronouns (PRO)he, she etc.
Prepositions (P)in, on, under, over etc.
From words to categories
Words have to be attached to their
grammatical category
dog the walks hairy park quickly in the
N Det V A Adv PN Det
… and then they have to be put in order
the hairy dog walks quickly in the park
Det A N V P DetAdv N
The base of the tree
words and categories are the base of the tree
the hairy dog walks quickly in the park
Det A N V P DetAdv N
From categories to phrases to sentences
words are connected to categories
categories combine to form phrases
phrases combine to form sentences
What kind of phrases are there?
Types of phrase
Noun phrase (NP) Verb phrase (VP) Prepositional phrase (PP) Adverb phrase (AdvP) Adjective Phrase (AP)
Phrases Each sentence contains
a subject and a predicate
the hairy dog walks quickly in the park
Syntactically these correspond to:
a and a
the hairy dog walks quickly in the park
noun phrase verb phrase
The top of the tree So the tree for any sentence (S) should start
like this:
This means that every sentence is made up of a noun phrase and a verb phrase
S
VPNP
The base of the tree
words and categories are the base of the tree
the hairy dog walks quickly in the park
Det A N V P DetAdv N
Connecting the tree
What we need to do is to connect:
the structure
at the top
of the tree
TO
the words of
the sentence
at the bottom
of the tree
the hairy dog walks quickly in the park
S
VPNP
Det A N V Adv P Det N
Connecting top and base
You need to start at the base of the tree and build more phrases on to the categories. These phrases could be:
Noun phrases Adverb phrases Prepositional phrases Adjective phrases
What about? The dog ?
The park?
A simple noun phrase (NP)
Determiner (Det.) + Noun (N) = Noun Phrase (NP)
the dog the park
Det
NP
N
NP
Det. N
Noun phrase (NP)
A name is also a noun and attaches to a noun phrase
Romeo
NP
N
What about ?
in the park
Prepositional Phrase (PP)
Preposition + NP = Prepositional Phrase (PP)
in + =
the park in the park
NP
Det N
P PP
P NP
Det N
What about ?
quickly
Adverb Phrase (Adv.P) When there is just one adverb, it
attaches to an Adverb Phrase (Adv.P)
quickly
Adv
Adv.P
What about
hairy
Adjective Phrase (AP) A single adjective attaches to an
Adjective Phrase (AP)
hairy
A
AP
More on adjectives Adjectives are often found in sentences
as modifiers of nouns:
the hairy dog
modifier of noun
In this case they form part of a more complex noun phrase …
More complex noun phrases
… and they are analysed like this:
the hairy dog
Det
NP
NA
AP
Now we go back to the sentence and start
to decorate the tree ………
Inserting the phrases
The subject NPis easy to insert……………….……………… but the VP is more difficult
the hairy dog walks quickly in the park
S
VPNP
Det A N V Adv P Det N
AP
First you attach the Verb
the hairy dog walks quickly in the park
S
VPNP
Det A N V Adv P Det N
AP
Then you attach the AdvP
the hairy dog walks quickly in the park
S
VPNP
Det A N V Adv P Det N
AP AdvP
Then you attach the PP
the hairy dog walks quickly in the park
S
VPNP
Det A N V Adv P Det N
AP AdvP NP
PP
What a complete tree looks like
a sentence
divides into a noun phrase ……………….. and a verb phrase
these attach to
phrases or
and categories categories
attach to words the hairy dog walks quickly in the park
S
VPNP
Det A N V Adv P Det N
AP AdvP NP
PP
How to analyse the syntactic structure of a simple sentence
It’s a bit like decorating a Christmas tree:
Write S NP + VP at the top Write the words of the sentence at the bottom Write the categories above the words Where necessary put the categories into phrase
structures (NP, Adv,P, AP, PP) Attach the phrase structures to the main NP and
VP
Step 1 – write S NP+VP at the top
S
VPNP
Step 2 – write the words at the bottom
the hairy dog walks quickly in the park
S
VPNP
Step 3 – write the categories of the words
the hairy dog walks quickly in the park
S
VPNP
Det A N V Adv P Det N
Step 4 – put the categories into phrase
structures where necessary
the hairy dog walks quickly in the park
S
VPNP
Det A N V Adv P Det N
AP AdvP NP
PP
Step 5 – attach the phrase structures to the main NP and VP
the hairy dog walks quickly in the park
S
VPNP
Det A N V Adv P Det N
AP AdvP NP
PP
Juliet
Juliet
N
loves
loves
V
Romeo
Romeo
N
Romeo/Juliet loves Juliet/Romeo
Juliet loves Romeo
Romeo Juliet
N N
NP
V
NP
S
VP
Romeo/Juliet loves Juliet/Romeo
Juliet loves Romeo
Romeo Juliet
N N
NP
V
NP
S
VP
6. He loves carrots
He loves carrots
PRO N
NP
V
NP
S
VP
7. The lamb followed Mary
The lamb followed Mary
Det N
NP
V
NP
S
VP
N
8. Beavers build dams
Beavers build dams
N
NP
V
NP
S
VP
N
9. The cat killed the mouse
The cat killed the mouse
Det N
NP
V
NP
S
VP
N Det
10. Jack killed the giant
Jack killed the giant
N
NP
V
NP
S
VP
N Det
11. She solved the mystery
She solved the mystery
N
NP
V
NP
S
VP
PRO Det
12. The witnesses helped her
The witnesses helped her
PRO
NP
V
NP
S
VP
DET N
13. Alice followed the rabbit
Alice followed the rabbit
N
NP
V
NP
S
VP
N Det.
14. Alice followed the white rabbit
Alice followed the white rabbit
N
NP
V
NP
S
VP
N Det. A.
AP.
15. Alice slowly followed the white rabbit
Alice slowly followed the white rabbit
N
NP
V
NP
S
VP
N Det. A.
AP.
Asv
Adv.P
HOMEWORK Please analyse the remaining
sentences on your handout as trees and bring them to the Syntax 2 lesson
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