Syntax

Syntax: Heads and Phrases

• Words are organized into phrases and clauses• Each phrase is of a particular syntactic

category (Noun Phrase, Verb Phrase, Adjective Phrase,, ect), and each has a head (noun, Verb, Adjective, etc)

• Phrase structure rules provide us with a way to draw, or diagram phrases and to capture certain important generalizations about how syntactic structure is organized.

Cont…

• The largest phrase is the clause, a syntactic unit consisting of a subject and a predicate.

• Clauses are independent or subordinate, depending on whether they are contained in larger phrases.

Syntax

• System of rules and principles that describe how we organize words into phrases and phrases into larger units, the largest being the clause; also the study of this system.

• The position of the word in the sentence is often the only way we know its syntactic category (parts of speech).

• E.g: The girl goes on many long walks. The girl walks the dogs.

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• 1. walks is a noun;it occurs to the right of long, the adjective that modifies it.

• 2. walks is a verb; it occurs after the subject the girl, and before the object, the dogs

• Syntax is that words can be grouped or combined in certain ways.

• E.g. Six hungry gorillas spotted the sandwiches.

• Six hungry gorillas spotted the sandwiches.

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• Sentence is a general term for a long string of words but sentences can be made up of one or more clauses, syntactic units.

e.g. The gorillas thought that they spotted the sandwiches when they were strolling through the jungle.

The sentence above contains two smaller clauses.

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• Phrase: syntactic unit (NP, VP, etc.) headed by a syntactic category (N,V,etc).

• Independent and dependent clause

Nouns and Noun Phrases

• The granflons ? Nonsense word– Parts of speech? Noun because English nouns usually follow a certain set of words (in this case, the determiner, the)

• Quantifiers, numerals, and determiners are all functional categories (Det)

• * eight all dogs , all eight dogs• Certain nouns need no determiner at all; generic nouns

and mass nouns.• E.g. Lions roar. (generic plural noun)• Madawi makes lovely jewelry. (mass noun)

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• Proper names usually occur without determiners, too.

• Sarah walked in the door. (proper noun)• *The Sarah walked in the door.• Some proper nouns do take determiners,

however,• The Eifel Tower is an amazing building.• The New York Mets played a game yesterday.

A phrase Structure rule for noun Phrases

• Phrase structure– a system of rules that organizes words into larger units or phrases.

• Descriptions and generalizations about the syntax of nouns and the categories that introduce nouns are aspects of phrase structure and can be expressed by phrase structure rules for the larger syntactic unit, the Noun Phrase, or NP.

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• In phrase structure rules, items in parentheses are optional.

e.g. NP – (D) N D – these, six, all, every, the/a“ an NP can contain a determiner (optional) and

must contain a noun.”The syntactic structure is divided into phrases

and each phrase must have a head.

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• So a NP must contain at least a noun and a VP must contain at least a verb.

• The head of the phrase is the most important part because it determines the category of the phrase.

• All the elements that combine to form a phrase are called constituents. So, N is the head of NP, a phrase that can also include D. Both D and N are constituents of NP.

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• A graphic representation of phrase structure:

NP NP

these mangoes four mangoes NP

all mangoes

Verb and Verb Phrases

• Verbs in English has 5 forms: infinitive, present tense, past tense, present participle, and past participle

• Syntactically, verbs can be divided into three groups: auxiliary, main, and modal

Main verbs: feel, go, eat, run, hopeAfnan feels happy.Deema went on a trip.

Cont…• Ashwag ate kabsa.• Obama hopes to win the election• Samar ran the Marathon.Auxiliary verbs: have, beFatimah has eaten too much candyNoura is running for his life.Modal verbs: may,might,shall, should, will, would,

can, could, mustHanadi may, might, shall, should, will, would, can,

could, must go on a cruise.

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• Auxiliary, main, and modal verbs occur in a certain order in English. The following sentences illustrate the various combinations of the main verb read with auxiliary and model verbs. These combinations follow a particular syntactic pattern:

• Thekra should have been reading under the umbrella.

• Afrah should be reading under the umbrella.• Faridah should read under the umbrella

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• Latifah read under the umbrella.• *Thekra have should been reading under the umbrella.• *Afrah should reading be under the umbrella.• *Faridah read should under the umbrella.In addition to a main verb, the VP can include as

many as 3 other verbs. These options include a modal (which, if present, must come first) and as many as two auxiliary verbs, forms of have or be.

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• Modal + have+ be+ main verbMight have been sleeping• Modal+ have + main verbMight have slept• Modal + be+ main verbMight be sleeping• Modal + main verb might sleep

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• Have + main verb -- has slept• Have + be + main verb-- has been sleeping• Be+ main verb -- is sleeping• Main verb-- slept• Main verbs are not optional in the sentence:(modal) (have) (be) main verb

A Phrase Structure Rule for Verb Phrases

• VP – (Aux) V• Aux – modal, have , beWith these rules, we can draw the following trees: VP VP VP

Aux V Aux V VHas eaten will eat eats

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• Negation– causing a statement to have the opposite meaning by inserting not between Aux and V.

• Negation: have/be/modal + not Tarfah is not playing a game of chess. Ara has not played a game of chess. Dania must not play a game of chess.Main verbs can’t occur in this position:*Dana played not a game of chess.

Subject-Auxiliary Inversion• Subject-auxiliary inversion (SAI) is a movement of an

auxiliary verb to sentence initial position (preceding the subject) to form a question.

• E.g. Nouf is singing the Nasyid. Is Nouf singing the Nasyid? Razan has played an excellent game of

tennis. Has Razan played an excellent game of

tennis? Rawan can play an excellent game of basketball. Can Rawan play an excellent game of basketball?

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• Main verbs in English cannot undergo SAI.• E.g. Nouf sings the Nasyid. *Sings Nouf the Nasyid?Another difference between English main verbs

and Aux verbs is that only Aux verbs can occur in tag questions, questions that are added on to the end of the sentence by a rule we’ll refer to as tag question formation.

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• E.g. Nouf is singing the Nasyid, isn’t she? Razan can’t play tennis, can she? Rawan has played an excellent game of basketball, hasn’t she?Main verbs cannot occur in tag questions, which is

why we cannot produce sentences such as this: *Rawan played an excellent game of basketball, playedn’t she?

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• To summarize the difference between Aux and main verbs in English: Only Aux verbs

--- undergo SAI ---occur to the left of not ---show up in tag questions

English Do insertion• What happens if there is no auxiliary element in a

sentence?• E.g. Nouf sings/sang the Nasyid.• Rawan plays/played a game of basketball.• In such a case, do is inserted. This is done in cases

where the modal and the aux are absent.• Do insertion• To perform subject-auxiliary inversion, negation, and

tag question formation, insert do in Aux if Aux is otherwise empty.

• Emphatic do functions as something that is stressed.

Adjectives and Adjective Phrases• Adjectives are describing words: tall, happy,

enormous.• They can be modified by members of the

functional category Deg which stands for degree, such as so, too, very, rather, quite

• The [rather enormous ] hog. Deg AdjPhrase structure rule for adjectives:AP—( Deg) ADeg--- very, so, rather

Adjective Phrase Positions• Adj modify N, they occur in certain positions. One position is called

prenominal position, or before a noun in a noun phrase.• E.g the enormous hog• six enormous hogs• all very happy children• They can also occur in postnominal position, right after the noun in

a NP• E.g. Something wicked• the options available• the heir • So the phrase structure rule for NP to include pre and post nominal

adjective phrases:• NP---(D) (AP) N (AP)

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• Adjective phrases also occur in predicate position, immediately after linking verbs—verbs that link the subject with an adjective phrase that describes it.

• Examples of linking verbs: remain, appear, become, and be, and “sense” verbs feel, taste,look, smell, and sound.

• The hog remained/appeared/became/is/seemed enormous.

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• The beef tasted/smelled very funny.• The VP rule looks like this: VP--- AuxV (AP)

Adverbs and Adverb Phrase• Not all adverbs end will –ly• E.g still, never, often, fast, usuallyy, just perhaps,

even, fortunately, once, twice, also, forcibly, sometimes

• Adverb phrases can also be modified by degree (Deg) words such as:

• Very dejectly, so slowly, awfully happily• Some adverbs that can’t be modified by degree

words are; *very once, *so sometimes,• *awfully yet

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• Phrase structure rule for adverb phrases: Adv– (Deg) AdvAdverb phrases modify verbs and even the entire clauses.

They contribute information about time, manner, reason, place, or cause (among other things).

E.g. They marched clockwise around the field. (manner)Luckily, the beagle ate the dog food before the cat did.

(speaker attitude)The dog always runs around after he eats. (frequency)The dishes aren’t done yet. (aspect: completion)

Adverb Phrase Positions

• Most adverb phrases can occur at the beginning or at the end of the sentence, and many can also appear in positions internal to the sentence.

• E.g. Happily/luckily/still, the beagles ate their dog food. The beagles happily/luckily, still ate their dog food. The beagles ate their dog food happily/luckily/still.So Adv phrases can occur anywhere, with some

restrictions.Draw the tree diagrams--

Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases

• Prepositions are in the functional category because they are closed class, we don’t add prepositions to the language.

• But prepositions have complex meanings such as these phrases:

• Near the table and on the table– and for this reason, prepositions are best categorized as a lexical category.

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• Syntactically, prepositions are typically followed by NP objects:

• In/on/under/over/around/above the rocks (preposition + NP)

• Some prepositions can be modified by degree words such as right, straight, clear, e.g:

• She ran right/straight/clear into/on/under/over/around/above the rock

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• Prepositions can also be followed by a VP and another PP.

• You should never eat right before going for a run.• You can see wildflowers growing out under the

tree• Phrase structure rule for Prepositional Phrase:• PP ---- (Deg) P (XP) • Draw the tree diagrams:

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• PP can occur in a number of different positions in the clause.

• After verbs in a VP.• She [slept under the stars/in a sleeping

bag/on a bed of straw].• Another common position in which we find PP

is in NP, as a modifier of N.• [She picked the grey kitten with white paws]

Summary

• Phrase structure rules are just a way of representing some of the basic unconscious knowledge we all have as speakers.

• NP– (D) (AP) N (XP)• D– that, ten, some, the• VP– Aux V (XP)• Aux—modal, have, be• AP—(Deg) A

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• AdvP--- (Deg) Adv• PP --- (Deg) P (XP)• Deg– very so, too, clear, etc*• * the member of the category Deg that modify

prepositions are a little different from those that modify adjectives or adverbs.

Clauses

• Clause—syntactic phrase made up of at least a subject (NP) and a predicate (VP)

• Is the largest syntactic phrase made up of NP + VP. The NP is the subject and the VP predicate.

• Phrase structure rule for clauses (CI): CI---NP VPExamples: the tapir is eating leaves

cont

• The very dirty worm seemed sad CI

NP VP

D AP N AUX V AP Deg A AThe very dirty worm seemed sad

Subjects and Predicates• A subject is usually the doer of the action, but not all are

agentive. Some examples are:• It is raining.• There is a mouse in the hallway.• That is simply ridiculous!• Semantic definition of the subject is different from the

syntactic one.• Example: The cat chased the mouse. (active)• The mouse is chased by the cat. (passive)• The NP (2nd e.g) the mouse is in the syntactic subject

position. Subject of a sentence is from the syntactic position.

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• The predicate of a sentence is rather difficult to describe in terms of meaning, but simple to describe it syntactically: the predicate is the VP of the clause.

• The predicate is syntactically everything that’s not the subject:

• The cat chased the mouse.• The mouse was chased by the cat.

Independent and Subordinate clauses

• Subordinate clause is a clause that is contained in another constituent.

• E.g. I think that Sumaya claimed that Atheer believed that Amal said that Abeer detests chocolates.The above sentence has a NP and a very large

VP. All the underlined clauses are subordinate.

Cont…• Draw a tree diagram.• Subordinate clauses come in a variety of types.• E.g. The teacher thinks that Bashayir is very intelligent.• We wonder who took the exam.• The students believe the teacher to be kind.• That birds can fly is a proven fact.• The person whom I know from work was on the news

yesterday.• The entire (largest) clause is called an independent

clause because it is not contained inside another constituent.

What is a sentence?• A sentence can include any number of clauses (both

independent and subordinate) and, when written, can be of any length.

• Using different types of punctuation (colons, semicolons, dashes) it’s possible to string together any number of clauses and call the entire thing a “sentence”.

• So, a sentence is (at least) a clause and sometimes more. A short sentence, then could be something like Leave!

• Sentence is more of an abstraction than a syntactic unit.