Transcript Syntax final

Morphology was shown to deal with the internal
structure of words.
When words are put together to form longer units, up
to the sentence, is the area of Syntax. Because these two
areas are interconnected and interdependent, they have
often been grouped together and studied
under the name GRAMMAR.
* Traditional Approach :
Grammar
Morphology + Syntax
* Modern Approach :
Grammar
Phonology+ Morphology+ Syntax+
Semantics
-Nowadays, the term Grammar includes much more
than that. On one hand, it embodies the sound
system of language i.e. Phonology; on the other
hand, it deals with the meaning system, i.e.
Semantics.
-As quite obvious to you through studying
Grammar courses, words are not put together
haphazardly to form sentences. There are certain
patterns that the words are strung together into and
certain rules that govern word arrangement.
-This is what we are going to learn in this unit.
WHAT IS “SYNTAX”?
Knowing a language includes the ability 
to construct phrases and sentences out of
morphemes and words. The part of the
grammar that represents a speaker’s
knowledge of these structures and their
formation is called “syntax”. In other
words, syntax is the study of sentence
patterns of language. The aim of this study
is to show you what syntactic structure is
and what the rules that determine
syntactic structure are like.
What meant by “structure” here, is word 
order. The meaning of a sentence depends
on the order in which words occur in a
sentence. Compare the following
sentences: I sing because I am happy. I am
happy because I sing. The two sentences
above have the same categories and
number of words, but different in
structure(words order); thus, they have
different meanings.
SYNTACTIC CATEGORY
Syntactic category is a set of words and/or
phrases in a language which share a
significant number of common
.characteristics
Syntactic categories commonly include: 
Parts of Speech: (Determiner, Adjective,
Noun, Pronoun, Preposition, Adverb,
Auxiliary, Verb), etc.;

Phrase Structure Grammars: (Noun Phrase, .1
Adjective Phrase, Verb Phrase, Adverb Phrase,
Preposition Phrase); and Sentence, as the core
of the structure.
The syntactic categories are illustrated in a .1
tree diagram, called phrase structure tree ,
by supplying the name of the syntactic
category of each word grouping. These
names are often referred to as syntactic
labels (usually written by the initials of the
categories), such as:
Sentence :S, Determiner : Det. , Adjective
: Adj. Adverb : Adv. ,Noun :N, Verb :V ,
Pronoun : Pro Syntactic, Preposition :P,
Auxiliary Verb : Aux, Preposition Phrase :
PP, Adverb Phrase : AdvP Adjective
Phrase : AdjP, Noun Phrase : NP, Verb
Phrase : VP

The phrase:
There are different kinds of phrases, depending on
the head-word used in each.
- Thus, a noun phrase NP consists of a noun (as the
head- word)
Examples:
man
The man
The young man
The clever young man
The clever young man in the garden
- The Noun Phrase = NP
It is a group of words or ( a word), the head which
is a noun or any structure functions as a noun :
For example:
Girl
The girl
The young girl
The clever young girl
The clever young girl in the park
Notice that noun phrases don’t have a finite verb, but
it can have, a non-finite verb : waiting.
Reminder: All verbs are finite except the following:
- The infinitive : to come, to go
- The present participle: coming, going
- The past participle: come, gone
-The young man threw the old dog a bone.
-John built his eldest daughter a fine house
IO
DO
A simple sentence may have more than one noun
phrase.
- Verb Phrase VP:
A verb phrase consists of a verb and all the words
and word groups that belong with the verb and
cluster around it.
Examples:
-went
-soon went
-was going home
-was walking along the road
-may have arrived when the plane was landing
1-In this clause the head-word is the verb. The
others that go with it may be auxiliaries,
modifiers, indirect objects, subjective
complements, objective complements.
2- In the above examples we have:
-Modifiers, e.g.: soon, out, along the road, when
the plane was landing ,
- Auxiliaries, e.g.: was, may , have
Here are examples on the others:
- Direct object= ate an orange
- Indirect object= gave Mary a dress
- Subjective complement: is a doctor
- Objective complement: elected him captain
NB … These are the two most important types of
phrases because every sentence is made up of a noun
phrase ( traditionally called subject), and a verb
phrase ( traditionally called predicate).
Adjective Phrase = AP
is a group of words with an adjective as the
head word - which modifies the noun - describing
words which occur with nouns.
- The answer seems clear
- The extremely difficult question
Here the phrase precedes the noun question which it
modifies.
Adverb Phrase = AdP
is a group of words – with an adverb as the
head word – that functions like an adverb.
-Adverbs often add information in relation to
circumstances of manner, time, or place ..
Examples:
- He is talking too quickly.
- The baby cried loudly.
Preposition Phrase PP:
is a group of words that begins with a preposition.
Examples:
- He always travels by train.
- John is always late for class.
“A clause is a group of words which contains a finite
verb but which cannot occur in isolation; that is, a
clause constitutes only part of a sentence “
( Todd: 63)
- If it can occur in isolation, it becomes a simple
sentence, but in longer sentences, especially complex
sentences, we usually have a main clause and one or
more dependent clauses.
What is “Clause”?1. A clause is a group of
words that contains a subject and
predicate, and functioning as a member of
a sentence.2. A clause is the smallest
grammatical unit that contains minimally
a subject and a predicate, that can or
cannot express a complete thought or
idea.

There are two kinds of clauses:1. Main 
clause (independent clause), a clause that
can stand alone as a sentence (can make
sense by itself); also known as a
simplesentence.2. Subordinate clause
(dependent clause), a clause that add the
additional information to the main clause,
but which cannot stand alone as a sentence.
In a complex sentence, at least consists of
one main clause and one subordinate
clause, for example: “He believed that the
earth was round”. main clause subordinate
clause
Clauses are usually classified according to their function in
the longer sentence:
A- A noun clause:
is a group of words which has a finite verb and
functions like a noun, e.g. :
-She said that she was sorry . (D.O.)
-What you are doing is unacceptable (Subj.)
B- An Adjective clause: (usually called relative clause)
modifies a noun,
e.g.:
- The girl (whom) you have just seen is my sister.
- The story (which) you are reading seems very
interesting.
C- An Adverbial Clause:
Functions like an adverb, i.e.
- When the student arrived, the lecture had already
begun.
- John failed the test because he had not worked hard
enough.
ADVERBIAL CLAUSE
. An adverbial clause functions like an .1
adverb in giving information about the
reason, manner, time, place, concession,
condition, or purpose of an action that
occurred. The name "adverbial" suggests
that adverbial clauses modify verbs; but
they modify whole clauses.
SOME EXAMPLES OF ADVERBIAL
CLAUSE
. I did this work, because this work is part 
of my educational project. (reason)
2. He ate as if he were starving for 
months. (manner)
3. Before you go, bring me some water. 
(time)
4. Put it where we can see it. (place) 
5. Even though we treat her kindly, she is 
suspicious of us. (concession)
6. Unless you study hard, you will fail in
this exam. (condition)
7. We need to eat so that we may live. 
(purpose)

We can roughly say that, in the light of our definitions
of phrase and clause, the sentence is a clause that can
stand on its own , i.e., it is an independent clause :
Examples:
- John ran home.
- Don’t wait for me.
- Is Reema a good student?
- What a glorious morning?
As you can see from the examples given above, there
are different types of sentences.
A sentence is a grammatical unit 
consisting of one or more words that bear
minimal syntactic relation to the words
that precede or follow it, expresses a
thought in the form of a statement,
question, instruction, or exclamation,
which starts with a capital letter and ends
with a full stop when written.
Sentence can be classified based on the .1
categories of Pragmatic Aspect, Form, and
Grammatical Structure
Based on the Pragmatic Aspect (realistic
condition of the usage), sentence can be
classified into: •Declarative Sentence
•Imperative Sentence3•Interrogative
Sentence •Exclamatory Sentence
.2
What are the types of sentences?
Sentences are usually divided into four types:
1- Declarative sentences : which make statements ,
e.g.:
- My brother came home late last night.
- We shall go to the market tonight.
- I don’t agree to what you are saying.
2- Imperative sentences: which give order and make
requests, e.g.:
- Come here
- Don’t go yet.
- Pass the sugar, please.
3- Interrogative Sentences: which ask questions.
- Have you got enough money for the trip?
4- Exclamatory Sentences: which express surprise,
anger, admiration etc.
- What a beautiful lady !
- What a fool you are !
Another classification focuses on the structure:
A- A simple sentence: contains only one finite verb, e.g.:
-Hatim has been absent for a weak.
B- A compound sentence: consists of two or more simple
sentences joined by means of one of the coordinating
conjunctions: and, but, so etc.
-The professor entered the lecture hall and (he)started
the lecture.
C- A complex sentence: consists of one main clause and
one more subordinate clause ; e.g.:
- He left the station after he had seen his friend off.
D- A compound complex sentence:
a combination of two or more
complex sentences.
- I saw him when he entered the building but I
didn’t see him when he left.
Which specify the constituency of syntactic categories
in the language.
- According to this approach, we label the elements
that emerge every time a sentence is cut.
Consider the following sentence:
- The teachers praised the students;
The first cut would produce :
- The teacher: Noun Phrase (NP)
- Praised the students : Verb Phrase (VP)
The second step produces:
- Praised as the verb (v), and
- The students as another Noun Phrase.
Next, we divide the teachers and the students into their
two components each, i.e.
- The as a determiner (Det.),
And
- teachers/ students : as a noun (N)
Finally, to make this analysis clearer, we can turn the
whole process into a diagram thus:
Phrase Structure Rules





If we look at phrases, some patterns emerge:
Det
N
the instructor = NP
Det N
a friend = NP
Det
N
some homework = NP
Det
N
two classes = NP
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The main phrase structure rules
1. S  NP VP
2. NP  {Det N, Pro, PN}
3. VP  V (NP) (PP) (Adv)
4. PP  P NP
5. AP  A (PP)
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Phrase Structure Rules





some more patterns:
V Det N
call the instructor= VP
V
Det N
meet a friend = VP
V Det N
do some homework = VP
V
Det N
skip two classes = VP
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PSR





and yet more patterns:
Prep Det
N
with the instructor= PP
Prep Det N
from a friend = PP
Prep Det
N
with some homework = PP
Prep Det N
after two classes = PP
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PSR




Rules for determining the structure of
phrases
Generate a lot of sentences from a small
number of rules.
The structure of a phrase will consist of one
or more constituents in a certain order.
What does a NP consist of?

“noun phrases have a Det and a N”
NP
Det N
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Lexical Rules

We need lexical rules to specify which
words can be used when we rewrite
constituents such as N.



PN
N
Pro
{Mary, George}
{girl, boy, dog}
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PSR

V
Det
N
V Det N
V
Det N
run a marathon eat the food read the book

V Prep Det N
go to the store
V
Det
N
V Prep Det N
talk with a teacher
Prep Det N
take your sister to the library


“Verb phrases have a V, (sometimes) an NP,
and (sometimes) a PP”
VP -> V (NP) (PP)
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(Sub-tree)
NP
Det.
The
N
bus
The Phrase Structure Rule which makes this explicit
can be stated as:
NP
Det.+ N
This rule conveys two facts:
- A Noun Phrase can be a Det. Followed by a Noun.
- A Det. Followed by a Noun is a Noun Phrase.
VP
VP
V+NP
V+NP+PP
Phrase Structure Rules & tree
diagrams


NP  (Det) N
PP  P NP
The boy (NP)
Det
N
The
boy
the boy in the yard
NP
Det
N
PP
P
NP
Det
The
boy
in the
N
yard
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Phrase Structure Rules


VP  V (NP) (PP)
S  NP VP
took the money (VP)
V
NP
Det
took
the
took the money from the bank
VP
V
N
NP
Det
money
PP
N
P
NP
Det
took
the money from the
N
bank
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Example (1)
The old tree swayed in the wind
S
NP
Det
Adj
VP
N
V
PP
P
NP
Det
The
old
tree
swayed
in the
N
wind
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Example (2)
The children put the toy in the box
S
NP
Det
VP
N
V
NP
Det
PP
N
P
NP
Det
The
children
put
the
toy
in the
N
box
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Example 3
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