Syntax
Part 1
What is Syntax ?
The analysis of phrases and sentences
: It studies the way words are
combined with each other to form
grammatical sentences in a rulegoverned way.
Deep Structure & Surface Structure
Surface Structure :the superficial or
apparent structure of sentence.
It relates to the order of elements
,i.e, the grammatical(syntactic) form
of a sentence.
For example,
Nora broke the window
the window was broken by Nora.
Two sentences with different surface
structures.
The first is active
The second is passive
The deep structure : it is the underlying
abstract structure in which the
elements determining structural
interpretation are represented.
It relates to the abstract , underlying
meaning of a sentence.
The same deep structure can be the
source of other surface structures
such as
It was Nora who broke the window
Was the window broken by Nora ?
Structural Ambiguity
Annie bumped into a man with an
umbrella.
It has two different underlining meanings
,but the same surface structure.
Thus, this sentence is structurally
ambiguous.
What is Structural Ambiguity ?
A situation in which a single phrase or sentence
has two or more different underlying
structures and interpretations.
Small boys and girls
Recursion
We can embed phrases within phrases of the
same type.
Example,
The gun was on the table near the window in the
bedroom.
This is the dog that chased the cat that killed
the rat that ate the fruit.
Recursion :the repeated application of
a rule in generating structures
There is no end to the recursion that would
produce ever longer versions of complex
sentences with this structure.
This one feature of grammar. A sentence can
have another sentence inside it or that a
phrase can be repeated
Syntactic Structure Analysis
Symbols used in syntactic analysis
p.101
Tree Diagram
The boy
NP
ART
The
boy
Tree diagram : a diagram with branches
showing the hierarchical organization
of structures
Types of phrases
Noun phrase (NP)
Verb phrase(VP)
Prepositional phrase(PP)
Every phrase has at least one nonoptional (obligatory)element.
NP always has N
VP always has V
PP always has Prep
Phrase structure rules
Phrases are governed by rules
.Theses rules are called phrase
structure rules
Phrase Structure rules
They are rules that state that the
structure of a phrase of a specific
type consists of one or more
constitutes in a particular order
Noun Phrase
NP
{(Art) (Adj) N ,Pro ,PN}
A noun phrase consists of either
An article + an optional adjective + N
A pronoun
A proper noun
NP
{Art (Adj) N ,Pro ,PN}
Examples,
The cat
The cute cat
He
Mohammed
The cat
The cute cat
The cat
The cute cat
NP
NP
Art
The
cat
Art
N
Adj
The
cute
cat
Prepositional Phrase (PP)
PP
Prep NP
"A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition
and a noun phrase."
Examples
With an umbrella
Behind the tree
On the table
With an umbrella
With an umbrella
PP
NP
Art
with
an
umbrella
Verb Phrase
VP
V (NP) (PP) (Adv)
"A verb phrase is composed of a verb plus an
optional noun phrase plus an optional
prepositional phrase and optional adverb
Examples :
Mona left
Mona left the house
Mona put the bag on the table
Mona left the house quickly
Mona left
Mona left the house
Mona left
VP
Mona left the house
VP
Left
NP
Art
left
the
N
house
Mona left the house quickly
Mona left the house quickly
VP
V
NP
Art
left
the
Adv
N
house
quickly
NP VP
A dog followed the boy
S
NP
Art
VP
N
dog
followed
NP
Art
the
N
boy
Draw a tree diagram to illustrate the phrase
structure rule in the following sentences
Nora found the keys quickly
Tom runs fast
Mona put the bag on the table
A small boy saw George with a crazy dog
