Syntax

Class 1: Introduction to Constituents and Hierarchy

Katy Ryan, Centro Bizkaia

[email protected]
Resources:
• Katy Ryan • Ismael Teomiro
• Mª Angeles
[email protected] Escobar

Equipo
Tutor
Docente

Virtual
Textbook Syntax - A
• Forums course Generative
Turn on your Introdution
‘notificaciones’! Andrew Carnie
• Akademos (Textbook and
• Guía de estudios Workbook)
 What is syntax?
Syntax is the set of rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure of
sentences.
Syntax can be analysed at phrase and sentence level, and involves:
• Word order: The dog bit the man. ≠ The man bit the dog.
• Obligatory elements and their position: It was great.

This includes the explanation of agrammaticality, i.e. why a sentence is not

grammatically acceptable.
What is wrong with these sentences?
1. *I like very much skiing.
2. *Could you tell me where is my pen?
3. *They discussed the houses that is building the town council.
4. *Is raining.
Noam Chomsky: Generative Grammar (from Syntactic
Structures, 1957 to the current day).
Generative Grammar is a model of Language - what is happening
underneath the surface of a sentence.
Hypothesis: Sentences are generated by a subconscious set of procedures
like computer programmes and the goal is to model these procedures.
Chomsky’s model put syntax at the centre of the theory of language; it was
recognized as the focal point of language production, in which a series of
rules can produce an infinite number of sentences.
At the time of publication, Chomsky’s book was reviewed by Lees (1957):
What are we going to study in this course?
Chomsky’s system of Generative Grammar:
• X-bar theory
• Theta theory
• Movements underlying sentence structure

Most of this theory can be expressed in diagrams called trees.

When you finish the course you will be able to draw a
sentence in the form of a tree:
Tools for drawing trees
In these classes we will learn to draw syntax trees by hand, so that you can draw them
successfully and recognise them and the theory in the final exam.
However, there are tools on the internet for creating tidy trees, based on bracket notation. They
are not an obligatory part of the course, but they may be useful for consulting the ED in the
forums.
Syntax Tree Generator http://mshang.ca/syntree/ or phpsyntaxtree
http://ironcreek.net/phpsyntaxtree/
What’s a ‘wug’?
In 1958, Jean Berko Gleeson devised a test called The Wug Test to
prove that even very young children are able to produce correct plurals,
past tenses, and possessives of words that they have never heard
before. This gave experimental proof that language was not just
memorized from things children heard around them, but generated
from a set of innate rules. You can see the test done on a child on
YouTube, by searching for ‘The Wug Test’.
Or take it yourself…
The Wug Test
The Wug Test
Let’s do some
Syntax
Complementizers = conjunctions that can turn a clause into the subject or object of a sentence, e.g. That you didn’t know this
is not a problem.
What are the elements or phrases (P) that we can find in
a sentence? Guess which names go with the examples:
• Noun phrases (NP) 1. completely; very, very slowly
• Verb phrases (VP) 2. at her house; in the morning
• Adjective phrases (AdjP) 3. the subject; a new course; a very
• Adverb phrases (AdvP) complex idea
• Preposition phrases (PP) 4. _ arrived; _took the book; _made the
recipes carefully
• Tense phrase (TP)
5. new; completely new,
• Complementizer phrase (CP)
6. _that she was coming.
7. She arrived at the new house in the
morning.
These elements or phrases are called Constituents, and they are groups of
words that function as units. In bracket notation, each constituent has a bracket
around it.
e.g.
Noun phrases (NP): books; a book; a new book; a new book of
recipes.

A classroom:
Modifiers
Notice that inside a phrase (NP, VP etc) you can have other elements such
as determiners, adjectives and prepositions.
These are called modifiers.
Modifiers are referred to as being ‘sister’ to the modified word, and
‘daughter’ to the same phrase as the word they modify

Label the sister and daughter elements you see here:

Further examples of NPs

1. The friendly email

2. A very large dog

3. The latest video about cats

on the internet
Verb phrases (VP)
A verb phrase does not include the subject:
Verb phrases (VP)
A verb phrase does not include the subject:

We therefore have to add

a subject to the VP to make He
a sentence, which is called a TP (Tense Phrase) :
Now you:
• We love it
We love it:
Coordination
To coordinate two elements in identical constituent categories, we
use and, but, nor, or etc. The coordinator appears in the middle of
the XP separately.

black and white

leave now or stay forever

Now you:
2. The man spoke slowly and carefully.
2. The man spoke slowly and carefully.
Homework:
In the Textbook
Reading: pp 3-9 in Unit 1, and all of Unit 3.

In the Workbook:
Study WBE exercises 1-5 on pp. 20 and 21 in the workbook, and the
answer trees on pp 26-32. Test yourself to see if you can draw some
of the trees, and note how the constituents are grouped together.
 Syntax
Class 2, X-bar theory
The theory so far…
What have we learned so far?
- That sentences are hierarchically arranged into constituent components
and that constituents are groups of words that function together as a unit.
These hierarchies can be represented by tree structures or bracketed
diagrams.

Today, we see:
- An overarching rule to structure trees in more detail (X-bar theory)
- Tests to show how constituents can be applied to any sentence.
(Constituent structure varies across languages, e.g. the position of
adjectives in relation to nouns, or the position of noun phrases in relation
to verbs. We study mostly the constituent structure of English, but other
languages are referenced in Carnie).
X-bar
Up to now we have seen ‘flat’ stucture trees. Now we
move on to a more articulated type of tree called X-bar.
This is an example of a Noun phrase (NP) in X-bar
theory:
Noun phrases (NPs) in X-bar theory (2)
Noun phrases (NPs) in X-bar theory (3)
Now you:
A dog
A small dog (use a triangle for the AdjP for the moment, we haven’t
come to that yet)
Now you:
A dog
A small dog
Note: The NP always involves a D somewhere,
even if it is ‘invisible’: a null head, written Ø
Terminology: Specifiers and Heads
Specifier

A dog
A small dog

Head
(the nucleus of an XP)
More Terminology: Adjuncts
Adjunct

Adjuncts
(as many as you like in an XP)

Is an adjunct sister to an N’ or an N?
Contituency tests with X’
What about verbs?
Verb phrases (VPs) in X-bar theory
More terminology: Complements

Complement: the direct object of a verb

Is a complement the sister to a V’ or a sister

to a V?
Verb phrases (VPs) in X-bar theory

Here we see the verb with its complement, sister to V and a PP which
is an adjunct, sister to V’
Replacement Test for verbs
Can you see an adjunct?
Is ‘a fork’ an adjunct or a complement to the
head in this PP?
Complements and Adjuncts in an NP

Adjuncts
(as many as you like in an
XP)

Complement
(only one in any XP)

Complements: The ‘of +NP’ PP in an NP (e.g. a piece of cake), the direct object of a verb (She told me)
or the NP in a PP (at the pool). Complements correspond roughly to the ‘object’ of something.
Now you:
VP Loves snowy weather
Now you:
VP Loves snowy weather
Homework:
Textbook: Read Chapter 6. Workbook (ch.6): WB Exercises, esp. 6&7

• Optional extra exercise

“Throw physic to the dogs; I’ll none of it” Macbeth
This is a verb phrase, with the imperative ‘Throw’ as the head.
 Syntax
Class 3, X-bar theory extended (Chapter 7)
Homework
Throw physic to the dogs
Okay, so NPs are now going to get more complicated…
Now you:
Your name:
Now you:
Your name
Why? To permit us to insert the possessive s, also called the
’s genitive.
Genitive phrases in X’
Now you:
Banquo’s ghost
Now you:
Banquo’s ghost
Where do we add adjectives now that NP is a DP?
• The fearful hollow
Now a TP, with the new DP formulation:
• Edward laughs
• Edward laughs

Remember that a TP is sentence, or a Tense

Phrase. In the T we can indicate if a verb is
present, past or future.
For Present and Past tenses, we indicate the
tense with either ‘Pres’ or ‘Past’ and a null
sign, because the verb itself is in V.
Now you:
Sarah made lunch
Sarah made lunch
Some people laughed loudly
Some people laughed loudly
She makes lunch quickly on Saturdays
She makes lunch quickly on Saturdays
Homework
Start reading Chapter 7, and do WBE2
 Syntax
Class 4: Chapter 7 continued: CPs and Ambiguity
What did we learn last week?
That all NPs are now DPs, and that you must express a sentence as a TP,
or Tense phrase.

Now we must add another layer to the top of the tree: the CP, or
complement phrase.
We add a CP to the top of all trees: the CP will enable recursion to take place and for clauses
to be embedded.
Simple sentence examples:
Edward laughs, Sarah made lunch, Some people laughed loudly.
All TPs are now CPs
CPs: complement clauses
A) There are 3 types of embedded clause CPs:
Specifier clauses (subject to the verb, daughter to TP and sister to T’),
To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both
looks like carelessness.
Complement clauses (object to the verb, daughter to V’ and sister to V)
Cecily: When I see a spade I call it a spade. To call a spade a spade = llamar al pan, pan y al vino, vino

Gwendolen: I am glad to say that I have never seen a spade.

Adjunct clauses (extra information clauses such as relative clauses or adverb
clauses, sister to X’)
Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London society is full of women of the very
highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years.

Examples from The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde

(See also Carnie textbook page 213)
B) Clauses can also be divided into
1) Tensed (finite) clauses, with an inflected verb:
e.g. He said that she was already there.

The subject of a finite clause takes the Nominative Case.

2) Tenseless (non-finite/infinitival) clauses, with the
infinitive:
e.g. I wanted to go. I told him to go.

If there is a subject in the non-finite clause, it takes the

Accusative Case, as the object of the main clause.
B1) Embedded tensed (finite) clause:
We explained that the tree was right.
Now you:
Alex said that he was hungry
Now you:
Alex said that he was hungry
B2)
Embedded
tenseless
(non-finite)
clause:
He wanted to
see the show
Now you
He wanted me to see the show
Now you
He wanted me to see the show
Ambiguity
1. Ambiguity arising from transfer of
modification from one constituent to another:
1. I shot an elephant in my pyjamas:
1. Ambiguity arising from transfer of
modification from one constituent to another:
1. I shot an elephant in my pyjamas:
2. Ambiguity arising from closeness of adjectives
to a head
A French teacher = a) a teacher of French b) a teacher who has French nationality.
a) The word French is a complement
b) The word French is an adjunct
Which tree is which?

2
1
2. Ambiguity arising from closeness of adjectives
to a head
The French teacher = a) a teacher of French b) a teacher who is French.
a) The word French is a complement
b) The word French is an adjunct
Which tree is which? ‘English’ the language/subject
is a DP: ‘of the English
2 language’,
1 ‘English’ the nationality is an
AdjP

1. ‘a teacher who has French

nationality’
2. ‘a teacher of the French
language’
Now you: We like to meet English students.
We like to meet English students
‘English’ as the language/subject is a
DP, while ‘English’ as the nationality
is an AdjP

=Students who are English

=Students of English
Past question on ambiguity for homework:
1. I saw the man with the binoculars.

For more on ambiguity, see also p.97 in textbook and do WBE 6 in

Chapter 3 (p22, answer p.33)
Homework: Chapter 7, WBE 9 and turn the trees on p33 of the
Workbook into X-bar.
 Syntax
Class 5: Theta Roles, Unit 8
 I saw the man with my binoculars

=I saw the man, and

I used my binoculars
to see him

=I saw the man, and he

was the one with my
binoculars
P 33 Workbook, trees expanded in X’
 Ditransitive
verbs are
not within
the scope of
the exam, so
treat all
ditransitives
Note: Adjuncts which are optional are not arguments: as transitives
E.g. She put her clothes in the washing machine after the swimming class. for trees,
‘after the swimming class’= adjunct, not an argument of the verb ok?
GOAL__
__………
…..
Recipient
Put square
brackets
around the
internal
theta roles
Now you: Thematic relations:
Agent
Experiencer
Theme
Goal
Recipient
Source
Location
Instrument
Beneficiary
 Agent/
Experiencer
DP
Agent/Experiencer
Explain the ungrammaticality of the following sentences
(remember that having too many or too few arguments results
in ungrammaticality).

*Rosemary hates.

*Tracy gave a sweet.

*Jenny smiled the box.

Homework: WBE Chapter 8: exs 8, 9 & 10
Basque speakers read ex 6.
 Syntax
Class 6: Chapter 9, ‘Auxiliaries and Functional Categories’
Theta Grids for CPs and Determiners
Modals and Auxiliary Verbs
Theta grids for complementizers

Complementizers:
that
for
Ø
if/whether
The information given in the theta grid can then be drawn as a tree, e.g.
 Terminology:
‘selects for X’= takes X after them:
‘The indefinite article selects for a
singular noun’

Unlike verb theta grids, the grids for

determiners and auxiliaries don’t
indicate the thematic relations of the
arguments
Combinations of
all/the with
numbers
Verb forms: what goes in T in trees?
Ø pres
Ø past

…. and what else?

Auxiliaries: Theta grids for Perfect have, Progressive be and Passive be
These perfect, progressive and passive auxiliaries are ‘stacked’ in VPs.
If there is a modal, then they come after the modal in VP nodes:
 ‘Stacked’ modals + auxiliaries

The selectional restrictions

of each type of element
(e.g. [-perfect]) determine
what can appear as their
complement

Modals/Will >
Perfect aux >
Progressive aux >
Passive aux >
Verb
Now you: It should have been done.
Now you: It should have been done.
Now you: I have been feasting with mine enemy (Romeo and Juliet)
Now you: I have been feasting with mine enemy (Romeo and Juliet)
Now you:
Homework
WBE 13-16 (Ch 9)
Extra work:
Explain why this DP phrase is agrammatical, suggest a correct version
and draw the tree:
*Helen’s the three boys.
 Syntax
Class 7: Chapter 10, Head-to-Head movement
Homework
Extra work:
Explain why this DP phrase is ungrammatical,
suggest a correct version and draw the tree:
Helen’s the three boys.
It is only possible for the determiner ‘the’ to co-occur with
‘all’ and numerals. The theta grid shows that you cannot
have ‘the’ after ’s, but that it can be followed by a numeral:
DP
’s [-Definite article] [+numerals]

A correct version would be ‘Helen’s three boys’.

Movement
What is generated in T?

T....
M…
W…
D…
T…
What is generated in T?

Tense (past/pres)
Modals
Will
Do
To (infin)
Trees with modals and adverbs
How do we give ‘I have never heard’ the right word order?
By moving ‘have’ up into T.
This is called V-to-T movement, and affects auxiliary verbs,
which raise into T.

A small t is drawn in the

original place to
indicate a ‘trace’
Therefore T now contains:

Tense
Modals
Will
Do
To
Auxiliaries (moved)
Now you: Draw the movement lines for ‘We are
arriving/We are just arriving’.
But there’s more…

… and this one’s important

The Ø active voice node
VSO languages like Irish (‘Phog Maíre an lucharachán’= ‘Mary kissed a
leprechaun’) cause problems with possible word order, which has led to
the conclusion that D-structure (Deep structure) underlying a sentence
requires surface movement of DPs as well as auxiliaries so that you can
get S-structure (Surface structure).
To account for VSO languages, the DP subject must be generated further
down the tree and move up. In passives, there is no external argument
(subject) and it has been posited that all sentences have voice in them,
but that in the Active voice, the voice is null.
The idea is that subjects (external arguments) are generated in the
specifier of the null active VP.
We therefore have to add an ‘active voice’ VP node, and put the subject
into the specifier of this VP, before moving it up to the specifier of the
TP.
The active node will come just before the main verb (after any auxiliaries
that may appear).
Examples:
1: Molly dances.
What? Wait… a whole extra VP node?? No way!
2: Molly sometimes dances.
Now you: They smiled
Now you: They smiled
 Questions
1. To make a question with
an auxiliary (generated
in V, moved up to T) we
move it again, from T to
C.
This is called T to C
movement.
We also see the DP
movement of the
subject, generated in
the active node and
raised.
 Questions
2. For questions with ‘do’ we
insert the dummy verb
‘do/does/did’ into T and move it
up into C, where it gets correct
word order.
This is called Do-support, see
page 311 in Carnie.

We also see the DP movement

of the subject, generated in the
active node and raised.
Now you: Is she publishing books?
Now you: Is she publishing books?
Homework: WBE 5.

Extra practice: Did they work hard?

Syntax, Class 8
Unit 11
Homework
Did they work hard?
The Case Filter: All DPs must be marked with Case
Case in English is gained by locality: i.e. if the noun and the Case assigner
are not local (either in the specifier or the complement of the Case assigner)
then Case filter is violated. This accounts for adverbs coming after direct
objects as in I like the book very much; ‘the book’ cannot get ACC Case if it is
not next to the verb.
Passives
In passives, we have a problem with Case, because the direct object of
the verb has become the subject of the sentence:
The dog bit the man (active)
The man was bitten by the dog (passive).
In both sentences there is biting, and the dog does the biting in both
situations. The verb to bite requires a theme (object).
So what do we do? The theme (object) must be generated as the object
of the verb ‘bitten’, and then moved to get Case.
In this way, it does not violate the Case filter, and it fulfills the EPP (that
all sentences have subjects).
• The theme moves from the ACC position as an object of the verb to the
specifier of the TP, where it can get NOM Case.
• ‘was’ is raised from V to T, like all auxiliaries, and to accommodate
adverbs and NegP.
• ‘By the dog’ is then added as an adjunct.
The man was bitten by the dog
Now you: The PEC has not been published yet.
The PEC has not been published yet.
DP movement in the expletive structures:
‘She is likely/certain to’…and ‘He seems/appears to’
It is likely that he will go= He is likely to go (cf. one form in Spanish, Es probable que
vaya).
We remember from Chapter 8 that the phrase ‘It is likely that’, ‘it’ gets no theta role, as
an expletive, and the argument is the CP, which gets the theta role ‘proposition’.

Therefore if the subject of ‘is likely’ is a person, it must be assigned its Case from the CP
clause, and be raised to get S-structure.
Example; “I don’t think I am likely to marry, Harry. I am too much in love”. (The Picture of
Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde).
Dorian is the subject of the marrying, not the subject of the being likely.
Therefore we must generated ‘I’ further down the tree in the active CP clause, and move
it up, first to the specifier of the CP clause, where it potentially could go, and then to its
final place in the tree as the specifier of the TP of the main clause.
Homework
WBE Chapter 11, exs 1-6

Explain the ungrammaticality of the following sentence (think about

the theta grid for ‘make’) and suggest the correct sentence with a tree:
These shoes make in Spain.
 Syntax
Class 9: Wh- Movement (wh- questions and relative clauses)
[+Q,+WH]

t
 Insert the last movement arrow:

[NOM]
What did you do yesterday? Draw the last
movement:
Now you:
appears before
Now you: I have a friend who collects model planes.
Now you: I have a friend who collects model
planes.
Compound noun:
Homework:
WBE 1,2, 4 and 5
Extra sentences:
The flower pot which she bought.
 Syntax
Class 10: Wh- Islands
Homework: The flower pot which she bought.

N’

The tree for ‘peanut

butter’
WH- Movement recap
We move a WH- word from a lower position in the tree to the specifier
of the CP:
- In direct questions (with T-to-C raising): Why did you go?
- In indirect questions (no T-to-C raising):
I asked her why she had gone.
- In relative clauses (no T-to-C raising):
The student, who had gone out of the class, came back in again.
- In subordinate clauses (no T-to-C raising):
He arrived late, when the class had started.
Restrictions on wh- movement
Who do you think we saw?
(Compared with an indirect wh- question, where the main CP is not a
question: I wonder who you saw.)
Draw and justify the last movement:
Draw and justify the last movement:

Minimal Link
Condition:
Move to the
closest
potential
landing site.
It seems
that Mark is
likely to
have left.

See also
p341 in
coursebook
 Syntax
Class 12: Consolidation
Remember:
• The specifier of the CP is filled with WH words (either in direct or indirect questions).
Don’t put Subject DPs in the specifier of the CP.
• C is filled with ‘do support’, will and auxiliaries raised from T (T to C) to make questions
and it is filled with complementizers: that, if, for, whether, when, before, after, while etc.
• The specifier of the TP is filled with the DP subject, raised from the specifier of the active
node to get NOM case. The active node is situated above the main verb (under the VP
node for any auxiliaries). Phrases with ‘is likely’ and ‘seems’ generate the subject lower
down, so don’t put an active node for the main verb in these phrases.
• T is filled by Ø pres or Ø past, modals, will, do support for NegP/emphasis, auxiliaries
(be, have, do), to for the infinitive and the main verb to be, (but not other main verbs).
Test for T: does this word have to come before NegP? (NegP is sister to T).
• V to T: Only auxiliaries raise. Main verbs don’t raise to T, except the verb to be.
• Complements (direct objects) are sister to X. Adjuncts are sister to X’.
• All NPs are now DPs! Check that you remember how to do possessive ’s constructions.
• The words onto the tree are in their final position (S-structure), not D-structure.
• Thematic relations (one or more is grouped to make a theta role): Agent (doing)
Experiencer (feeling, perceiving), Theme (Object), Goal, Recipient, Source, Location,
Instrument, Beneficiary.
What possible sentence could this be?
Ambiguity:
a) An awesome pink carpet covered the floor.
b) He didn’t talk about the book on the island.
 Ungrammaticality
a)- identificar la violación del
principio sintáctico y explicarlo con
palabras.

A. Violation of the EPP, by which all

clauses must have a subject.
1. Susan did took the car B. The subject CP phrase ‘----’ should
2. Michael asked to a question be followed by a VP not by
3. Is sunny in the dining room another CP.
4. That Angus hates sushi that is C. There is an illegal do-support.
mysterious D. The theta grid of ‘------’ gives it a
theme argument which is a DP not
a PP.
What raises?
1. Passives?

2. Wh-words?

3. Main verbs?

4. Subject DPs?

5. Secondary auxiliaries? (e.g. I have been told)

6. The verb to be?

7. The verb to have?

8. Do support in questions?

9. Do for emphasis?
What raises?
1. Passives? YES, FROM THE –ACC POSITION AS COMPLEMENT TO THE VERB

2. Wh-words? YES, FROM THE -ACC POSITION THEY WOULD OCCUPY AS ANSWERS TO A WH QUESTION

3. Main verbs? NO

4. Subject DPs? YES, FROM THE SPECIFIER OF THE ACTIVE NODE

5. Secondary auxiliaries? (e.g. I have been told) NO

6. The verb to be? YES, WHETHER AUXILIARY OR MAIN VERB. It needs to be before NegP. We are not afraid.

7. The verb to have? ONLY IF IT IS AN AUXILIARY. If it is a main verb, you don’t want to put it before NegP.
*I have not a car

8. Do support in questions? YES, T TO C

9. Do for emphasis? NO
‘To be’ raises around adverbs of frequency.

The ED says that copula be (main verb) is not selected for by a

voiced head, so there is no active node here, as in passives.
A few more funny ambiguities

I went on a course for understanding people in Ipswich.

Police Help Dog Bite Victim

Angry cow injures farmer with axe.

Stephen Pinker (The Language Instinct, 1994) says,
“Evidence for the claim that the mind contains blueprints for
grammatical rules comes out of the mouth of babes.”
Chomsky’s Generative Grammar attempts to explain the
underlying structure within all natural languages and attempts to
prove Universal Grammar.
The Syntax trees you have studied in this course can be applied
to any language and used to explain systematic differences in
structure.
That’s the end of the course…
You are now Syntax Ninjas,

and you all deserve a medal!

Maybe you could get an OBE, The Order of the British Empire…

No, wait, there’s a better medal for you…

GOOD LUCK IN THE FINAL EXAM…

AND FORGET SYNTAX DO NOT YOUR!