2011-12 LINGUA INGLESE 1 modulo B Introduction to English Linguistics prof. Hugo Bowles Lesson 7 Syntax

Syntactic analysis For your exam you need to be able to analyse a simple sentence into its component parts. 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 N Adv P Det

Nos. 1, 2, 3 Juliet loves Romeo N V N

… and then they have to be put in order the hairy dog walks quickly in the park Det A N V Adv P Det 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

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 S NP VP 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 NP VP

The bottom of 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 the hairy dog walks quickly in the park S NP VP Det A N V Adv P Det N

Connecting top and bottom You need to start at the bottom 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 NP NP Det N 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 P PP NP P NP Det N 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.P Adv

What about hairy

Adjective Phrase (AP) A single adjective attaches to an Adjective Phrase (AP) hairy AP A

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 NP AP Det N A

Now we go back to the sentence and start to decorate the tree ………

Inserting the phrases The subject NP is easy to insert……………….……………… but the VP is more difficult the hairy dog walks quickly in the park S NP VP AP Det A N V Adv P Det N

First you attach the Verb the hairy dog walks quickly in the park S NP VP AP Det A N V Adv P Det N

Then you attach the AdvP the hairy dog walks quickly in the park S NP VP AP AdvP Det A N V Adv P Det N

Then you attach the PP the hairy dog walks quickly in the park S NP VP AP AdvP Det A N V Adv P Det N

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 NP VP PP NP AP AdvP Det A N V Adv P Det N

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

Step 2 – write the words at the bottom the hairy dog walks quickly in the park S NP VP

Step 3 – write the categories of the words the hairy dog walks quickly in the park S NP VP 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 NP VP PP NP AP AdvP Det A N V Adv P Det N

Step 5 – attach the phrase structures to the main NP and VP the hairy dog walks quickly in the park S NP VP PP NP AP AdvP Det A N V Adv P Det N

4. Juliet loves Romeo Juliet loves Romeo S NP VP NP N V N

5. Romeo loves Juliet Romeo loves Juliet S NP VP NP N V N

Romeo/Juliet loves Juliet/Romeo Juliet loves Romeo Romeo Juliet S NP VP NP N V N

6. He loves carrots He loves carrots S NP VP NP PRO V N

7. The lamb followed Mary The lamb followed Mary S NP VP NP Det V N N

8. Beavers build dams Beavers build dams S NP VP NP V N N

9. The cat killed the mouse NP VP NP Det V N Det N

10. Jack killed the giant Jack killed the giant S NP VP NP V N Det N

11. She solved the mystery She solved the mystery S NP VP NP V PRO Det

12. The witnesses helped her NP VP NP DET N V PRO

13. Alice followed the rabbit S NP VP NP N N V Det.

14. Alice followed the white rabbit S VP NP NP AP. N V Det. A. N

15. Alice slowly followed the white rabbit VP NP NP Adv.P AP. N Asv V Det. A. N

16. He gave her a kiss He gave her a kiss S VP NP NP. NP PRO V PRO Det. N.

17. She rewarded him with a kiss VP NP PRO V PRO P. Det. N.

17. She rewarded him with a kiss VP NP PP NP. NP PRO V PRO P. Det. N.

17. She rewarded him with a kiss VP NP PP NP. NP PRO V PRO P. Det. N.

18. She paid the money to the cashier VP NP PRO V P. Det. Det. N N.

18. She paid the money to the cashier VP NP PP NP. NP PRO V P. Det. Det. N N.

18. She paid the money to the cashier VP NP PP NP. NP PRO V P. Det. Det. N N.

19. The porter called George a taxi S VP NP Det N Det. V. N N.

19. The porter called George a taxi S VP NP NP NP. Det N Det. V. N N.

19. The porter called George a taxi S VP NP NP NP. Det N Det. V. N N.

20. The medicine made her ill S VP NP Det N V. Pro A.

20. The medicine made her ill S VP NP NP. AP Det N V. Pro A.

20. The medicine made her ill S VP NP NP. AP Det N V. Pro A.

21. Those unhappy students failed the final exam NP VP AP NP AP. Det A N V. Det.. A N.

21. Those unhappy students failed the final exam NP VP AP NP AP. Det A N V. Det.. A N.

21. Those unhappy students failed the final exam NP VP Det A N V. Det.. A N.

22. The dog bit the old man on the nose NP VP PP NP. NP. AP. Det N V Det A. N. P. Det N.

23. The woman on the bus told me the story of her life NP VP NP. NP PP. PP. Alcune frasi complesse contengono NP all’interno di altri NP. In questa frase abbiamo: the woman (NP) all’interno di the woman on the bus (NP); the story (NP) e her life (NP) all’interno di “the story of her life” (NP) La struttura finale deve indicare tutti questi NP NP. NP. NP. NP AP. Det N P Det N. V. Pro. Det.. N. P A N