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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

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

7. … 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

8. 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?

9. Types of phrase Noun phrase (NP) Verb phrase (VP)
Prepositional phrase (PP)
Adverb phrase (AdvP)
Adjective Phrase (AP)

10. Phrases Each sentence contains a subject and a predicate
the hairy dog walks quickly in the park

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. What about?
The dog ?
The park?

16. A simple noun phrase (NP)
Determiner (Det.) + Noun (N) = Noun Phrase (NP)
the dog the park NP NP
Det N
Det. N

17. Noun phrase (NP)
A name is also a noun and attaches to a noun phrase
Romeo NP N

18. What about ?
in the park

19. Prepositional Phrase (PP)
Preposition + NP = Prepositional Phrase (PP)
in =
the park in the park P PP NP P NP
Det N
Det N

20. What about ?
quickly

21. Adverb Phrase (Adv.P)
When there is just one adverb, it attaches to an Adverb Phrase (Adv.P)
quickly
Adv.P
Adv

22. What about
hairy

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

24. 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 …

25. More complex noun phrases
… and they are analysed like this:
the hairy dog NP AP
Det N A

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

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

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

31. 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

32. 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

33. Step 1 – write S NP+VP at the top

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

35. 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

36. 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

37. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

44. 9. The cat killed the mouseNP VP NP
Det V N
Det N

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

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

47. 12. The witnesses helped herNP VP NP
DET N V
PRO

48. 13. Alice followed the rabbitS NP VP NP N N V
Det.

49. 14. Alice followed the white rabbitS VP NP NP
AP. N V
Det. A. N

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

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

52. 17. She rewarded him with a kissVP NP
PRO V
PRO P.
Det. N.

53. 17. She rewarded him with a kissVP NP PP
NP. NP
PRO V
PRO P.
Det. N.

54. 17. She rewarded him with a kissVP NP PP
NP. NP
PRO V
PRO P.
Det. N.

55. 18. She paid the money to the cashierVP NP
PRO V P.
Det.
Det. N N.

56. 18. She paid the money to the cashierVP NP PP
NP. NP
PRO V P.
Det.
Det. N N.

57. 18. She paid the money to the cashierVP NP PP
NP. NP
PRO V P.
Det.
Det. N N.

58. 19. The porter called George a taxiS VP NP
Det N
Det. V. N N.

59. 19. The porter called George a taxiS VP NP NP
NP.
Det N
Det. V. N N.

60. 19. The porter called George a taxiS VP NP NP
NP.
Det N
Det. V. N N.

61. 20. The medicine made her illS VP NP
Det N V.
Pro A.

62. 20. The medicine made her illS VP NP
NP. AP
Det N V.
Pro A.

63. 20. The medicine made her illS VP NP
NP. AP
Det N V.
Pro A.

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

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

66. 21. Those unhappy students failed the final examNP VP
Det A N V.
Det.. A N.

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

68. 23. The woman on the bus told me the story of her lifeNP 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