COLLEGE DEPARTMENT

BACHELOR OF SECONDARY EDUCATION

MAJOR IN ENGLISH

LEARNING PACKET IN ENG 1

(Introduction to Linguistics)

Week 3 and 4

Prepared by:

CARMELA G. URMENETA, EdD

Email: [email protected]

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 TOPIC: SYNTAX: THE SENTENCE PATTERNS OF LANGUAGE

INTRODUCTION

In linguistics, "syntax" refers to the rules that govern the ways in

which words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. The term "syntax"
comes from the Greek, meaning "arrange together." The term is also used to mean the
study of the syntactic properties of a language. In computer contexts, the term refers to
the proper ordering of symbols and codes so that the computer can understand what
instructions are telling it to do.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the learning session, the students will be able to:

 define syntax and its basic concepts

 discuss the specific rules of syntax for correct word order in English language

 describe the structure of a sentence in English

 analyze template that gives the correct word order in English Language

 group string of words in a sentence to form meaningful constituents

 evaluate constituents using constituency tests

 identify the phrasal category of the given phrases

 illustrate phrasal structures and tree diagrams

TIME FRAME

4 HOURS - Week 3 (November 4 – 7, 2020)

3 HOURS - Week 4 (November 9 – 11, 2020)

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 ACTIVITIES

To do the activities, please refer to this digitized book which can be accessed at ODILO
Digital Library

Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2011). Introduction to Linguistics. Pasig City,
Philippines: Cengage Learning Asia Pte. Ltd.

Activity #1 SENTENCE STRUCTURE

Read page 116 and do what is asked for.

A. Make a tree diagram for each of the sentences given below using the template:

Det-N-V-Det-N. Number 1 is done for you.

1. The teacher scolds the students.

2. The man repairs the car.

3. The worker feeds the animals.

4. The woman cleans the house.

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B. Answer the process questions.

1. Based from what you have read, how do you define syntax?

-Based on what I have read, syntax is principle or a rule in processing sentence

structure. Syntax is to determine grammatical structure. It is the tools that the linguists
use in writing grammatical sentence and to properly order the words in a phrase.

2. Discuss the specific rules of syntax for correct word order in the English language.

-The specific rules of syntax for correct word order in in the English language are
Subject + Verb + Object. This rules help to determine the proper arrangement of words.
We need to understand what are subject, verb and object all about.

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3. What is the structure of a sentence in English?

- The structure of a sentence in English is are the simple sentence, compound

sentence, complex sentence and compound complex sentence. These structure
help to define the independent and dependent clauses as well as the
conjunction.

Activity #2 CONSTITUENTS AND CONSTITUENCY TESTS

Read pages 117-120 and do what is asked for.

Ms. Castro with hesitation released the President’s illness to the reporters at the party last
night.

A. List down at least five (5) constituents from the given sentence above.
B. Test each of the identified constituents using the constituency tests below. Each of
the constituency tests will be used only once.

Constituency Tests:

1. Movement (fronting, passivisation, clefting, pseudo-clefting)

2. Substitution by a Pronoun
3. Stand Alone

Example:

Constituent - Ms. Castro

Constituency Test: Stand Alone

Who with hesitation released the President’s illness to the reporters at the party last night?

Answer: Ms. Castro

1. Constituent: Ms. Castro

Constituents Test: Stand Alone
Who is the person who uncertainty released the President’s illness to the
reporters at the party last night?
Answer: Ms. Castro
2. Constituent : President
Constituent Test: Stand Alone

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 Who is the person did Ms. Castro doubted to release the illness to the reporters
at the party?
Answer: President
3. Constituents: Reporters
Constituent Test: Stand Alone
Who accept the President’s illness that released by Ms. Castro at the party last
night?
Answer: Reporters
4. Constituents: Party
Constituent Test: Stand Alone
What event did Ms. Castro with hesitation released the President’s illness to the
reporters?
Answer: Party
5. Constituent: Party
Constituent Test: Stand Alone
Where Ms. Castro did released the President’s illness to the reporter?
Answer: Party

Activity #3.
Activity #3 SYNTACTIC CATEGORIES

Read pages 118-120 and do what is asked for.

Identify the phrasal category of each of the given phrases and provide its phrasal
structure.

Phrases Phrasal Phrasal Structure

Category
Ex. fell into the pond slowly VP V PP Adv

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1. washed the car in the garage thoroughly VP V NP Adv

2. a bird in the cage NP N PP N

3. the wounded soldier in the camp VP V N PP Adv

4. sang a song beautifully during the program AP V Adj NP

5. in the box inside the drawer PP P NP N

Activity #3.
Activity #4 PHRASE STRUCTURE TREES AND RULES

Read pages 120-132 and do what is asked for.

Make a tree diagram for each of the given sentences considering the PS Rules required

S – NP-VP
1. The girl waters the plants.

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NP – Det N
2. The prisoner escapes.

VP – NP

VP – V

VP – PP
3. The girl waters the plants with thorns at the backyard.

PP – P NP

VP – V CP
4. The driver thought that the boy took the coins from the box
behind the car
CP – C S

NP – NP PP

NP – Adj NP 5. brave soldier

NP – Det N’ 6. the expensive big round old wooden table

NP – Adj N’ 7. The smart tall blonde girl bought several sweet tiny
imported candies.
N’ - N

Det – NP poss 7. mother’s recipe

NP – Det N’ 8. the woman’s dress

9. the lady’s father’s brother’s birthday

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 10. The visitor’s companion praises the lady’s father’s
brother’s birthday celebration.

VP – Adv – VP 11. The diligent students answered the test items carefully.

VP – VP – Adv 12. The principal’s secretary sent immediately the invitations

to the parents of the students.

NP – NP1 – Coordp 13. The man and the woman celebrated their anniversary with
awesome friends and relatives
CoordP – Coord – NP2

Process Question
How did you find the activities? Were they difficult to do? Why or why not?

- I found out the activities difficulty and I am confused because in doing the task
we need to be patience in answering on it. I feel confused on my answer
because I don’t know if it is correct or wrong. I also encounter difficulties in
answering this especially in identifying the phrase structure. I admit that they
are difficult, but it takes me a challenge to fulfill the given activities.

Discuss the essential of studying syntax or word order in the sentence.

- Studying syntax or word order in the sentence helps us to construct sentence that the
receiver will understand. Studying syntax is important because it can helps the
learners to understand better the structure of the language in a structural way. Also
through this we become a good communicator.

State your experience in doing the tree diagrams.

- In doing the tree diagrams I feel confused in identifying the accurate phrase
structure and the rules. I experience difficulties in answering it because I was
confused on how the sentence divided . Another is I experience difficulties in
identifying the adverb, preposition, adjective, etc. I still need to recall those eight
speeches so that I can easily answer and identify the correct sentence structure.

Is the work of a linguist easy? Which do you prefer, to be a linguist or a language

teacher? (repeated question from Learning Packet – Week 2)

- As the lesson goes by. I observed that the work of a linguist is not easy
because there are many rules that you need to catch up in order for you
to understand better the correct sentence structure. In this journey, I prefer to
be a language teacher because as a linguist it is hard to analyze the different
rules and phrases of the sentence for you to acquire the accurate sentence

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structure. But it doesn’t mean that to be a language teacher is easy because
you need also to learn and understand the linguistic for able to help to
provide the instruction to English language.

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 REFERENCES

Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2011). Introduction to Linguistics. Pasig City
Philippines: Cengage Learning Asia Pte. Ltd.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

Criteria for Constructed Response

4- There is one clear, well- focused topic. Main ideas are clear and are well supported by
detailed and accurate information.
3- There is one clear, well- focused topic. Main ideas are clear but are not well supported by
detailed information.
2- There is a clear, focused topic. Main ideas are somewhat clear but are not well supported by
detailed information.
1- There is one topic. Main ideas are somewhat clear.
0- The topic and main ideas are not clear

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