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Syntax: The Analysis of Sentence Structure

The document discusses syntax and sentence structure. It defines grammatical and ungrammatical sentences, transitive and intransitive verbs, and syntactic categories such as nouns, verbs, adjectives. It also discusses phrases like noun phrases and verb phrases. Finally, it provides phrase structure rules and examples of drawing tree diagrams to represent sentence structure.

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Revina Hutagalung
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356 views13 pages

Syntax: The Analysis of Sentence Structure

The document discusses syntax and sentence structure. It defines grammatical and ungrammatical sentences, transitive and intransitive verbs, and syntactic categories such as nouns, verbs, adjectives. It also discusses phrases like noun phrases and verb phrases. Finally, it provides phrase structure rules and examples of drawing tree diagrams to represent sentence structure.

Uploaded by

Revina Hutagalung
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Syntax:

The analysis of sentence structure


Grammatical or Ungrammatical:
1. The boy found the ball
2. The boy found quickly
3. The boy found in the house
4. The boy found the ball in the house
5. Disa slept the baby
6. Disa slept soundly
Find: Transitive verb (with object)
Sleep: Intransitive verb (no object)
Syntactic Categories (1)

Lexical categories Examples


 Noun (N)  moisture, policy
 Verb (V)  melt, remain
 Adjective (A)  good, intelligent
 Preposition (P)  to, near

 Adverb (Adv)  slowly, now


Syntactic Categories (2)

Non-lexical categories Examples


 Determiner (Det)  the, this
 Degree word (Deg)  very, more
 Qualifier (Qual)  always, perhaps
 Auxiliary (Aux)  will, can

 Conjunction (Con)  and, or


Indicate the category of each word in the
following sentences.
a. The glass suddenly broke.
Det / N / Adv / V
b. A jogger ran towards the end of the lane.
Det / N / V / P / Det / N / P / Det / N
c. The peaches never appear quite ripe.
Det / N / Qual / V / Deg / A
d. Gillian will play the trumpet and the drums in the orchestra.
N / Aux / V / Det / N / Conj / Det / N / P / Det / N
Phrases
 DP : Determiner Phrase
a beautifull butterfly, the house
 NP : Noun Phrase
car, clever student
 VP : Verb Phrase
study hard, play the guitar
 PP : Prepositional Phrase
in the class, above the earth
 AP : Adjective Phrase
very tall, quite certain
 AdvP: Adverbial Phrase
very slowly
Phrase Structure Rules
 NP  (Det) (AP) N (PP)
 PP  P (NP)

The bus (NP) The bus in the yard


NP
Det N Det N PP

The bus P NP

Det N

The bus in the yard


Phrase Structure Rules
 VP  (Qual) V (NP) (PP) (Adv)

took the money (VP) took the money from the bank
VP
V NP V NP PP
Det N
Det N P NP
took the money
Det N

took the money from the bank


The main structure rules

1. S  NP (Aux) VP
2. DP  D (NP)
3. NP  (Det) (AP) N (PP)
4. VP  (Qual) V (NP) (PP) (Adv)
5. PP  (Deg) P (NP)
6. AP  (Deg) A (PP)
7. AdvP  (Deg) Adv
Draw the tree diagram.
1. repaired the telephone
2. the success of the program
3. a film about pollution
Example (1)
The old tree swayed in the wind

NP Aux VP

Det AP N V PP

Adj P NP

Det N

The old tree past swayed in the wind


Example (2)
The children put the toy in the box

NP VP

Det N V NP PP

Det N P NP

Det N

The children put the toy in the box


Exercise
Draw the structure trees for the following
sentences
1. Those guests should leave.
2. Maria never ate the brownies.
3. That shelf will fall.
4. The glass broke.
5. The students lost the debate.
6. The manager may offer an increment.
7. The judge often sentences shoplifters.
8. A psychic will speak to this group.

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