SYNTACTIC STRUCTURESGliezel L. Cabaltican

This is the house.

This is the house that Jack built.

This is the hay that lies in the house that Jack built.

This is the rat that lives under the hay that lies in the house that Jack built.

<modification, coordination, complementation, subordination>

SYNTAX

The part of the grammar that represents a speaker’s

knowledge of sentences and their structure

Syntactic Structure – WORD ORDER

She has what a man wants.

She wants what a man has.

WHAT GRAMMATICALITY IS BASED ON

(a) The boy found the ball.

(b) The boy found quickly.

(c) The boy found in the house.

(d) The boy found the ball in the house.

WHAT GRAMMATICALITY IS NOT BASED ONColorless green ideas sleep furiously.

A verb crumpled a milk.

Furiously sleep ideas green colorless.

Milk the crumpled verb a.

Sentences have hierarchical structures as well as word order. The words in the phrase synthetic buffalo hides can be grouped in two ways.

synthetic

buffalo hides synthetic buffalo

hides

SENTENCE STRUCTUREThe child found the puppy.

The child found the puppy

(subject) (predicate)

The child found the puppy

(subject) (verb) (direct object)

The child found the puppy.

The child found the puppy

The child found the puppy

the puppy

PHRASAL CATEGORIES: THE INTERNAL STRUCTURE Phrasal categories: a group of words that have a canonical structure and form a constituent.

Head: the word the phrase is built around, gives the phrase its name and usually contributes the principal meaning of the phrase

[the greedy politician] NP

Specifier: word or phrase that marks a boundary for the phrase; typically functions to further reine the meaning of phrase.

[this apple] NP

Complement: phrases that follow the head and typically provide further information about the entities or location implied by head

[take a picture] VP

NOUN PHRASE: [(Det) (Adjective) Noun]

NPs: the wise man, fancy dinner, rain

1. The couple had a fancy dinner.

2. A fancy dinner is definitely expensive.

3. *[At fancy] many couples eat dinner.

Use phrasal categories to account for the natural groupings.

VERB PHRASE: [(Qual) Verb (NP)]

VPs: always visit(s), filled the cup, clean

1. Sheryl always visits her grandmother at the nursing home.

2. The queen filled the cup of the prime minister.

3. Please, clean your room.

ADJECTIVE PHRASE: [(Deg) Adjective (PP)

APs: so pretty, too deep in thought, busy

1. Oscar is so pretty.

2. She is too deep in thought to notice.

3. The chairman is busy right now.

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE: [(Deg) Preposition (NP)]

PPs: so into your subject, beyond the sea

1. Gary is so into your subject.

2. My father lives beyond the sea.

STRUCTURE OF PREDICATIONIn structure of predication we are concerned with the

properties or features of the verb which acts as the predicate and with the features of the noun which serves as the subject of the sentence.

English verbs have seven distinctive properties:

PERSON

Common – present (verb base form) used with plural subjects and I and you

Third singular – takes on the [verb+s] form (know-knows) used with singular subjects and he, she, it; this agreement in number subject and verb is called concord

TENSE

Common – present (usually in the verb base form although it may be marked with –[s] morpheme depending on its agreement with the subject; past (takes on the past tense-marking bound morpheme (know-knew)

PHASE

Simple – the verb base form or the past tense

Perfect – takes the various forms of [have + past participle]

Resultative – made up of [he + past participle of intransitive verb]

ASPECT

Simple – verb base – with or without the {-s} inflectional morpheme

Durative – [verb to be + ing verb]

Inchoative – [get + ing verb]

MODAL

modals (can, may, must…) which are followed by the verb base as well as the periphrastic modals (ought to, have to, used to) which are also followed by verb base

VOICE

Normal or active voice – made up of the verb base, its past, perfect or durative forms

Passive voice – the get passive (get is used instead of the verb to be

STATUS

Affirmative – have the subject coming before the verb

Interrogative – the subject comes after the helping verb or the do form (this inverted form is generally used in questions)

Negative – the negative marker not is placed between the helping verb and the main verb

Negative interrogative – the auxiliary in the sentence initial position plus the negative marker coming before the main verb or attached to the auxiliary if the contraction of not is used

Subject – topic; usually a noun which also has distinctive features or properties

NUMBER

There must be agreement between the subject and the verb in number (concord)

Singular or plural (boy-boys)

Count or non-count (bottle-water)

Concrete or abstract (tears-sorrow)

Discrete or collective (members-committee)

*some nouns are always singular such as mathematics, news, measles, politics, ethics, etc.

*some nouns are always plural such as scissors, police, cattle which require a singular counter to make them singular (a pair of scissors)

Verb base – Common (are, were, have, do)

We, you, they (I)

Plural count nouns

Plural concrete nouns

Collective nouns (individuals)

Nouns always plural

Compound subjects

Subjects joined by or

Verb base – Common (are, were, have, do)

Relative pronoun subjects – depends on the referrent

Indefinite pronouns - all, same, none – depends on referrent

There are/There is – depends on the noun that follows

Nouns marked by the expression a number of

GENDER

Gender has nothing to do with predicate; rather, a knowledge of the gender of certain nouns is needed when it pertains to the pronouns used when referring to those nouns.

STRUCTURE OF MODIFICATIONThe structure of modification is made up of two components: a head or main word and a modifier which serves to qualify, broaden, specify or in some way affect the meaning of the head

STATEMENT HEAD MODIFIER

Angry men men Angry

Young boy boy Young

Boy in blue jeans

boy In blue jeans

Boy who is seated next to me

boy Who is seated next to me

SINGLE WORD MODIFIER

PHRASAL MODIFIER

CLAUSE MODIFIER

In single word modifiers, some order of arrangement is involved

•these four little ginger kittens

[pronoun, number, size, color]

•a cheap black plastic bag

[article, cost, color, material]

•the first three eager applicants

[article, ordinal, cardinal, quality]

•many hand-crafted wooden jewel cases

[quantity, verbal adjective, nominalized adjective, material]

FUNCTION WORD

articles

quantifiers

pronoun

+ LIMITING ADJECTIVES

ordinal + cardinalnumber number

+ DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTVES

size + color + shape + material

verbal + nominalizedadjective adjective

In adjectival structure of modification the head is a noun and its modifiers are considered adjectives. W. Nelson Francis however, points out that any part of speech or form class may act as head and as modifier.

HEADModifier

NOUN VERB ADJECTIVE ADVERB FUNCTION WORD

Noun the dog DAYSa dog’s LIFEa dining TABLE

LIVED a yearSAW a mile

stone COLDbone DRY

a foot AWAYsame way UP

a mile OFF base

Verb running WATERMONEY to burn

CAME runningCAME to scoff

boiling HOTHARD to get

   

Adjective the gloomy ROOMbarbed WIREa pleasing TABLE

RAN wildFEEL flat

icy COLDcold SOBER

   

Adverb PEOPLE hereEUROPE now

DRIVES rapidlyseldom SPEAKS

wildly FAMOUSeverywhere DARK

unusually EAGERLYfar AWAY

exactly ON the marksoon AFTER dark

Prepositional phrase

a MAN above suspiciona PLACE in the sun

CAME down the streetLIVED in the country

GOOD for nothingGREEN as grass

OUTSIDE in the coldAWAY at school

MORE than enough workENOUGH for now

Function word

the BOOK MONEY enough

  very STRONG a lot STRONGER

very EASILYmuch AHEAD

very MUCHrather MORE

EXERCISE

older used to walksisters every morningmy around the parkbriskly by themselvesthree in the past

people young in their twentiesnowadays jogging who are figure consciousoften go whenever they canmany

1. In the past, my three older sisters used to walk briskly by themselves around the park every morning.

2. In the past, my three older sisters used to walk briskly by themselves every morning round the park

3. Every morning in the past, my three older sisters used to walk briskly by themselves around the park.

1. Nowadays, many young people in their twenties who are figure conscious often go jogging whenever they can.

2. Many young people in their twenties who are figure conscious often go jogging nowadays whenever they can.

STRUCTURE OF COMPLEMENTATION

The structure of complementation refers to the different complements that linking and transitive predicate verbs may take to complete the comment that they make about the subject.

1.[Subject + Linking Verb + Subjective Complement].

2.[Subject + Transitive Verb + Direct Object]

3.[Subject + Transitive Verb + Indirect Object + Direct Object]

4.[Subject + Transitive Verb + Direct Object + Objective Complement]

[Subject + Linking Verb + Subjective Complement]

Today is her birthday. (noun)

Today is all there is. (function word)

Today is dark and gloomy. (adjective)

Today is almost over. (adverb)

Her plan today is to settle unfinished business. (verb{infinitive})

Today has been quite taxing. (verb{present participle})

Today will remain imprinted in our memory. (verb{past participle})

Today seems of little consequence. (prepositional phrase)

Today can become whatever you want to be. (clause)

[Subject + Transitive Verb + Direct Object]

He sees something. (single word indefinite pronoun)

He sees the object. (single word – noun)

He loves to open the presents. (infinitive verb phrase)

He loves opening the presents. (gerund)

He knows what I’m doing. (clause)

[Subject + Transitive Verb + Indirect Object + Direct Object]

The committee awarded him first prize.

Grandfather left my mother an inheritance.

[Subject + Transitive Verb + Direct Object + Object of Preposition]

The committee awarded the first prize to him.

Grandfather left an inheritance to my mother.

[Subject + Transitive Verb + Direct Object + Objective Complement]

Everybody considers him very lucky.

They named the dog Natalie.

WHAT ABOUT INTRANSITIVE VERBS?Intransitive verbs do not need an object to complete its

meaning. It can stand by itself as predicate of the sentence. Those three types of verbs may be differentiated one from the other as follows:

Intransitive verbs: Has neither complement nor passive

Transitive verbs: Has both complement and passive

Linking verbs: Has complement but no passive

 

Since the intransitive verb requires no complement, then the sentence pattern would be:

 

[Subject + Intransitive verb]

EXERCISE. Identify the type of verb used (LV, TV, IV) and the syntactic structure of complementation in the following sentences:

1. He got sick.

2. I will get him some medicine.

3. The fish got away.

4. He doesn’t feel well.

5. I feel his pain, too.

6. I felt him move.

7. I will not stay there.

8. You should stay calm.

STRUCTURE OF COORDINATION

This structure consists of two or more syntactically equivalent units by connectors to form a structure which acts as a single unit.

1.Coordinators - appear between elements that they join and so do the phrasal connectors although the latter may also occur in split constructions

and, but, nor, not, or, phrases such as rather than, as well as, together with, and along with

2. Correlatives – appear in two parts; the first part appears at the beginning of the structure whereas the second part comes between the last two components being joined.

not (only), but (also), either…or, neither…nor and both…and

With coordinators as connectors

Function words: over and above, in not out

Adjectives: young but terrible

Verbs: to stay put or to leave

Nouns: books nor magazines

With phrasal connectors

Function words: up rather than down

Adjectives: intelligent as well as good natured

Nouns: good looks together with good breeding

With correlatives

Nouns: not only books but also magazines

Clauses: Either you do this or you’re fired

SYNTACTIC STRUCTURESJanuary 31, 2015

Thank you for listening!