English syntax

ENGLISH SYNTAX CHAPTER INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX I LIGUISTICS AND SYNTAX SYNTAX is the central component of human language Language has often been characterized as the systematic correlation between certain types of oral/graphic forms for spoken/written language; and, for signed language, they are manual It is not the case that every possible meaning that can be expressed is correlated with a unique, unanalyzable form Rather, each language has a stock of meaning-bearing elements and differentways of combining them to express different meanings, and these ways of combining them are themselves meaningful The two English sentences Chris gave the notebook to Dana and Dana gave the notebook to Chris contain exactly the same meaning-bearing elements, i.e words, but they have different meanings because the words are combined differently in them These different combinations fall into the realm of syntax; the two sentences differ not in terms of the words in them but rather in terms of their syntax II SYNTAX AND GRAMMAR The Difference Grammar is the study of rules governing the use of language In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that governs the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language The set of rules governing a particular language is the grammar of that language; thus, each language can be said to have its own distinct grammar Grammar is part of the general study of language called linguistics Grammar is a way of thinking about language Grammar consists of set rules regarding language and sentence structure, such as no splitting infinitives and no hanging prepositions Syntax is how a sentence is worded and structured In Linguistics syntax is “the study of the principles and processes by which sentences are constructed in particular languages” It consists of the type of sentence (Declarative, Interrogative, Exclamatory, and Imperative) and word order (passive vs active voice) It also refers to length of sentences (short vs long) Syntax can be used as a literary device to add extra meaning to your sentences, whereas grammar adds no greater meaning to your sentences Example: “His long-held wish was to walk slowly through the tortuous mountain paths that his grandfather had carved out of the earth many years ago” Syntax would refer to the sentence being declarative: stating a wish that the boy had It would also refer to the length of the sentence mimicking the long twisted paths in the mountain and the long time the boy had been wishing to walk them Grammar would refer to not splitting the infinitive: “to walk slowly” rather than “to slowly walk” and subject-verb agreement Syntax has literary meaning and use, while Grammar just shows good form They are two different things that can be easily confused “Syntax is the study of the principles and processes by which sentences are constructed in particular languages Syntactic investigation of a given language has as its goal the construction of a grammar that can be viewed as a device of some sort for producing the sentences of the language under analysis.” (Noam Chomsky, Syntactic Structures, 1971) Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX Syntax? Grammar? Syntax is simply the way words are organized structurally This can be either grammatically correct or incorrect, it is still syntax Sometimes, in a grammatical analysis, linguists might refer to an ‘underlying syntax’, which would be a normalized structure of the words in a sentence, and not necessarily the actual structure used The word order ‘noun (subject)- verb- noun (object)’ would be a simple example of syntax The order “Come here!” would be analyzed as having the explicit syntax ‘verb- adverb’, but might be analyzed as having the underlying syntax of ‘noun (subject)verb- adverb’, as in “(‘You’- implied) come here” Grammar refers to the sets of rules that are used regarding HOW syntax should be structured This is typically divided into proscriptive grammar (dictating/enforcing arbitrary rules for how to ‘correctly’ organize a sentence) or descriptive grammar (an analysis of how speakers ACTUALLY structure the language) Some examples of grammar would be the rule “the verb should always follow the subject”, or” the ‘to’ in an infinitive verb construction must always be followed immediately by the verb” Grammar might also have a relatively larger scope, since it would include the rules for any lexical variations (differences in spelling of the same base word), as well as rules for capitalization, punctuation, etc Syntax usually involves only the structure of various TYPES of words in relation to one another (although some semantic analyses might be more specific than others) Syntax: The way in which words are put together to form phrases, clauses, or sentences Grammar: the set of rules that explain how words are used in a language ( ex Tenses in English) Grammar also is the framework of a language It is a study or science that has two parts: morphology (the forms of words) and syntax (the combination of words into sentences) Syntax deals with their functions in sentences – subjects, objects, attributes etc Example: “To know you is to love you.” To know, to love are both verbs (infinitives) – (morphology) But they have different functions: to know is the subject, to love is part of the predicate – (syntax) In short, syntax is HOW words are structured; grammar is WHY they are structured that way The Similarity While the term “grammar” is often used in the context of speaking about syntax, the two are not coterminous Syntax is the study of the rules and structures of a language or languages as a branch of linguistics Grammar is a set of rules in a given language So, to begin with syntax is descriptive (that is, it only observes the rules) whereas grammar is prescriptive (that is, it sets the rules) Additionally, syntax refers to the structure of how linguistic utterances (a sentence, for example) are ordered which grammar might actually include Grammar could also include things like conjugations (different forms of verbs) and declensions (different forms of nouns) which would be outside of the realm of syntax Grammar is a little more encompassing that syntax with respect to language Grammar also takes into account the way in which sentences should be read For example, recursive grammar is the application of an explanatory clause within a matrix clause in a sentence It is also interesting to note that syntax only refers to organization about the horizontal axis; that is, how words are strung together to form sentences Organization about the vertical axis, or paradigmatic organization, refers to the way in which words can be interchanged in a sentence In English, which is a word order language, one could say, “I love you.” It is also correct to say, “I love him.” This is an example of paradigmatic organization Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX Both grammar and syntax are usually focused at the level of words-in-sentences (a level above pronunciation, a level below prose-style) but can spill over into these and other subfields Grammar and syntax are the knowledge of making a good phrase, clause, and absolutely in making a correct sentence Both of them are very closely related They are bound tightly in making a correct sentence Both “grammar” and “syntax” are used in a abstract way, and also to refer to the structure of a single language, and in either case “syntax” is a subset of “grammar” In addition “grammar” is used in a different way, to mean the prescriptive grammar of a language” III DEFINITIONS TO SYNTAX Syntax is the study of the structure of phrases, clauses and sentences In other words, syntax is the study of how words are combined to produce sentences Syntax can thus be given the following characterization, taken from Matthews (1982:1): The term ‘syntax’ is from the Ancient Greek syn - taxis, a verbal noun which literally means ‘arrangement’ or ‘setting out together’ Traditionally, it refers to the branch of grammar dealing with the ways in which words, with or without appropriate inflections, are arranged to show connections of meaning within the sentence First and foremost, syntax deals with how sentences are constructed, and users of human languages employ a striking variety of possible arrangements of the elements in sentences One of the most obvious yet important ways in which languages differ is the order of the main elements in a sentence In English, for example, the subject comes before the verb and the direct object follows the verb In Lakhota (a Siouan language of North America), on the other hand, the subject and direct object both precede the verb, while in Toba Batak (an Austronesian language of Indonesia; (Schachter 1984b), they both follow the verb In Lakhota, the subject comes first followed by the direct object, whereas in Toba Batak the subject comes last in the sentence, with the direct object following the verb and preceding the subject The basic word order in Toba Batak is thus the opposite of that in Lakhota There are also languages in which the order of words is normally irrelevant to the interpretation of which element is subject and which is object To make clear the meaning, of syntax, let us clarify three aspects involved Categories Words in a language are organised into different categories, or in traditional terms, parts of speech Categories may be lexical e.g Nouns (N), Verbs (V), Adjective (A), Prepositions (P), Adverbs (Adv) or non-lexical e.g Determiners (Det.), Auxiliaries (Aux.), Conjunctions (Conj), Degree words (Deg) or Phrasals e.g Noun phrases, Verb phrases, Adjective phrases, Preposition (al) phrases, Adverb phrases The theory is that every phrasal category contains at least one lexical category of the same basic type For example, every NP contains at least a N; every VP contains at least a V and so on Conversely, every lexical category belongs to a phrasal category of the same basic type: every N belong to a NP, and so on Phrase structure Phrase structure is the division of a sentence into part, or constituents, and the division of those constituents into subparts For instance, the sentence The bear went over the mountain is made up of two main constituents: The bear and went over the mountain The second constituent is, in turn divided into two parts, went and over the mountain, which is divided even further, into over and the mountain All sentences have such hierarchical structure, even a very simple two-word Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX sentence like Carol giggled The elements (constituents) in a phrase structure are governed by phrase structure (PS) rules which specify the left - to - right ordering of elements, whether the elements ate optional or obligatory We have some P.S rules: S  NP + VP VP  V + NP V + PP V + NP + NP NP  Art + N + (PP) Det + N Adj + N PP  Pre + N Elements in the sentences ate governed not only by categories and constituent structure but also by subcategorization Subcategorization means the classification of words in terms of their complements option Subcategorization interacts with the PS rules to ensure that lexical items appear in the appropriate types of structures For example: The verb “arrive” requites no complements E.g He’s arrived The verb “become” needs an adjective or a noun as complements E.g He’s become an engineer The adjective “tall” does not need a complement E.g He is tall The adjective “interested” requires a PP E.g He is interested in music There are four ways to determine phrase structures: One approach to determining phrase structure is substitution test: Whatever you can substitute a single word for, preserving grammaticality is a constituent or phrase, that is, a “chunk” and whatever cannot be substituted for is not In The bear went over the mountain, we can easily find one-word substitutions for the bear As a result, we can have new sentences like Max went over the mountain, He went over the mountain, Tigers went over the mountain The substitution need not preserve meaning, just grammatical sentence The new sentences created by the substitution for The bear meet the test, so we can conclude that in the original sentence The bear is a constituent Now let's look at some other word sequences in the bear went over the mountain How about bear went? There don't seem to be any single-word substitutions for it The results of substitutions such as smoke, green, it for bear went aren't grammatical sentences; and since no substitution seems possible for bear went, we can conclude that it isn't a constituent in the bear went over the mountain Constituents can he longer than two words For went over the mountain in The bear went over the mountain we can substitute any single intransitive verb or any transitive verb whose direct object can be optionally omitted: The bear slept, The bear awoke, The bear ate A second criterion for finding constituents is the ability of constituents to “move” For example, “The bear went over the mountain” we can move “over the mountain” to the front position in the sentence: Over the mountain the bear went We can move a word sequence in a different place Note that the movement criterion, since it relies in paraphrase, requires keeping the Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX meaning the same, unlike the substitution criterion A third test for “constituency” is whether the word sequence in question can be conjoined with a similar sequence In The bear went over the mountain, all constituency” can be: a The bear and the mouse went over the mountain b The bear went over the mountain and came back again c The bear went over the mountain and cross the lake d The bear went over the mountain and the pass A final criterion for “constituency” is whether the sequence in question can be the antecedent for a pro-word (i.e., a pronoun or a word with a similar function), it seems to be generally true that pro-forms can only use constituents for their antecedents, never non-constituents The technical term for the relation between a pro-word (or more generally, pro-expression) and its antecedent is anaphora All the constituents in The bear went over the mountain can be justified under the anaphora test: a The bear went over the mountain He was hungry b The bear went over the mountain He did so in order to see what was on the other side c The bear went over the mountain He went there because he had a strong drive to conquer new challenges d The bear went over the mountain In fact, he went back and forth over it several times before he got tired of the scenery Transformation According to many linguists, a complete account of the syntactic structure of sentences must include the concepts of transformation A transformation is an operation that moves a phrasal category (e.g NP, VP, PP) from one location to another within a structure For example, the formation of question structure requires a transformation - that is inversion E.g The cat can climb the tree Can the cat climb the tree? The transformational analysis is claiming that there are levels of syntactic structure The first, called Deep structure is formed by the PS rules in accordance with the head’s subcategorization properties Deep structure plays a special role in the interpretation of sentences Deep structure or base component produces / generates basic syntactic structures The second, called Surface structure, results from applying whatever transformation are appropriate for the sentence in questions Surface structure/ transformational component changes/ transform basic structures into sentences We can illustrate the above mentioned concept with the diagram: Phrase structure rules Deep structure  (Subcategorization restricts choice of complement) Transformations Surface structure Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX For example, the sentence: What did the boy see? Has two syntactic structures; (Deep structure) NP Aux Did VP Det the N V NP boy see Pro What (Surface structure) N Aux Pro What did NP Det N the boy VP see It should be noticed that only constituents can be questioned and moved E.g, (a) Did he climb {up the ladder}? PP (b) Where did he climb { }? (c) Did he {fold up} {the ladder}? NP In (c) “up the ladder” is not a constituent and thus cannot be questioned or moved? (d) Where did he {fold} { }? wrong NP IV SUBJECT, PREDICATOR, OBJECT, COMPLEMENT AND ADJUNCT Subject and Predicate Consider the pair of sentences below Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX (1) The cat devoured the rat (2) The rat devoured the cat The structure of these sentences can be represented as in (3) and (4) below using brackets: (3) [The cat] [devoured [the rat]] (4) [The rat] [devoured [the cat]] As we have already seen, these sentences contain exactly the same words, but differ quite radically in meaning This meaning difference comes about as a result of the different roles played by the various constituents In (3) and (4)distinct entities, namely the cat and the rat respectively, carry out the action denoted by the word devoured We will call words that denote actions verbs Also, notice that we could say that (3) is concerned with telling us more about the cat, while (4) is concerned with telling us more about the rat We can now define the Subject of a sentence as the constituent that on the one hand tells us who performs the action denoted by the verb (i.e who is the Agent), and on the other hand tells us who or what the sentence is about So to find out what is the Subject of a particular sentence we can ask ‘Who or what carried out the action denoted by the verb?’ and also ‘Who or what is this sentence about?’ The answers to these questions will pinpoint the Subject The second bracketed units in the sentences in (3) and (4) are devoured the rat and devoured the cat, respectively These constituents tell us more about the Subject of the sentence, namely what it was engaged in doing (or, to be more precise, what its referent was engaged in doing) In (3) the Subject (the cat) was engaged in eating a rat, whereas in (4) the Subject (the rat) was engaged in eating a cat We will use the term Predicate for the unit in a sentence whose function is to specify what the Subject is engaged in doing The notion Predicate is therefore a second type of grammatical function In any given sentence the Predicate is everything in the sentence except the Subject Predicator So far we have looked at the way in which the bracketed strings in (5) and (6) function: (5) [The cat] [devoured the rat] = (1) Subject Predicate (6) [The rat] [devoured the cat] = (2) Subject Predicate We should now take a closer look at the elements inside the Predicate Can we assign further functions to them? Yes, we can In each of the Predicates above there is a verb, devoured, and a Noun Phrase, namely the rat and the cat, respectively Here we will concentrate on the function of the verb We will say that devoured in (5) and (6) functions as Predicator Predicators are pivotal elements which specify what we could call the bare-bone content of the sentences in which they occur, that is, the main action or process denoted by the verb As their name suggests, Predicates are in the business of predicating something, i.e saying something of something else Thus, the bare-bone content of (5) and (6) is ‘devouring’ This devouring activity is predicated of the Subjects of these sentences, which specify who was engaged in the activity of devouring Be careful to distinguish Predicates from Predicators We can now refine (5) and (6) as follows: Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX (5’) (6’) Direct Object After our discussion of Subjects, Predicates and Predicators we now turn to a fourth type of grammatical function: the Direct Object(DO) Consider the following sentences: (7) His girlfriend bought this computer (8) That silly fool broke the teapot (9) Our linguistics lecturer took this photograph (10) My sister found this book The Subjects of these sentences are the first NPs in each case: his girlfriend, that silly fool, our linguistics lecturer and my sister The Predicates are bought this computer, broke the teapot, took this photograph and found this book The Predicators are bought, broke, took and found We now assign the function of Direct Object to the NPs this computer, the teapot, this photograph and this book How can we characterize the notion Direct Object? In semantic terms Direct Objects are said to be constituents that refer to entities that undergo the activity or process denoted by the verb In (7) the referent of the NP this computer undergoes a buying activity, in (8) the referent of the NP the teapot undergoes a breaking process, in (9) the referent of this photograph undergoes a picture-taking process, and, finally, in (10) the referent of this book undergoes a process of being found Indirect Object In this section we will be looking at a further type of verbal Complement: Indirect Objects (IOs) In the sentences below the IOs have been italicized: (11) We gave the boys the CDs (12) The publisher sent her a review copy of the book (13) She lent the student a diskette (14) My father always told us stories When we discussed Subjects and Direct Objects in the previous sections we saw that Subjects typically have the role of Agent, and that Direct Objects typically have the role of Patient/Undergoer In (11)–(14), the typical role associated with the italicised Indirect Objects is Goal/Receiver or Beneficiary Notice that (11)–(14) also contain Direct Objects, namely the phrases the CDs, a review copy of the book, a diskette and stories Verbs that take a Direct Object and an Indirect Object are called ditransitive verbs Apart from their semantic properties, Indirect Objects have a number of syntactic characteristics Firstly, they are usually Noun Phrases Secondly, they cannot occur without a following Direct Object Compare the sentences in (15)–(18) with those in (11)–(14): if we leave out the Direct Objects, the sentences become ungrammatical (15) *We gave the boys (16) *The publisher sent her (17) *She lent the student (18) *My father always told us Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX Of course, (15)–(18) are possible, but only if we interpret the NPs following the verbs as Direct Objects Thirdly, Indirect Objects always precede Direct Objects We cannot have the sentences in (19)– (22) where the order of IOs and DOs has been reversed: (19) *We gave the CDs the boys (20) *The publisher sent a review copy of the book her (21) *She lent a diskette the student (22) *My father always told stories us Notice that we can ‘repair’ the sentences in (19)–(22) by adding the word to: (23) We gave the CDs to the boys (24) The publisher sent a review copy of the book to her (25) She lent a diskette to the student (26) My father told stories to us A final syntactic characteristic of Indirect Objects is that, like DOs, they can become the Subjects of passive sentences Compare (27)–(30) with (11)–(14): (27) The boys were given the CDs by us (28) She was sent a review copy of the book by the publisher (29) The student was lent a diskette by her (30) We were always told stories by our father Adjunct We turn now to a final grammatical function Consider the following sentences: (31) The bus stopped suddenly (32) Shakespeare wrote his plays a long time ago (33) They went to the theatre in London (34) He hates maths because he can’t understand it The italicised strings of words in these sentences have the function of telling us about then how, when, where or why of the situations expressed by the respective sentences Constituents that have this function we will call Adjuncts We can test to see if a particular sentence contains an Adjunct by asking how?, when?, where? or why? For example, if we want to know what is the Adjunct in (31) we ask ‘how did the bus stop?’ The answer is ‘suddenly’, and this phrase therefore functions as an Adjunct Similarly, in (32) we can ask ‘When did Shakespeare write his plays?’ The answer is ‘a long time ago’ Adjuncts are always optional and express peripheral information Another characteristic of Adjuncts is that they can be ‘stacked’, which means that more than one of them can appear in a sentence: (35) Last year I saw this film several times Finally, Adjuncts are mobile, as the following examples show: (36) Greedily Andre´ ate all the biscuits (37) Andre´ greedily ate all the biscuits (38) Andre´ ate all the biscuits greedily Notice, though, that the position between the main verb and Direct Object isexcluded: (39) *Andre´ ate greedily all the biscuits V CRITERIA FOR THE CLASSIFICATION OF CLAUSE ELEMENTS The criteria adopted for the classification of clause functions are four: determination by the verb, position, ability to become the subject and realisations of these functions Determination by the verb The number and type of objects and complements that can occur in a clause are determined by the verb according to its potential We say that a certain verb predicts an object or a complement Eat, Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX for example, predicts an object that expresses the thing eaten One sense of carry predicts an object that refers to the thing carried (They carried backpacks) Disappear, however, does not predict or admit an object (*He disapppeared the money) Determination is related to verb class Transitive verbs usually require one or more objects They occur in type SPO (carry), type S-POi-Od (send), and type S-P-O-C (find) in one of its uses In transitive verbs such as disappear occur in type S-P They not admit an object, but certain intransitive verbs predict a complement of space or time, as will be explained shortly More exactly, we should talk about transitive or intransitive uses of certain verbs, as a great many verbs can be used in English both transitively and intransitively Land is transitive in The pilot landed the plane safely, but intransitive in The plane landed Carry is transitive in They carried backpacks, but it has an intransitive use in His voice carries well (= ‘projects’) Alocative element is required by a few transitive verbs such as put and place (Put the handkerchiefs in the drawer; Place the dish in the microwave) Without this locative element, the clause is syntactically and semantically incomplete (*Put the dish) It therefore has the status of a central clause element A locative element is also predicted by many intransitive verbs of motion such as come, go, fly, drive, which can predict such meanings as Direction (flying south) and Goal, which marks an end-point (go to Rome) Both types will be represented here as Locative/Goal Complements subsumed under the abbreviation (Cloc) However, it is also possible to use these verbs without a locative, as in for example Are you coming? Don’t go! I’ll drive (Drive in fact predicts an object or a locative or both, as in I’ll drive you to the station.) Copular verbs, a type of intransitive, require a Subject Complement Only verbs capable of being used as copulas can be used in this way So, for instance, be and feel as in I am cold, I feel cold can be used as copulas in English but touch can not (*I touch cold) Besides predicting an attribute, verbs of being such as be, remain, stay predict being in a location Their Complements are then analysed as locative (Cloc) The following examples illustrate the parallel between attributes as Subject and Object Complements and the Locative/Goal types Evidently there are many other verbs which function in only one of these patterns: Attributive Locative/Goal He stayed calm He stayed in bed She went pale She went to work He drives me mad He drives me to the airport A bicycle will get you fit A bicycle will get you to work By contrast, adjuncts are not determined by any particular type of verb Suddenly, for instance, can be used with intransitive verbs like disappear and transitive verbs like carry Moreover, adjuncts differ from subjects and objects in that there is no limit to the number of adjuncts that can be included in a clause Position Objects occur immediately after the verb, with the indirect object before the direct object when both are present (The bomb killed a policeman(Od); He sent me(Oi) an email (Od)) Complements also occur after the verb or after an object Adjuncts occupy different positions according to type, and are often moveable within the clause Ability to become the subject Objects can normally become the subject in a passive clause, since the system of voice allows different semantic roles to be associated with Subject and Object functions (The bomb killed the policeman/The policeman was killed by the bomb; I sent her an email/She was sent an email) 10 Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX constituent includes all the smaller constituents beneath it in the tree Each branching point in the tree is called a ‘node’, and sometimes the syntactic category associated will the node is called its ‘label’ The constituent structure of sentence also reveals which constituents can be substituted for other constituents without affecting the grammaticality of the sentence (although the meaning may change) Constituents that can be substituted for one another without loss of grammaticality belong to the same syntactic category some model examples of tree diagrams:  Sentences S NP VP S Det N V C NP Det The psychic know that the VP N contestant Aux V will win II Some symbols, abbreviations used in syntactic description ( or in tree diagram) S: sentence PN: proper noun NP: noun phrase VP: verb phrase Pro: pronoun Adj: adjective Prep: preposition V: verb N: nouns 10 Adv: adverb 11 PP: preposition phrase 12 > : consists of 13 Part: particle 14 Conj : conjunction 15 Aux: auxiliary ( will, can, have, has, …) 27 Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX III Some model examples of tree diagrams: A SIMPLE SENTENCES E.g My parents bought a new house S NP det My VP NP N parents bought det adj a new N house B COMPOUND SENTENCES E.g Mary cleaned the floor and I watered the flowers 28 Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX C COMPLEX SENTENCES e.g If you love the girl whom you are talking to you should tell her S Conj Cl Cl NP VP NP NP det N VP NP Rel-cl NP NP VP aux V part If you love the girl whom you are talking to aux V you should tell her D FINITE CLAUSES NOMINAL CLAUSES or NOUN CLAUSES 1.1 As subject: e.g That he likes coffee is obvious S That-Cl Conj That NP he VP likes VP AP is obvious NP coffee 29 Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX e.g How he left the road was a mystery S Wh-CL Wh-word NP How VP VP he NP NP left det det N the road was a N mystery 1.2 As object e.g He asked me whether she had helped me S NP VP NP Wh-Cl conj NP VP aux He asked me whether she 30 had NP V helped me Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX 1.3 As complement e.g The rumour is that she divorced her husband S NP Det VP NP That-Cl Conj NP VP NP det The rumour is that she divorced her N husband e.g He was sure that his father had died in the war S NP VP AP Adj That-Cl Conj NP det VP N aux PP V Pre.p NP det N He was sure that his father 31 had died in the war Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX 1.4 As apposition e.g The fact that you are lazy is clear S NP Det The NP VP AP is clear That-Cl fact Conj NP VP AP that you are lazy RELATIVE CLAUSES or ADJECTIVE CLAUSES e.g The computer which we are using was made in America S NP Det VP NP Rel-Cl NP NP aux PP V prep N VP aux V The computer which we are using was made in America 32 Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX E NON-FINITE CLAUSE TO-INFINITIVE ( to- inf) e.g The solution is to pursue an open-door policy S NP Det VP to-inf N VP part NP V Det AP Adj The solution is to pursue an N N open-door policy ( trang 29 .) ING-PARTICIPLE ( ing-part) e.g Reaching the village, we saw a church S Ing-part VP Reaching N VP NP Det N the village, we saw 33 NP Det N a church Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX ED-PARTICIPLE ( ed-part) e.g Punished by the teacher, the boy cried S Ed-part VP NP PP Prep Punished by VP Det N the boy NP Det N the teacher, 34 cried Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX  PRACTICE EXERCISES:  Ex 1: Draw tree diagram for the following noun phrases: The girl with a smile… The pretty girl with a smile… A man like John… Action in case of fire… The table which remained… A little boy who seems to be lost Several farmers waiting for the Prime Minister… The boy resembling my son The question debated in the Parliament yesterday… 10 The train to arrive… 11 The question to be debated in the Parliament… 12.an experience you’ll always remember… 13.Those big tree planted when my grandfather was still alive… 14.That distinguished man in a black suit made by a famous tailor… Ex 2: Draw trees for the following VPs: cancelled the project pointed out the man hidden in the crowd banned the cat scratching furniture from the living room put the car on the porch later sent me a postcard on my birthday give whoever comes to the shop on the opening day a gift threw up a hairball on the carpet throw away money on gambling will eat the rice in that saucepan 10 was quite sure about what his father had told him 35 Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX Ex 3: Draw tree diagrams for the following adjective phrases: Kim is angry at Bill’s sister We are proud of the invention She was interested in what we have proposed Naomi is anxious about Jim’s health He is aware of what might happen as a result of too much air pollution Ex 4: Which of the following expressions would be generated by this phrase structure rule? NP  Det (ADJ.) N ? a A radio b A new student c The rusty car d A screwdriver Ex 5: Analyse the following sentence by PSRs ( Phrase structure Rules) The farmer was eating his lunch in the cornfield I have forgotten who gave us this present He looked after his mother She placed the dish on the table The patient in bed was realizing with mild surprise that he was getting weaker The police caught the thief red-handed He punched the man in the face He punched the man in the blue shirt He put the book on the table in the living room on the shelf 10 The ripe apples from the tree which is near the house might hit the people on the head 11 He will know the result when he returns 12 Timothy sold his car when his mother was seriously ill 13 Those people moved the desk into the hall because they needed more space 14 They considered what he proposed unworkable 15 Many people are wondering when inter-planetary travel will become possible 16 He told the secret so that I should help him 17 He went by car because it was raining 18 He went by car which had been bought 19 He went to school in Walton Street in his city 20 He went to school in Walton Street in the evening 21 That Sharon’s car had broken down astonished the mechanic 22 You can tell me whether the train has left 23 He drove carefully because the road was slippery 24 She gave him a look which betokened trouble 25 I have forgotten who gave us the gift 36 Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX CHAPTER AMBIGUITY I LEXICAL AMBIGUITY Lexical ambiguity occurs when a sentence contains a word or words that has or have more than one meaning For example, the sentence Jane broke the glasses is ambiguous because the word glasses may be interpreted as drinking vessels made of glass or a pair of lenses in a frame that rest on the nose and ears More examples: Mary thinks the present is nice a Mary thinks the gift is nice b Mary thinks the present time is nice She is standing near the bank a She is standing near the bank of the river b She is standing near the bank where people deposit and withdraw money the bank building An old friend of mine teaches at that school a A friend of mine (whom) I have known for a long time teaches at that school b A friend of mine who is old teaches at that school (not young) Children may feed animals a It is possible for children to feed animals b Children have permission to feed animals It must be a new record a It must be a new written or printed account of facts or events b It must be a new gramophone record disc c It must be the best performance of a particular feat II STRUCTURAL AMBIGUITY Structural ambiguity is the different underlying meanings or different implications of a sentence due to the fact that the sentence components can be arranged into phrases in more than one way An ambiguous sentence is a sentence which may have two or more meanings Some sentences are structurally ambiguous They are surface For example, the sentence, “Annie whacked a man with an umbrella” is structurally ambiguous It has two distinct deep structures expressing, on the one hand, the fact that “Annie had an umbrella and she whacked the man with it”; and on the other hand that “Annie whacked a man and he happened to be carrying an umbrella” (Yule, G, 1985:82) So this sentence has two different underlying interpretations which would be represented differently in the deep structure Syntactic knowledge combined with semantic knowledge can help us see which sentences are paraphrases of chosen original sentence and which are not When a string of words can be semantically associated with more than one tree structures, it is said to be structurally ambiguous 37 Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX Some Other Examples of Ambiguity “Fast cars and motorcycles are dangerous'' Two underlying interpretation of this sentence is as follows: a “Fast cars and fast motorcycles are dangerous” b “Fast cars and any type of motorcycle are dangerous” The tree diagram: “The policeman killed the woman with a gun.” Two underlying interpretations of this sentence are as follows: a) The policeman shot the woman b) The policeman killed the woman who held a gun in her hand “You can call her Mary” Two underlying interpretations of this sentence are as follows: a) You can address her as Mary b) You can ask Mary to come to help her “George likes amusing girls” Two underlying interpretations of this sentence are as follows: a) George likes enjoyable girls b) George likes making girls laugh or smile The tree diagram: a) b) 38 Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX “Smoking grass can be nauseating” Two underlying interpretation of this sentence are as follows: a) Putting grass in a pipe and smoking it can make you sick b) Fumes from smoldering  Grass can make you sick  Burning slowly without flame  PRACTICE EXERCISES:  I The following sentence is structurally ambiguous, analyze the two different sentence structures (SVOCA) to show both possible meanings The girl scratched the boy with the sharp fingernails We called him a porter They took her money He looked after dinner II Draw tree diagrams to illustrate the different meanings of the following ambiguous sentences: The woman hit the man with the wooden leg The mother of the girl and the boy will arrive I am looking for someone to teach French Max was ogling a girl with brazen audacity The girl scratched the boy with the sharp fingernails They have wounded men there I bought an old French dictionary III Are the following sentences ambiguous? If yes, explain the two possible meanings of the ambiguous sentences: The koala consumed the leaves with boredom He buried the knife he found in the garden I looked at the letter Max was reading with unfeigned astonishment He couldn’t find the key to the jewel case which he had left on the table We must ask the farmer who owns the fields where we can camp Children who stay out all night sometimes should be punished The woman with the children who were complaining was told to move along He lived on a street near the post office which was always full of people We proudly watched them march away 10 The men with dogs that were barking were told to move along 11 He arrived accompanied by a Russian wolfhound with a big smile on his face 14 Cows that eat corn flakes frequently have stomach trouble 15 Cows that eat corn flakes frequently rarely have stomach trouble 16 Cows that eat corn flakes never have stomach trouble 17 We suddenly noticed a man in a space suit which should have been sent to the cleaners 18 The police have trouble with the people who occupy these cottages all the time 19 Children who stay out all night sometimes should be punished 20 Children who stay out all night should seldom be punished 39 Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX REFERENCES Foreign Authors [1] Alexander, L.G (1992), Longman English Grammar, Essex, England: Longman Group Limited [2] Alexander, L.G (1992), Longman Advanced Grammar: Reference and practice, Essex, England: Longman Group Limited [3] Azar, Betty Schrampfer (1989), Understanding and Using English Grammar (Second Edition), Englewood Cliffs, Newjersey: Prentice Hall Regents [4] Collins Cobuild (1994), Collins Cobuild English Grammar, London: William Collins Sons & Co Ltd Collins Publishers [5] Howard Jackson (1999), Analysing English, Pergamon Institute of English [6] Huddleston, Rodney (1993), An introduction to the grammar, Oxford, England: Oxford University Press [7] Leech, G & Svartvik, J (1975), A communicative grammar of English, Essex, England: Longman Group Limited [8] Quirk, Randolph & Grenbaum, Sydney (1993), A university Grammar of English, Longman Group Limited [9] Roberts, Noel Burton (1997), Analysing sentences, Longman [10] Schmidt, Hemlen Hoyt (1995), Advance English Grammar, Upper Saddle River, Newjersey: Prentice Hall Regents [11] Swan, Michael (1994), Basic English Usage, Walton Strreet, Oxford: Oxford University Press Vietnamese Authors [12] Nguyen Van Huy, Than Trong Lien Nhan (2008), An Introduction to English Sntax, Hue CFL [13] Trần Hữu Mạnh (2008), Fundamentals of English Traditional Syntax, Nhà xuất Đại học Quốc Gia Hà Nội [14] Lê Văn Sự (?), Cẩm nang Ngữ Âm – Từ vựng – Cú pháp Tiếng Anh, Nhà xuất Văn hóa thơng tin Websites [15] https://ling.ed.ac.uk/grammar/overview.html [16]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_grammar [17] www.ucd.ie/artspgs/introling/engsyndraft 40 Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX 41 Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ... it rare in English? 22 Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX CHAPTER THE GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES OF ENGLISH SENTENCES I BASIC SENTENCE PATTERNS IN ENGLISH The English simple.. .ENGLISH SYNTAX Syntax? Grammar? Syntax is simply the way words are organized structurally This can be either grammatically correct or incorrect, it is still syntax Sometimes,... functional categories of the English language? Present/Describe the grammatical categories of each English word class 11 Compiled and edited by Nguyen Thi Le Hang, M.A ENGLISH SYNTAX CHAPTER PHRASE