SYNTAX

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT

A WORD?

Word

Sound
Meaning
Category
What types of structures it can enter
Collocations
Register
Etc.

LEXICAL CATEGORIES
Content words:
N, V, Adj, Adv (P)

Function words:
Det, P, Pro, Conj, Aux

OPEN(CONTENT) CLASS
LEXICAL CATEGORIES
NOUNS (N)
Meaning - refer to real, imaginary, or
abstract things, substances, people,
places, events, and actions
Morphology - count/noncount, plural
form
Syntax - occurs with determiners and
adjectives, as heads of NPs

 VERBS (V)
Meaning - refer to actions, events, and
states
Morphology - endings for tenses and
aspects
Syntax - with a NP subject form
sentences; head of VP

 ADJECTIVES (Adj)
Meaning - describe things, ideas, etc.
Morphology - comparative and
superlative
Syntax - combine with nouns in NPs;
with linking verbs; head of AdjP

 ADVERBS (Adv)
Meaning - various meanings (manner,
frequency, time, etc.)
Morphology - -ly
Syntax - modify V, Adj, Adv

CLOSED (FUNCTION) lexical

categories
DETERMINERS (Det)
Articles, demonstratives, possessives,
quantifiers
Various meanings and morphology
Syntax - Always before a N

PREPOSITIONS (P)
Meaning - various relations
Morphology
Syntax - In front of a NP, head of PP

 Pronouns (Pro)
Auxiliaries (Aux)
Conjunctions (Conj)

 HANDOUT # 1 and 2

PHRASE STRUCTURE
Each word is a member of a lexical
category, based on its semantic,
morphological and syntactic properties.
The category determines the types of
phrases it can form.

PHRASES
A phrase is a string of words (one or
more) that function as a unit in a
sentence
Each phrasal category/phrase has a
central word - head, after which it is
named.

PHRASAL CATEGORIES
(English)

NOUN PHRASE - NP
-> consists of
NP -> N
NP -> Det N
NP -> Det N PP
NP -> Adj N
NP -> Det Adj N
NP -> Adj N PP
NP -> N PP
NP -> Det Adj N PP

NP rule for English

NP -> (Det) (Adj) N (PP)

VERB PHRASE

VP -> V
VP -> V NP
VP -> V NP PP
VP -> V PP
VP -> V Adv
VP -> V PP Adv
VP -> V NP Adv
VP -> V (NP) (PP) (Adv)

VP rule for English

VP -> V (NP) (PP) (Adv)

Sentence
S -> NP VP

Other phrasal categories

AdjP -> (Adv) Adj (PP)
AdvP -> Adv (Adv)
PP -> P NP

Syntactic rules

S-> NP VP
NP -> (Det) (Adj) N (PP)
NP -> Pro
VP -> V (NP) (PP) (Adv)
PP -> P NP

Reviews (in this order)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9
168PgGHBc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M
PWuI9whbEY

Homework practice
Draw tree diagrams for the following ten
sentences, using the following rules:
S -> NP VP
NP -> (Det) (Adj) N (PP)
NP -> Pronoun
VP -> V (NP) (PP) (Adv)
PP -> P NP

 1. My students like syntactic diagrams.

2. The repairman fixed the watch.
3. The young student from Arizona left his
wallet on my desk.
4. The driver of that car sped down the
highway.
5. The explorers returned from their journey.

6. My cat chases mice around our building.

7. The dog destroyed the house completely.
8. Mark drinks tea with a splash of lemon.
9. Mary drinks tea with her husband.
10. The boy saw the man with the telescope.