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



Noun (N)



Verb (V)



Adjective (A)



Preposition (P)



Adverb (Adv)

Examples



moisture, policy



melt, remain



good, intelligent



to, near



slowly, now

Syntactic Categories (2)

Non-lexical categories



Determiner (Det)



Degree word (Deg)



Qualifier (Qual)



Auxiliary (Aux)



Conjunction (Con)

Examples



the, this



very, more



always,
perhaps



will, can



and, or

Indicate the category of each

word in the following sentences.

a. The glass suddenly broke.

b. A jogger ran towards the end of the lane.

c. The peaches never appear quite ripe.

d. Gillian will play the trumpet and the drums in the

orchestra.

Det / N / Adv / V

Det / N / V / P / Det / N / P /
Det / N

N / Aux / V / Det / N / Conj / Det / N / P / Det /
N

Det / N / Qual / V / Deg / A

Phrases



NP : Noun Phrase
The car, a 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

Phrase Structure Rules



NP  (Det) N (PP)



PP  P NP

The bus
(NP)

Th
e

N

De
t

bu
s

The bus in the

yard

NP

Th
e

N

De
t

bu
s

P
P

in

NP

P

the

De
t

N

yar
d

Phrase Structure Rules



VP  V (NP) (PP)



S  NP (Aux) VP

took the money
(VP)

too
k

NP

V

took the money from

the bank

VP

too
k

NP

V

P
P

from

NP

P

the

De
t

N

ban
k

the

De
t

N

mone
y

the

De
t

N

mone
y

Draw the tree diagram.

1. repaired the telephone

2. the success of the program

3. a film about pollution

4. move towards the window

5. cast a spell on the broomstick

The main structure rules

1. S  NP (Aux) VP
2. NP  (Det) (AP) N (PP)
3. VP  V (NP) (PP)

(Adv)

4. PP  P NP
5. AP  A (PP)

Example (1)

The old tree swayed in the wind

old

V

P
P

in

NP

P

the

De
t

N

win
d

Th
e

N

swaye
d

S

NP

VP

De
t

Ad
j

tre
e

Aux

pas
t

Example (2)

The children put the toy in the box

V

P
P

in

NP

P

the

De
t

N

box

Th
e

N

put

S

NP

VP

De
t

childr
en

NP

the

De
t

N

toy

Draw the structure trees for the

following sentences

Question # 5 a - f

page. 240

Tree Diagram

to be continued next week