Phrase Structure Trees

1. Principal constituents

phrase structure trees show three aspects of the sentence structure

o linear order of words in the sentence
o the groupings of words into phrases
o the hierarchical structure of phrases

the simple English sentence consists of two principal constituents

o Noun Phrase (NP)

o Verb Phrase (VP)

these structures correspond roughly to the functional features of

referring to entities things, people, places, ideas, etc.

the expressions used to refer to entities are Noun Phrases (NP)

predication saying something about the entities referred to

Referring expression Predication

Judge Judy has a daughter
a poltergeist appeared last night
the child found the puppy in the garden

these two major parts are the two branches at the top of the phrase structure
(S = sentence)

NP VP

the child found the puppy

Judge Judy has a daughter
a poltergeist appeared last night

NPs and VPs can be identified by

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 o the slots they fill in a sentence
o the functions they perform in a sentence

NPs can function as:

Subject of the verb

[The child] found the puppy.

the child Subject

[The puppy] found the child.

the puppy subject

the child Object

Object of the verb

The child (found [the puppy]).

the puppy Object

The puppy (found [the child]).

the child Object

2. Analyzing the phrase structure of English sentences

The child found the puppy in the garden.

Step 1
set down the basic pair of branches for two principal constituents - the
Subject NP and the predicate VP - at the top of the phrase structure

NP VP

Step 2

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 label the syntactic category (part of speech) of each of the words that make up
the sentence

distinguish between transitive and intransitive verbs

o transitive verbs have an active subject (i.e., an agent) doing something

to an object (i.e., patient)

The child foundVt the puppyObj.

o intransitive verbs dont take a direct object

The child leftVi.

Det N Vt Det N Prep Det N

The child put the puppy in the garden

Step 3
locate the boundary between the subject NP and predicate VP of S

Det N Vt Det N Prep Det N

[The child] [put the puppy in the garden]

Step 4
for each N (Prn), V, Adj, Adv, and Prep, project a labeled phrasal node:
NP, VP, AdjP, AdvP, PrepP

NP VP

PrepP

NP NP

Det N Vt Det N Prep Det N

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 [The child] [put the puppy in the garden]

Step 5
connect the remaining constituents to the nodes they belong to: link them to
the constituents they relate to

NP VP

PrepP

NP NP

Det N Vt Det N Prep Det N

[The child] [put the puppy in the garden]

The final tree:

NP VP

Det N V NP PrepP

Det N Prep NP

Det N

The child found the puppy in the garden

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 3. Labeled tree structured

the larger syntactic constituents, such as the VP, consist of all the syntactic
constituents below that point, or node, in the tree
o the VP in the above phrase structure tree consists of the syntactic
constituent V and NP, PreP
o the PrepP consists of the syntactic constituent nodes Prep and NP
o finally, each of these smaller syntactic constituents consists of the words
found, the, puppy, in, the, garden
o thus, since in the garden can be traced up the tree to a PrepP, this
constituent is a Prepositional Phrase
o the phrase structure tree reflects our intuitions about the natural
groupings of words in the sentence

nodes
labeled points in the tree where branches meet

o every higher node dominates all the constituents beneath it:

we say node X dominates node Y if node X is connected to Y and is

higher in the tree than Y

VP dominates V, NP, and PrepP, and also dominates all the other
constituents beneath it in the tree Det, N, Prep, etc.

o we say that node X immediately dominates node Y if node X is

connected to Y and is directly above it in the tree

the first NP in the sentence immediately dominates the Det the and the
N child
VP immediately dominates the V, NP, PrepP

4. Functional categories

reflect the function of a constituent in a sentence

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 the notion of dominance can be used to provide formal definitions of
important functional categories
o subject of S: the NP that is immediately dominated by S the child
o predicate of S: the VP that is immediately dominated by S found the
puppy in the garden
o direct object: the NP that is immediately dominated by VP
the puppy
o object of a preposition: the NP that is immediately dominated by Prep
the garden
o adverbial prepositional phrase: the PrepP that is immediately
dominated by VP in the garden