Sentence Structures
Sentence Structures
Sequences of words that can function as constituents in the structure of sentences are called phrases.
If a sequence of words can be omitted from a sentence leaving another good sentence, this is a good indication
that the sequence is a phrase functioning as a constituent in the structure of the sentence. However, not all
phrases are omissible.
If you can replace a sequence of words in a sentence with a single word without changing the overall structure
of the sentence, then that sequence functions as a constituent of the sentence and therefore is a phrase.
The MOVEMENT of a sequence of words in forming a construction indicates that the sequence is a phrase.
Phrases form not only SYNTACTIC UNITS (constituents in the structural form of sentences) but also
SEMANTIC UNITS. They form identifiable parts of the MEANING of sentences; they form coherent units of
sense. (ask what ‘beside a stream’ means/ not ask what ‘beside a’ means)
Any point in a phrase-marker that could branch and bear a label is called a NODE.
A sequence of elements is represented as a constituent in a phrase-marker if there is a node that dominates all
those elements and no others.
Functions:
The SUBJECT of a sentence can be defined as that NP which is immediately dominated by S. A PREDICATE
is a VP immediately dominated by S.
Constituents have their functions in respect of their sister constituents. (the two-way function/ dependency of
the subject and predicate)
In a phrase containing a modifier, the element that is modified forms the essential centre of the phrase and is
said to be the HEAD of the phrase. (one-way function/ dependency of modifier and head)
When a head DEMANDS a further expression (beside demands a stream), that other (OBLIGATORY)
expression is said to COMPLEMENT the head.
Categories:
+ Nouns: By assigning a word to a particular category, we make a general statement about its distribution.
Pronouns are used to stand in place of complete Noun Phrases (NPs). (they stands for Max and Adrian)
In a modifier-head relation, it is the category of the HEAD word that determines the category of the phrase a
whole.
It is the head noun that determines the NUMBER (sin or plu) and the GENDER (masculine, feminine, or
neutral) of the Noun Phrase as a whole.
It is the HEAD NOUN that determines what sort of thing or person the whole NP refers to.
Degree adverbs cannot themselves be modified. there is no distinction between degree adverb and a degree
Adverb Phrase.
Co-ordinate NPs have as many heads as there are nouns co-ordinated in them. Ordinators: and, but, or.
Any constituent, of any category, can consist of a co-ordination of constituents of the same category. (stuffy and
too hot)
The mother and the sisters of the co-ordinator all have the same category label.
The one constituent that a Verb Phrase must contain is the Verb Group. The Verb Group consists of a (lexical)
verb which is optionally preceded by other (auxiliary) verb.
Verbs are sub-categorised according to what other elements must appear with them in the VP. In other words,
they are sub-categorised in terms of their COMPLEMENTATION types (in terms of what complements they
must take).
*A monotranstive Vgrp is one which requires a single Noun Phrase to complement it. The NP that complements
a transitive verb is said to function as its DIRECT OBJECT.
+ When an NP is the sister of a Vgrp bearing a [trans] feature, we know that the function of the NP is that of
direct object.
*An intransitive Vgrp is one that does not require any further constituent as a sister in the VP.
*A ditransitive Vgrp is one which requires TWO NPs as its complementation. The first complement NP
functions as the INDIRECT OBJECT of the ditransitive verb. The second complement NP functions as the
DIRECT OBJECT.
+ The indirect object NP corresponds to a PP in a position following the direct object. (I am giving the cake to
him).
*Intensive Vgrps require a single complement, which can take the form of an AP, or a NP, or a PP
+ When a verb is complemented just by an AP, you can be sure you are dealing with an intensive Vgrp +
predicative.
+ Predicatives are used to attribute PROPERTIES to the things picked out by (or, referred to) other expressions.
*Complex transitive Vgrps take two complements: a direct object (NP) and an OBJECT-PREDICATIVE.
+ The predicative in a complex transitive VP characterises (attributes a property to) the direct object, not the
subject, hence the name ‘object-predicative’. (Melvin found his own jokes extremely funny).
In addition to PPs, Adverb Phrases can also function as adjunct adverbials. Adjuncts tend to answer questions
like Where? Why? When? How? What for? How long? How often? How many times?
Certain NPs can function as adverbials: home, last year, yesterday, tonight, tomorrow, the day before yesterday,
the day after tomorrow, this afternoon,…
Adjunct adverbials are modifiers of VPs. Complements of the verb are sisters of the Verb Group, Adjunct
Adverbials are sisters or Verb Phrase.
A phrasal verb consists of a verb + a particle. ‘Call up’ is a transitive phrasal verb. [trans] [phrasal]
A characteristic of particles is that they can appear in a position after the direct object. (call the boss up)
Particle movement provides a very liable test for distinguishing between Phrasal verb + DiO and Verb +
PP
The omission from sentences of required elements capable of being understood in the context of their use is
called ELLIPSIS.
Syntax is concerned with the form of sentences, without taking into account the effects of uttering sentences in
a context.
Every (non-elliptical) Vgrp contains a lexical head as its head. The lexical head verb may or may not be
modified by AUXILIARY verbs
+ A Vgrp that contains a TENSED verb is traditionally called a FINITE Vgrp. Every sentence must contain one
finite Vgrp. It is customary to recognize just present and past as the tenses of English. There is no simple
correlation between the grammatical category tense and the notion of time. (The boat leaves at ten (present
tense – future time) – If he gave me the bleach tomorrow (past tense – future time).
+ When a verb follows a lexical verb, it can be introduced by the infinitive particle ‘to’, but not when it follows
an auxiliary verb.
+ Modal auxiliaries are distinguished from the primary auxiliaries and lexical verbs in always carrying tense.
A defining peculiarity of modals is that they do not exhibit subject-verb agreement. The verb following the
modal auxiliary in the Vgrp appears in its basic stem form.
+ The use of the perfect aux ‘have’ is one way of referring to past time independently of tense. (has forbidden/
had gone). The verb that follows have in the Vgrp always appears in its (non-finite) PERFECT PARTICIPLE
FORM. Have can function both as the perfect auxiliary (modifying the head verb) or as the head verb itself.
+ Progressive aux requires the following verb to adopt the V-ing form. Call this the PROGRESSIVE
PARTICIPLE. ‘Be’ can function either as an aux or as the head of the verb itself.
+ Following passive ‘be’, a verb adopts the PASSIVE PARTICIPLE form. The choice of passive affects not
just the Vgrp but the whole sentences. (the object in the active becomes the subject of the passive, the subject of
the active becomes a PP introduced with by. The direct object position with a monotranstive Vgrp won’t be
filled when the Vgrp is passive.
+ The negative particle ‘not’ is placed immediately after the aux that carries the tense. In negative sentences
with ‘not’, aux ‘do’ is required to carry the tense in the absence of any other aux. The aux verb do is empty of
meaning. Its sole function is to carry the tense instead of the lexical head verb when required.
+ Forming questions: The aux verb that carries the tense moves in front of the subject. ‘Do’ is required to carry
the tense in the absence of any other aux. The position occupied by a fronted aux is: sister of S and daughter of
S-bar.
+ ‘Have’ can behave like an aux even when it is functioning as a head verb (Have we any garlic?). ‘Be’ always
behaves like an aux whatever its function.
+ NP, in the basic case, has just two immediate constituents: DET (determiner) and NOM (nominal).
+ DET always has NOM as its sister.
+ The determiner position is not always filled. An unfilled determiner gives the NP an indefinite and more
general interpretation.
+ The phenomenon of the function of a constituent extending over a sequence of words is more commonly
referred to as SCOPE. (both the man’s eyes)
+ The combination of modifier noun and head noun is referred to as a COMPOUND NOUN and is not treated
as a phrasal constituent at all, but as a compound WORD.
+ NOM can have NOM as one of its constituents. Each modifier must be dominated by a NOM.
PRE-DETERMINERS – PRE-MODIFIERS – POST-MODIFIERS
+ When a modifying AP includes a complement, it always post-modifies. (the chef responsible for the sauces)
+ The distinction between sister-of-Vgrp and sister-of-VP (which is the distinction between complement and
adjunct) is paralleled by the distinction between sister-of-N and sister-of-NOM.
+ If a modifier can co-occur with the pro-NOM one, then it must be a sister of NOM (a ‘NOM-modifier’)
The sentential structures that contain subordinate clauses are called superordinate clauses.
A superordinate clause that is not subordinate to any other clause is referred to as the MAIN CLAUSE. The
verb of the main clause is the MAIN VERB. In phrase markers, the main clause will be the topmost clause.
An abbreviated clausal analysis.
+ A characteristic of clausal subjects is that they can be EXTRAPOSED from under the subject NP node to the
end of the sentence, leaving behind the empty pronoun it.
+ That and whether clauses can function as subject-predicatives. (the question is whether he should have
accepted that offer)
+ Noun-complement clauses are said to complement the noun because it is in the same relation to the N within
NP as clauses that complement the Vgrp in VP.
+ An interrogative clause can function as the complement of a preposition within PP. (about whether they
should).
WH-clauses:
+ Wh-questions: constituent questions. the fronting of the WH-phrase: ‘Wh-fronting’. Wh-fronting leaves
behind a gap (O) of the appropriate category.
+ S-double-bar: the landing site for fronted Wh-phrases: daughter of S-double-bar, sister of S-bar.
+ Wh-expressions appearing at the front of clauses to be represented as occupying the Comp-2 position. Aux
fronting to Comp-1 does occur in all (non-echo) questions.
+ Relative clauses are Wh-clauses, but they are not interrogative. Relative clauses only function as modifiers.
+ As complements, Noun-Complement clauses are sisters to the head N within NOM, just as verb-complements
are sisters to the Vgrp within VP. (the thought that he should have done the washing up) (NP – Det, Nom; Nom:
N & S)
+ Relative clauses are represented, not as sisters of the N, but as sisters of NOM within a higher NOM (NP –
Det, Nom, Nom: Nom:N, S-double-bar) (the thought which occurred to him).
+ Noun-complement clauses are N-modifiers (sisters-of-N), relative clauses are Nom-modifiers (sisters-of-
Nom).
+ You can think of relative clauses as adjuncts in the structure of NP.
+ The difference between restrictives and non-restrictives lies in the way they relate to the head noun within the
overall NP.
+ Restrictive relative clauses specify more exactly which of the things picked out by the head noun are being
mentioned. Non-restrictive relative clauses serve to add extra info, without restricting the set of things being
mentioned.
+ As the modifier of a complete NP, the non-restrictive relative clause must be represented as the sister of that
NP within a higher NP.
*Three levels of NP structure:
+ Noun-complement clauses: modifiers of N (within NOM)
+ Restrictive relative clauses: modifiers of NOM (within NOM)
+ Non-restrictive relative clauses: modifiers of NP (within NP)
Non-finite clauses:
A non-finite clause is a clause with a non-finite (tenseless) Vgrp non-finte clauses can only be subordinate.
When a non-overt element is specific and understood as identical to an overt constituent in a higher clause, the
higher overt element is said to CONTROL the non-overt element. A non-overt constituent that is NOT
CONTROLLED is described as FREE.