Syntax

The Sentence Patterns of Language

 Table of Contents
01 02 03
Introduction What Syntax Rules What Grammaticality is
Do? Not Based on?
What really is Syntax? They construct a grammatical The Basis for Considering a
sentence. Sentence Grammatical.

04 05 06
Constituents and
Sentence Structure Constituency Tests Syntactic Categories
How to form a sentence There are constituents and how The group of words in a
to find these constituents in sentence are categorized into
sentences. two.
“To grammar even kings bow”

—J. B. Moliere, Les Femmes

Savantes, II, 1672
 01
Introduction
What is Syntax?
Syntax
● Syntax just like inflectional morphology is another
grammatical aspect of language. It is part of grammar
that represents a speaker’s knowledge of sentences and
their structure.
● The arrangement of words in sentences, clauses, and
phrases, and the study of the formation of sentences and
the relationship of their component parts.
● This focuses on the sentence patterns and structures of
the language and the rules that govern it.
02
What
Syntax
Rules Do?
They construct a
grammatical sentence.
1.The rule specifies the correct word order
for a language.

● The rules of syntax combine words into phrases and phrases into
sentences. Among other things, the rules specify the correct word order for
a language. For example, English is a Subject–Verb–Object (SVO)
language.
Examples
NOTE: The ASTERISK or STAR preceding a sentence is the linguistic
convention for indicating that the sentence is UNGRAMMATICAL or ill-formed
ACCORDING TO THE RULES OF GRAMMAR.

1. The President nominated a new Supreme Court justice.

2. *President the new Supreme justice Court a nominated.

● The English sentence in (1) is grammatical because the words occur in the
right order; the sentence in (2) is ungrammatical because the word order is
incorrect for English.
2. Syntax specifies other constraints that
sentences must adhere to.

● This means that in sentence formation there are certain

limitations/ rules to be followed.
 Examples
● Let's have some example sentences:
The girl broke.
The girl broke quickly.
The girl broke in the house.
The girl broke the vases.
● The syntax rules specify that a verb like "broke" must be followed by something appropriate and this is something not like
"quickly" or "in the house", but must be like "the vase".

● More Examples
Mary walked the vase.
Mary walked quickly.
● In this case, the verb "walk" patterns differently than "break" and so it is why  "walk" is followed by "quickly" instead of any
kinds of phrases like "the vase"

● This means that verbs are vast. There are categories according to different usages.
It implies that verbs must behave similarly to the pattern words that followed them.
From the examples verbs like "walk" and "break" must be followed by words or phrases that connect to it.
• Sentences must make related patterns
of words that conform together.
• Sentences must have related pattern of
words and verbs that behave similarly
to make the sentence grammatical.
3. Syntax illustrates that sentences are
not simply a string of words with no further
organization.

• Words creates groups and units within a sentence.

Example
● Differences in distribution of “ran up the hill” versus “ran up the bill.”
● Differences in phrase structure.

(a) Jack and Jill ran up the hill.

(b) *Jack and Jill ran the hill up.
(c) Up the hill ran Jack and Jill.
(d) Jack and Jill ran up the bill.
(e) Jack and Jill ran the bill up.
(f) *Up the bill ran Jack and Jill
Example
● For the expression, ran up the hill, the rules of syntax allow the word orders in A and C,
but not in B. In run up the bill, the rules allow the word order in D and E but not F.
● These phrases act differently because they have different structures associated with them.

• Up the hill – unit

He ran [up the hill]
S V PP

• Up the bill - no natural unit

Here's why:
(c) Up the hill ran Jack and Jill.
(f) *Up the bill ran Jack and Jill.
4. Rules of syntax is to describe the
relationship between the meaning of a
particular group of words and the
arrangement of those words.
• Word order contributes to the meaning of the sentence.
Examples
● This rules shows us the correct word order for a language. The sentence
contains the same words but the meanings are quite different. The meanings
also depend on how the words in the sentence grouped.

● For example.
I mean what I say.
I say what I mean.

● This rule implies that the word order of a sentence contributes crucially to
its meaning.
 5. Syntax specifies the grammatical
relations of a sentence, such as subject and
direct object.
• The rule specify who’s doing what to whom.
Examples
● In other words, they provide the information about who is doing what to
whom. Also this information is crucial to understanding the meaning of a
sentence.
● So for example:

1. Your dog chased my cat.

2. My cat chased your dog.
To sum up..
What syntax rules do?
● There is an appropriate word order.
● There is a pattern of words that
behave similarly in order to
become coherent.
● The words form groups/ combine to
form larger units such as phrases
and sentences.
● The word order tell the meaning of
a sentence.
● The word order specify the
grammatical relations in a
sentence.
 Note
The fact that all native speakers have the same
judgments about the sentences given, it tells us that
grammatical judgments are neither idiosyncratic nor
capricious, but are determined by rules that are
shared by all speakers of a language.
• Our syntactic knowledge includes rules
that tells us how words from groups in a
sentence, or how they hierarchically
arranged with respect to one another.
● Sentences can be analyzed as hierarchically structured words are grouped
into phrases (or constituents) which are grouped into higher-level phrases,
and so on until the entire sentence has been analyzed.
● the hierarchical design in which words are grouped together into larger
structural units.

● For example:

● [The doctor] ][arrived quickly]

Phrase 1 Phrase 2
03
What
Grammaticality is
Not Based on?
The Basis for Considering
a Sentence Grammatical.
 What Grammaticality is Not Based on?

1.Grammatical judgment are largely based 2. Although the structure of

on the individual's linguistic intuition and it sentences correlates to their
has been pointed out that human has the meaning hence, the
ability to understand as well as produce an grammaticality and meaning
infinitely large number of new sentences are not the same.
that have never seen before. This allows us
to accurately judge a sentence as
grammatical or ungrammatical, even if it
is completely novel sentence.
What Grammaticality is Not Based on?

3. Even if sentences are not 4. The nonsense words in

correctly formed sentences are not based on
according to the syntactic grammaticality, even if they
rules, grammaticality is are difficult to interpret it.
not based on how we
interpret them. The meaning of the words is
really not known.
5. Grammaticality also does not depend
on the truth of sentences.
 04
Sentence Structure
How to form a sentence
Sentence Structure
● Det – N – V – Det – N
● This template says that a determiner (an article) is followed by a noun, which is
followed by a
verb, and so on.

● Examples:
● The child found a puppy.
● The professor wrote a book.
● That runner won the race.

● This implies that sentences are a string of words belonging to particular

grammatical categories
(parts of speech) with no internal organization. Such flat/linear structures are incorrect.
 Sentence Structure
Hierarchical
Organization
• Sentences have hierarchical
Determiner Noun Verb Determiner Noun organization and not just a string of
words; that is, the words are grouped
The child found a puppy into natural units.
• Example: The child found a puppy.
The professor wrote a book

The runner won the race

Sentence Structure

• Another example: Tree Diagram

• Tree diagram is used to see the parts and subparts
of the sentence.
05
Constituents and
Constituency Test
There are constituents and how
to find these constituents in
sentences.
Constituents
● Constituents are the natural groupings or parts of a sentence.
● Constituents in grammar define the structural pieces of a sentence, phrase,
or clause.

● In the sentence, “The child found a puppy”, there are 3 parts/natural

groupings or constituents.
These are the child, found, and a puppy.

● How do we group the words to form a constituent?

Constituency Tests
● Constituency Test – linguistic tests that reveal the constituents of a sentence.

● Constituents can be phrases, words, or morphemes.

1. Single words are constituents. (exceptions: certain contractions, certain possessives)
Complete sentences are constituents.
2. Any sequence of words which can be functionally replaced by a single word must be a
constituent.
● The man in the black hat is my brother. You were sick when I saw you.
● Tom is my brother. You were sick yesterday.

● A specific subcase of (2): any sequence of words which can be replaced by a proform
is a constituent.
Constituency Tests
● Example:
● Certain combinations thus occur before others, and syntax and constituency
aim at unveiling precisely what the order must be.
● Let us look at the following example, where square brackets have been used to
highlight when syntactic links are formed:
[The [car]].
● Without worrying about what the labels are for such combinations, it is
hopefully evident from the example above that [car] constitutes a phrase on its
own and is subsequently linked to ‘the’. The order in which combinations
similar to the above occur is typical of numerous strings in language, and can
be applied to longer ones, as in (2) below:
2) [With [the [car]]].
● As in (1), in (2) ‘car’ is first linked to ‘the’; ‘the car’ is then linked to ‘with’.
What are the Constituency Tests?

Stand-Alone Test Movement Substitution

Can the words stand Can the words be Can the words be
alone? moved? replaced by pronouns
or do?

• This tests are used to find constituents within a

sentence.
1. Stand-Alone Test
● If a string of words can stand alone as an answer to a
question, then it is a constituent, e.g.,
Q: What did John eat? A: The whole pizza./*The whole.
Q: What did John do? A: Eat the whole pizza./*Eat the.
● If a group of words can stand alone, they form a
constituent.
2. Substitution
● “Replacement by a pronoun”
● If a group of words can be replaced by a pronoun or even
a word like do, it forms a constituent.
● Example: In the sentence: The Man ate a pizza.
● It could be replaced with: I ate a pizza. / John ate a pizza
and Sara did too.
3. Movement
● If a group of words can be moved, they form a constituent.
● For example:
● Mother baked a cake.
● The cake was baked by mother.
Constituency Tests
• This test can reveal constituents
Stand-Alone Test in a sentence, so these tests can
1 • What did the child found?
• A puppy be used:

Substitution
2 • The child found him. • EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
(a puppy)
The child found a puppy.
Movement • SAMPLE CONSTITUENT: a
3 • A puppy was found by puppy
the child.
06
Syntactic
Categories
The group of words in a
sentence are categorized
into two.
 What are Syntactic Categories

These are….
• Noun Phrases
• Verb Phrases
Noun Phrases
● John found the puppy
He found the puppy
Boys love puppies
The puppy loved him
The puppy loved John

● The child, a police officer, John and so on belong to the syntactic category noun phrase (NPs).

 NPs may function as the subject or as an object.

 NPs contain a determiner and a noun.
 it is complex
 may also consist of a proper name, a pronoun, a noun without a determiner, or even a clause or a
sentence.

● In simple words Noun Phrases(NPs) are phrases which is a part of a sentence which encompasses
essentially a noun.
Verb Phrases
● A verb phrase is the part of a sentence that contains both the verb and either a direct or indirect
object (the verb's dependents).
 
● To easily explain, verb phrases include a verb. It may contain other such as the noun phrase or
prepositional phrase.

● Examples are:  

The child woke.

She will open the gifts.
He has cooked the dinner for midnight.
I have been waiting for this moment.

● Verb phrases are phrases that contains verbs within sentences to make them grammatical.
 Conclusion
The word "syntax" refers to the structure of a sentence as well as our understanding of
it. Syntax defines rules, principles, and processes for constructing sentences from words,
clauses, and phrases in an orderly, well-formed and grammatical manner. Furthermore,
syntax recognizes that grammaticality is dependent on sentences adhering to
predetermined norms. Moreover, syntax dissects and structures sentences to reveal how
words conform, connect, and play in a sentence, which is critical to comprehending the
meaning. Additionally, syntax specifies words and the constituents; therefore, they
devised a set of tests to identify these constituents, as they were crucial in conveying the
sentences. Finally, syntax classifies the set of words that make up a sentence. To
summarize, syntax is concerned with the correct use of words, accurate tenses,
matching numbers, and the proper arrangement of words and phrases in sentences.
 “And this is how
sentences are made”
The end,Thank You!
BY GROUP 2