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Phrase Structure Rules Updated

The document outlines several phrase structure rules for English grammar including rules for noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases, adverb phrases, and prepositional phrases. It also discusses recursion of rules, coordination of phrases, and phrasal verbs.

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Ali Hassan
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9 views

Phrase Structure Rules Updated

The document outlines several phrase structure rules for English grammar including rules for noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases, adverb phrases, and prepositional phrases. It also discusses recursion of rules, coordination of phrases, and phrasal verbs.

Uploaded by

Ali Hassan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Phrase Structure Rules

Noun Phrase

 NP → (Det) A* N (PP/S)
 This rule characterizes a phrase, and is one instance of a phrase structure rule (PS rule).
The rule indicates that an NP can consist of an optional Det, any number of optional A, an
obligatory N, and then an optional PP or a modifying S.
 N is obligatory in NP, a single noun such as Mary, you, or students can constitute an NP
by itself.
 Example: Mary, I, you, students, the students, the tall students, the students from Seoul,
the students who came from Seoul, etc.
VP: Verb Phrase

 VP → V (NP) (PP/S)
 Example: The student ____________
Snored, ran, sang, loved music, walked the dog through the park, lifted 50 pounds,thought Tom is honest,
warned us that storms were coming, etc.
 This simple VP rule says that a VP can consist of an obligatory V followed by an optional NP and then any
number of PPs or an S.
 We can also observe that the presence of a VP is essential in forming a grammatical S, and the VP must be
finite (present or past tense).
VP: Verb Phrase

 VP → V[AUX +] VP
 VP involves the presence of auxiliary verbs.
 Example:
a. The students ____________.
b. The students want _______.
1. run, feel happy, study English syntax, . . .
2. can run, will feel happy, must study English syntax, . . .
3. c. to run, to feel happy, to study English syntax
 Expressions(1,2,3) all form VPs and contain more than one Verb. In fact, the parts after the auxiliary verbs in (2) and (3) are themselves regular VPs.
 In the full grammar we will consider to and can and so on as auxiliary verbs, with a feature specification [AUX +] to distinguish them from regular
verbs. Then all auxiliary verbs are simply introduced by a second VP rule:
VP: Verb Phrase
VP: Verb Phrase

 VP → VP Adv/PP
 John [[read the book] loudly].
 b. The teacher [[met his students] in the class].
 In such examples, the adverb loudly and the PP in the class are modifying the preceding
VP
AP: Adjective Phrase

 AP → A (PP/VP/S)
 The most common environment where an adjective phrase (AP) occurs is in ‘linking verb’ constructions
like:
 Example: John feels _______________.
happy, uncomfortable, terrified, sad, proud of her, proud to be his student, proud that he passed the exam,
etc.
 John sounded happy/uncomfortable/terrified/proud of her.
 John felt proud that his son won the game.
AdvP: Adverb Phrase

 Adverb phrases are often used to modify verbs, adjectives, and adverbs themselves.
 Rule: AdvP → (AdvP) Adv
a. He behaved very _________
b. They worded the sentence very ________.
c. He treated her very ____________.
 Examples: well, clearly, extremely, carefully, very soundly, almost certainly, very slowly,
etc.
PP: Preposition Phrase

 PPs consists of a preposition plus a NP.


 Rule: PP → P NP
 Examples: from Seoul, in the box, in the hotel, into the soup, with John and his dog,
under the table, etc.
a. John came from Seoul.
b. They put the book in the box.
c. They stayed in the hotel.
d. The fly fell into the soup.
Grammar with Phrases

S → NP VP
 NP → (Det) A* N (PP/S)
 VP → V (NP) (PP/S/VP)
 AP → A (PP/S)
 AdvP → (AdvP) Adv
 PP → P NP
Grammar with Phrases

 The rules say that a sentence is the combination of NP and VP, and an NP can be made up of a Det, any number of
As, an obligatory N, and any number of PPs, and so on.. Of the possible tree structures that these rules can
generate, the following is one example:
 Rule: S--------NP VP
 By inserting elements in the appropriate pre-terminal nodes, we are able to generate various sentences.
Phrase Structure Rules

 There is also another way to generate an infinite number of grammatical sentences i.e. by recursively
applying the two rules, in the sense that one feeds the other, and then vice versa. There is no limit to this
kind of recursive application of PS rules.
 Rule: S → NP VP
VP → V S
Coordination Rule

 English allows two alike categories to be coordinated.


 The ‘coordination’ rule says two identical XP categories can be coordinated and form the same category XP.
XP can be any phrase.
 Rule: XP → XP+ Conj XP
 Example: PP & Ap can never be coordinated.
Phrasal Verbs

 Rule:
VP → V Part NP
VP → V NP Part
VP → V PP

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