Explore Structure II,

Constituency Diagnostics
Substitution
Professor Abdellah EL HALOUI
• The sentence is NOT a mere string of
words; it’s a structure.
Some strings of words are constituents because
they behave as “self-contained units.”
Question
• The question we want to answer is: How can we tell if a
string of words is a constituent?
• The answer: to do so, we use some diagnostics (tests).
• Today, we will consider two of this diagnostic:
Substitution.
Substitution
• Substitution means that a genuine constituent can be
replaced by a pro-form.

• A pro-form can be a pronoun (he, she, it, etc.), a time

or place expression (here, now, there, later, recently,
etc.), etc.
Example

The customer in the corner will order the drink before the meal.

He will order it later.

proforms
Read each of the following sentences carefully.
In each pair or group of sentences, identify the pro-form word and the constituent it stands
for or refers to.

Remember: A pro-form is a word that substitutes for another constituent (word, phrase, or
clause) in the text.

For example, in "Mary baked a cake and Bill did too," the pro-form "did" stands for "baked a
cake."

Write your answers in this format:

Pro-form: [write the pro-form]
Stands for: [write the constituent it replaces]
Personal Pronouns:
The old man walked into the store. He looked tired.
Sarah placed the books on the shelf. They fell off immediately.

Possessive Pronouns:
My laptop is slow, but yours works perfectly.
Their garden is well-maintained. Ours needs work.

Demonstrative Pronouns:
The blue shirt costs $30. This costs less.
The morning flights are full. Those have more seats.

Pro-adverbs:
The party is in the basement. Everyone went there.
The meeting starts at noon. I'll see you then.

Pro-verbs:
Mary wanted to paint the wall, and I did too.
Peter cleaned his room, and Jane did so as well.

Pro-clauses:
Will it snow tomorrow? I think so.
Will Jane win the competition? Everyone thinks so.
In each passage below, find:
1.A pronoun that refers back to another part of the text (done for you).
2.The complete phrase or noun it replaces

1."Cowards die many times

before their deaths" Julius
Caesar (Act II, Scene II)

2."The little dogs and all, Tray,

Blanch, and Sweet-heart, see,
they bark at me" King Lear (Act
I, Scene IV)

3. "The doctors and nurses around her

bed, they whispered in hushed
tones.” Virginia Woolf's "Mrs.
Dalloway":
Study an example
Which of the following word strings can be said to be a
constituent? Use pronouns as substitution pro-forms.

These new students of English are planning a new trip to London.

 Replace each highlighted expression with an appropriate pro-form
that can substitute for it in the sentence. The pro-form should
maintain the original meaning while avoiding repetition.

They Constituents?
Then
He 1. The woman with a complaint sat in silence during the meeting.
She 2. The student in the front row talked quietly in the classroom.
She 3. The professor met the boy from advanced calculus after the lecture.
Then 4. The secretaries who worked on the fifth floor handed
the client with special needs the papers as soon as they
Later
recognized he was the representative from the
Then overseas branch.
There
 • A constituent whose core element (head) is a noun is
called a noun phrase: NP.
• A constituent whose core element (head) is a
preposition is called a prepositional phrase: PP.

The customer in the corner will order the drinks before the meal.

NP PP
 Noun
Syntactic categories
Preposition

NP
Phrases
PP
 Another Phrase: The Verb Phrase
(VP) whose head is the verb

The customer in the corner will order the drinks before the meal.

What’s the VP then?

The customer in the corner will order the drinks before the meal.
 Let us try Substitution again

If I had wanted to hurt someone, believe me, I would have done so.

V + NP (obj)

What does “do so” refer to in each one of

VP, therefore is: V +
these examples? NP (object)

If Sir Alex wants to sign somebody he can do so.

V + NP (obj)
 What is the right structure?
Sentence Sentence

before the meal? VP

NP Aux VP (V+NP) NP NP (object)

The customer the drinks
The customer Aux V
in the corner will order the drinks in the corner before the meal
will order
The object is a part The object is not a
to the VP part to the VP
The customer
• The will
advantages of order the drinks.
drinks before the meal
this structure:
V +customer
*1.The object can be substituted
will meal
by a pro-form
order before (“dothe
the meal. so”).drinks.
2. The first structure explains why the object must be closer to
the verb than the PP is.
3. The first structure explains why the object cannot be deleted.

Sentence
Sentence

VP
NP NP
NP Aux VP Aux V
The customer will order the drinks.
• The advantages of this structure:
*1.The
V +customer
object can bewill order before
substituted the meal.
by a pro-form (“do so”).
2. TheThis mustexplains
first structure be thewhyright structure
the object must be closer to
the verb than the PP is. then!
3. The first structure explains why the object cannot be deleted.

Sentence
Sentence

VP
NP NP
NP Aux VP Aux V
This is what we
want to show:
Sentence

NP Aux VP

VP consists of two
layers.
x
VP
PP
V NP
For the moment, we will consider (x) as an iterated VP
The customer in the corner will order the drinks before the meal for his friends
with enthusiasm.

VP

VP
PP
VP PP

VP
PP
PP
Conclusion
• If a string of words can be substituted by a
proform, then this string of words must be a
constituent.
Within each sentence we meet
Are units self-contained,
These groups, so clean and neat,
As parts can be explained.
We spot them when we see
How pro-forms take their place:
A "he," a "there," or "we"
Can show us what to trace.
Through pronouns, verbs, and more,
These units stand alone;
Each "this" that went before
Makes structure clearly shown.