English Syntax RUSFANDI

Introduction to
English Syntax
Syntax: The analysis of sentence
structure

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Syntax: The definition
Syntax >> The system of rules and categories that allows
words to be combined to form sentences in human
language. Syntax is concerned with the ways in which
words can be combined together to form phrases and
sentences.

A sentence is grammatical if speakers judge it to be a
possible sentence of their language
Example:
1.
*House painted student a the.

2.
A student painted the house.
Thus, example 2) is a grammatical sentence of English,
but 1) is not.
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Categories & Structure
A fundamental fact about words in all human
languages is that they can be grouped together into a
relatively small number of classes, called
Grammatical/Syntactic categories.
 A grammatical category is a class of expressions which
share a common set of grammatical properties.
 This classification reflects a variety of factors,
including the type of meaning that words express, the
type of affixes that they take, and the type of structures
in which they can occur.


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Word-level Categories
Lexical Categories

Examples

Noun (N)

Harry, boy, wheat, policy, moisture, bravery

Verb (V)

arrive, discuss, melt, hear, remain, dislike

Adjective (A)

good, tall, old, intelligent, beautiful, fond

Preposition (P)

to, in, on, near, at, by

Adverb (Adv)

silently, slowly, quietly, quickly, now

Non-lexical categories

Examples

Determiner (Det)

the, a, this, these

Degree word (Deg)

too, so, very, more, quite

Qualifier (Qual)

always, perhaps, often, never, almost

Auxiliary (Aux)

will, can, may, must, should, could

Conjunction (Con)

and, or, but

Note: A potential source of confusion in the area of word classification stem from
the fact that some items can belong to more than one category, e.g. comb, watch,
etc.
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Semantic criteria > Meaning
One criteria involves meaning.
 Noun, for instance, typically name entities such as individual
(Paijo, Tessy) and objects (book, desk).
 Verbs characteristically designate actions (run, jump),
sensation (feel, hurt), and state (be, remain).
 Adjectives is to designate a property or attribute of the entities
donated by noun (tall, handsome)
 Adverbs typically denote properties and attributes of the
actions, sensations, and states designated by verbs (quickly,
early).
 Unfortunately, a word’s category membership does not always
bear such a straightforward relationship to its meaning. For
example, there are abstract nouns such as difficulty, truth, and
likelihood.
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Morpho-syntactic Criteria
Inflection : These criteria have to do with inflectional suffixes
Category

Inflectional affix

Examples

Noun
Verb

Plural –s
Past tense –ed
Progressive –ing
Comparative –er
Superlative –est

books, chairs, doctors
hunted, watched, judges
hunting, watching, judging

taller, faster, smarter
tallest, fastest, smartest

Adjective

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Syntactic Criteria > Distribution
The syntactic criteria for word classes are based on what words a
given word occurs with and the types of phrase in which a given word
occurs.

Category

Distribution property

Noun
occurrence with a determiner

For example: a car, the wheat
Verb
occurrence with an auxiliary
For example: has gone, will stay
Adjective occurrence with a degree word
For example: very rich, too big
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Phrase structure
Sentences are not formed by simply stringing
words together like beads on a necklace.
Rather, sentences have a hierarchical design in
which words are grouped together into
successfully larger structural units.

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Head
Phrases are built around a ‘skeleton’ consisting
of two levels.
NP

VP

AP

PP

Phrase Level

N

V

A

P

Word Level

Note: It is possible to have a phrase in which
only the head position is filled

(he likes)
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NP

VP

N

V

books

(all animals)

eat

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Specifiers
 Semantically,

specifiers help to make more
precise the meaning of the head. They are
determiner (Det), qualifier (Qual), and degree
words (Deg).
 Syntactically, specifiers typically mark a
phrase boundary. In English, specifiers occur
at the left boundary (the beginning) of their
respective phrases.
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NP

VP

N

Qual

V

books

never

eat

Det
the

PP

AP

Deg
quite
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A
certain

Deg

P

almost

in
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Complements
Complements are elements, which are themselves
phrases, provide information about entities and
locations whose existence is implied by the
meaning of the head. For example, the meaning of
“eat” implies an object that is eaten, the meaning
of “in” implies a location, and so on.
A vegetarian should never eat [a hamburger].
head
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complement the thing eaten
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VP

NP

Qual

never

V

eat

Det

a

N

hamburger

A VP consisting of a head, a specifier, and a complement
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NP

Det

N

the

book

PP
about the war

A NP consisting of a head, a specifier, and a complement
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AP

Deg
quite

A
certain

PP
about Mary

An AP consisting of a head, a specifier, and a complement
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PP

Deg

P

almost

in

NP
the house

A PP consisting of a head, a specifier, and a complement

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Phrase structure rule
NP > (Det) N (PP)
VP > (Qual) V (NP)
AP > (Deg) A (PP)
PP > (Deg) P (NP)

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Sentences
 The

largest unit of syntactic analysis is the
sentence (S). A sentence combines an NP
(often called the subject) with a VP.
 The (S) rule: S > NP VP
S

VP

NP

NP

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Det

N

V

Det

N

A

scientist

discovered

the

answer

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 The

above analysis assumes that S is special
in the sense that, unlike other phrases, it
does not have internal structure (with head,
a complement, and a specifier). However,
many linguists now believe that S is
essentially similar to other phrases and has
the structure as follow:

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InflP (=S)

VP

NP

Infl
NP

Pst
Det
A

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N
scientist

V
discovered

Det

N

the

answer

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InflP(=S)

VP

NP

Infl
NP
Det
A

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N
scientist

V
will

discover

Det

N

the

answer

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Complement Clauses
All human languages allow sentence-like
construction to function as complement.
Example:
[The psychic knows [that/whether/if the
contestant will win]]
* The smaller bracketed phrase is called a
complement clause while the larger phrase in
which it occurs is called the matrix clause
* Words such as that, if, and whether are known
as Complementizers (Cs).
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CP

S
NP

C

Det

that
whether
if

the

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VP

N

contestant

Infl

V

will

win

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S
VP
CP

NP

S
Infl

Det

N

The psychic
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NP

NonPst V

knows

C

Det

the
that
whether
if

VP

N

Infl

V

contestant

will

win
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Tests for phrase structure
According to the syntactic analysis, the words
that make up a sentence form intermediate
structural units called phrases. How do
linguists using this approach to syntax
determine which words should be grouped
together into phrases?

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The substitution test
Evidence that NPs are syntactic units comes
from the fact that they can often be replaced
by an element such as they, it, or do so.
Example:
a. [NP The citizens] rebelled after they
discovered the truth. (they = the citizens)
b. The students will [VP wear ties] if the
teachers will do so.
c. They stopped [PP at the corner] and we
stopped there too
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The movement test
Another indication is that phrases can be
moved as a single unit to a different position
within the sentence (this is called a movement
test)
Example,
They stopped [PP at the corner] >>
[PP at the corner], they stopped.

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The coordination test
A group of words forms a constituent if it can be
joined to another group of words by a
conjunction such as and, or, or but. (This is
labeled the coordination test since patterns
built around a conjunction are called
coordinate structure).
Example,
The children [VP often sweep the floor] but [VP
never clean the wall].
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NP

NP

NP

VP

VP

V
read
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Det

N

Con

this

man

and

Det

that

N

child

VP

NP
a book

Con

V

or

walk

NP
the dog
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Transformation
 Transformation

is a special type of rule that
can move an element from one position to
another.
 Transformation can be in the form of
Inversion and insertion
 Inversion >> moves the auxiliary from the Infl
position to a position to the left of the subject.
 Insertion >> adds a special auxiliary verb.

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Inversion in yes-no questions
Will the boy leave? >> The boy will leave

S

NP

VP

Det

N

Infl

the

Boy

will

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V

Will the boy ----- leave?

leave

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Deep Structure Vs. Surface Structure
Surface Structure

Will the boy leave? >> The boy will leave
S

NP

VP

Det

N

Infl

the

Boy

will

V

leave

Deep structure
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Will the boy ----- leave?

Inversion process
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Wh-Movement
The man should repair which car?
Which car should the man ----- repair ------?
inversion
Wh-Movement

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Do insertion
Those birds sing
those birds do sing
Do those birds ---- sing?

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References
Eagleson, R. D., Threadgold, T., & Collins, P. (1985). Inside
language. Melbourne: Pitman Publishing.
Fromkin, V., Blair, D., & Collins, P. (2000). An introduction to
language. New South Wales: Harcourt Australia Pty Limited.
O'Grady, W. (1997). Syntax: The analysis of sentence structure. In
W. O'Grady, M. Dobrovolsky & F. Katamba (Eds.),
Contemporary linguistics (pp. 181-244). Essex: Pearson
Education Limited.
O'Grady, W., Dobrovolsky, M., & Aronoff, M. (1989). Contemporary
linguistics: An introduction. New York: St. Martin's Press.

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Radford, A. (1997). Syntax: A minimalist introduction.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Pres

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