2 From Words to Major Phrase

Types
Part II
ENGT 243
Syntax

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 2.3 Grammar with Lexical Categories
Identify the lexical categories in each
sentence:

(35)
a. A man kicked the ball.
b. A tall boy threw the ball.
c. The cat chased the long string.
d. The happy student played the piano.
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 2.3 Grammar with Lexical Categories
(36) S→Det (A) N V Det (A) N

This rule characterizes any sentence which

consists of a Det, N, V, Det, and N, in that order,
possibly with an optional A in front of either N.

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 2.3 Grammar with Lexical Categories
We can represent the core items in a tree
structure as in (37):

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 2.3 Grammar with Lexical Categories
(38)
a. Det: a, that, the, this, . . .
b. N: ball, man, piano, string, student, . . .
c. V: kicked, hit, played, sang, threw, . . .
d. A: handsome, happy, kind, long, tall, . . .

(39)
a. That ball hit a student.
b. The piano played a song.
c. The piano kicked a student.
d. That ball sang a student.
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 2.3 Grammar with Lexical Categories

Now, consider the following examples:

(45)
a. John saw the man with a telescope.
b. I like chocolate cakes and pies.
c. We need more intelligent leaders.

These sentences have different meanings depending on

how we group the words.
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 2.3 Grammar with Lexical Categories

(45a) will have the following two different constituent

structures:

(46)
a. John saw [the man with a telescope].
(the man had the telescope)
b. John [[saw the man] with a telescope].
(John used the telescope)

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 2.3 Grammar with Lexical Categories

Grammar with only lexical categories is not adequate

for describing syntax.

We need a notion of ‘constituent’,

how phrases may be formed, grouping certain words
together.

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 2.4 Phrasal Categories
Our intuitions may also lead us to hypothesize
constituency.

If you were asked to group the words in (47) into

phrases, what constituents would you come up
with?

(47) The student enjoyed his English syntax class last

semester.

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 2.4 Phrasal Categories
Perhaps most of us would intuitively assign the structure given in
(48a), but not those in (48b) or (48c):

(48)
✓ a. [The student] [enjoyed [his English syntax class last semester]].

b. [The] [student enjoyed] [his English syntax class] [last semester].

c. [The student] [[enjoyed his English] [syntax class last semester]].

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 Lexical Ambiguity

A sentence contains a word that has more than one

meaning.

It is sometimes used intentionally to create a pun,

which is a play on words, often to be funny.

PUN refers to a play on words, usually for

a comic reception.

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 Lexical Ambiguity
- She represents models like Heidi Klum.
- Walk this way!
- Call me a cab!
- We should be discussing violence on TV.
- Insurance salesmen are frightening people.

Some News Headline

- Milk drinkers are turning to powder.

- Include your children when baking cookies
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 2.4 Phrasal Categories
Semantic coherence helps demonstrating
constituency?

But

There are clear syntactic or distributional tests

which demonstrate the appropriate grouping of
words or specific constituencies.
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 1. Cleft
The cleft construction places an emphasized or
focused element in the X position
in the pattern ‘It is/was X that . . . ’,

Phrasal units.
We can cleft almost all the constituents we can get
from

(49)
The policeman met several young students in the
park last night.
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 1. Cleft
(50)
a. It was [the policeman] that met several young
students in the park last night.
b. It was [several young students] that the
policeman met in the park last night.
c. It was [in the park] that the policeman met
several young students last night.
d. It was [last night] that the policeman met
several young students in the park.
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 2. Constituent Questions and Stand-
Alone Test
Phrasal categories can be found in the answers to
‘constituent questions’,
which involve a wh-word such as who, where, when, how.

For any given wh-question,

The answer can either be a full sentence or a fragment.

This stand-alone fragment is a constituent:

(52)
A: Where did the policeman meet several young students?
B: In the park.
(53)
A: Who(m) did the policeman meet in the park?
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 3. Substitution by a Pronoun
English use pronouns to refer back to individuals
or entities.

For instance,

(62)
a. What do you think the man who is standing
by the door is doing now?
b. What do you think he is doing now?
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 3. Substitution by a Pronoun
There are other pronouns such as there, so, as, and
which, which also refer back to other constituents.

(63)
a. Have you been [to Seoul]? I have never been
there.
b. John might [go home], so might Bill.
c. John might [pass the exam], and as might Bill.
d. If John can [speak French fluently] – which we all
know he can – we will have no problems.
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 4. Coordination
Words and phrases can be coordinated by
conjunctions, and each conjunct is typically the
same kind of constituent as the other conjuncts:

(65)
a. The girls [played in the water] and [swam under
the bridge].
b. The children were neither [in their rooms] nor
[on the porch].
c. She was [poor] but [quite happy].
d. Many people drink [beer] or [wine].
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 4. Coordination
If we try to coordinate unlike constituents, the
results are typically ungrammatical.

(66)
a. *Mary waited [for the bus] and [to go home].
b. *Lee went [to the store] and [crazy].

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 2.5 Phrase Structure Rules
Phrases are projected from lexical categories to
have phrases such as NP, VP, PP, and so on.

We use distributional evidence to classify each

type, and then specify rules to account for the
distributions we have observed.

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• 2.5.1 NP: Noun Phrase
• Consider
• (67) ___[liked ice cream].
• The expressions that can occur

Mary, I, you, students, the students, the tall

students, the students from Seoul, the students
who came from Seoul, etc.

(69) NP→ (Det) A* N (PP/S)

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• A simple test environment for VP is given in
(72).
• (72) The student ___ .

• (73) 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.

• (74) VP→V (NP) (PP/S)

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• (82) VP → V[AUX +] VP
• (84) VP →VP Adv/PP

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• 2.5.3 AP: Adjective Phrase
• The most common environment where an
adjective phrase (AP) occurs is in ‘linking verb’
constructions as in (86):
• (86) John feels __ .
• Expressions like those in (87) can occur in the
blank space here:
• (87) happy, uncomfortable, terrified, sad, proud of
her, proud to be his student, proud that he passed
the exam, etc.

• (88) AP→ A (PP/VP/S)

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• 2.5.4 AdvP: Adverb Phrase
• Another phrasal syntactic category is adverb phrase (AdvP),
as exemplified in (92).

• (92) soundly, well, clearly, extremely, carefully, very

soundly, almost certainly, very slowly, etc.

• These phrases are often used to modify verbs, adjectives,

and adverbs themselves, and they can all occur in principle
in the following environments:
• (93) a. He behaved very ___.
• b. They worded the sentence very ___.
• c. He treated her very ___.

• (94) AdvP→ (AdvP) Adv

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• 2.5.5 PP: Preposition Phrase
• Another major phrasal category is preposition phrase (PP).
PPs like those in (95), generally consist of a preposition
plus an NP.

• (95) from Seoul, in the box, in the hotel, into the soup, with
John and his dog, under the table, etc.

• These PPs can appear in a wide range of environments:

• (96) 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.

• (99) PP→ P NP

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• 2.6 Grammar with Phrases
• A set of PS rules, some of which we have
already seen, is given in (101).
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• (101)
• a. S→NP VP
• b. NP→(Det) A* N (PP/S)
• c. VP→V (NP) (PP/S/VP)
• d. AP→A (PP/S)
• e. AdvP→(AdvP) Adv
• f. PP→P NP
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• (105)
• a. S→NP VP
• b. VP→V S

John believes Mary is honest.

Recursive Application
(107)
a. Bill claims John believes Mary thinks Tom is honest.
b. Jane imagines Bill claims John believes Mary thinks
Tom is honest.

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• (82) VP → V[AUX +] VP

They will study English syntax

Recursive Application
They will have been studying English syntax.

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Hierarchical Structures

• Depending on which PS rules we apply, for the

sentences here, we will have different
hierarchical tree structures.

• hit the child with the toy.

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• (113) XP→XPConj XP

The rule says two identical XP categories can be

coordinated and form the same category XP.

Applying this PS rule, we will then allow (114a)

but not (114b):

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• Phrasal Verbs
(117) VP→V (Part) (NP) (Part) PP

• (115)
• a. John suddenly got off the bus.
• b. John suddenly put off the customers.

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