SYNTAX

INSTRUCTOR: LÊ THỊ THU HƯỜNG,

M.A.

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CHAPTER 1

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 SYNTAX
“The way that words and phrases are put
together to form sentences in a language”
-Oxford Dictionary-

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I. SENTENCE STRUCTURE

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

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 EXAMPLE
A bicycle

A bicycle wheel → ‘Spokes’ are constituents of the

(C. of a wheel (wheel = a constituent of the
bicycle) bicycle)

Hub (trục bánh Spokes (nan rim (vành bánh

Tyre (lốp xe)
xe) hoa) xe)

The ‘spoke’ is a constituent of the bicycle >< it’s not an immediate

constituent of the bicycle
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 EXAMPLE
Function of constituents:
Which of the following tree diagrams best represents the structural
relationship between bicycle and spoke just discussed?

 Ans: [3b]
 The relation between bicycle, wheel & spoke: hierarchical relation
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 Task: Which sentences are grammatically correct?
Which ones are ungrammatical/ill-formed?

1. Dick believes himself to be a genius.

2. Dick believes himself is a genius.
3. They triedn’t jumping on it.
4. They tried jumping on it.

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Task: Which sentences are grammatically correct?
Which ones are ungrammatical/ill-formed?

1. Dick believes himself to be a genius. 

2. Dick believes himself is a genius. 
3. They triedn’t jumping on it. 
4. They tried jumping on it. 

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 TREE DIAGRAM
What’s wrong with this tree diagram?

Ans: - No structure - No relationship

- No reason for the order

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 TREE DIAGRAM
Conclusion: While sentences certainly contain words,
they don’t consist of words. They consist of phrases.

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ESTABLISHING CONSTITUENTS

Which sentence is well-formed?

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ESTABLISHING CONSTITUENTS
[15] Martha smiled. Which parts are obligatory? Which ones
[16] Martha smiled invitingly. are optional?

 Martha, smiled: obligatory parts

 invitingly: optional part

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 ESTABLISHING CONSTITUENTS
Sequences of words that can function as constituents in the structure
of sentences are called phrases.
Tree diagrams represent structure by marking which sequences of
words in a sentence are its constituent phrases.
*** Syntactic tree diagrams => Phrase markers

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 ESTABLISHING CONSTITUENTS
Sentence: [4] Old Sam sunbathed beside a stream.

Sequence of words: ‘beside a stream’: a constituent of sentence [4]

 ‘Beside a stream’: a phrase
 While the PHRASE as a whole is optional in the structure of the sentence,
the WORDS themselves are not optional in the structure of the phrase.

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 ESTABLISHING CONSTITUENTS
In sentence [17] below, there are two separate sequences of words
which can be omitted without affecting the grammaticality of the
sentence. Can you identify them?
[17] The very talkative gentleman next to me lit a cigar.

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 ESTABLISHING CONSTITUENTS
[18], [19], and [20] are all perfectly good, complete sentences.
[18] The ( . . . ) gentleman next to me lit a cigar.
[19] The very talkative gentleman ( . . . ) lit a cigar.
[20] The ( . . . ) gentleman ( . . . ) lit a cigar.
 Phrases: ‘very talkative’ & ‘next to me’: optional constituents in
the structure of sentence [17]

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 II. PHRASES
PHRASES: elements of structure intermediate between sentence
and word.

WORD PHRASE SENTENCE

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 THREE WAYS TO IDENTIFY
CONSTITUENTS
❖ If a sequence of words can be omitted from a sentence leaving
another good sentence  sequence = a phrase functioning as a
constituent in the structure of the sentence. However, not all
phrases are omissible.
e.g. The very talkative gentleman next to me lit a cigar.
e.g. The [very talkative] gentleman [next to me] lit a cigar.
 [very talkative] & [next to me]: constituents

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 THREE WAYS TO IDENTIFY
CONSTITUENTS
❖ If you can replace a sequence of words in a sentence with a single
word without changing the overall structure of the sentence, then
that sequence functions as a constituent of the sentence and is
therefore a phrase.

❖ Answers to ‘WH’ questions (who, which, what, why, where, when,

whose, and how) are phrases.

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 EXAMPLE
❖ Replacing a sequence of words in a sentence with a single word without
changing the overall structure of the sentence:
e.g. Sentence: [4] Old Sam sunbathed beside a stream.
 [21] Old Sam sunbathed here/there.// [22] Old Sam sunbathed somewhere.
❖ Answers to ‘WH’ questions:
e.g. [23] Old Sam sunbathed where? [24] Where did old Sam sunbathe?

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 PHRASE MARKERS
Which do you think is the best representation of the structure of the
phrase?

 Ans: [25b]
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 PHRASE MARKERS
The question test, too, confirms that a stream is a phrase:
[26] Question: [a] Old Sam sunbathed beside what?
[b] What did old Sam sunbathe beside?
Answer: A stream.

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 PHRASE MARKERS
[27] provides further evidence that a stream forms a phrase,
since it has been moved as a unit in forming a new construction.
[27] A stream is what old Sam sunbathed beside.
 The movement of a sequence of words in forming a construction
indicates that the sequence is a phrase.

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 II. PHRASES
Phrases form not only syntactic units (constituents in the
structural form of sentences) but also semantic units. In
other words, they form identifiable parts of the meaning
of sentences; they form coherent units of sense.

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 III. PHRASE & CONSTITUENT
Consider now sentence [33] and decide whether the
sequence a + stream + that + had + dried + up is a
constituent or not.
[33] Sam sunbathed beside a stream that had dried up.
 What did Sam sunbathe beside?
 Ans: a stream that had dried up  a constituent

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 III. PHRASE & CONSTITUENT
Which phrase marker is the correct representation of the sentence? [33]
Sam sunbathed beside a stream that had dried up.

 Ans: [34]

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 SOME TERMINOLOGY
Any point in a phrase marker that could branch and
bear a label is called a ‘node’.

In phrase marker [34] there are two nodes, labelled

‘PHRASE-a’ and PHRASE-b’. A node is said to dominate
everything that appears below it and joined to it by a
line.
Thus the node labelled ‘PHRASE-a’ dominates all the
following elements: beside, PHRASE-b, a, stream, that,
had, dried, and up.

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 SOME TERMINOLOGY
A node is said to immediately dominate another
element when there are no intervening elements.
Thus PHRASE-a in [34] immediately dominates just
beside and PHRASE-b. PHRASE-a dominates stream
but it does not immediately dominate it, because
the node labelled ‘PHRASE-b’ intervenes.

In a phrase marker, a sequence of elements is

represented as a constituent if there is a node that
dominates all those elements and no others.

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 SOME TERMINOLOGY
The sequence a + stream + that + had + dried + up
is represented as a constituent because the
elements (words, in this case) can all be traced back
to a single node that does not dominate any other
element, namely, PHRASE-b.
The sequence beside + a, on the other hand, is not
represented as a constituent because the only node
that dominates both of those words (namely,
PHRASE-a) dominates other elements as well
(namely, stream, that, had, dried, and up).

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 EXERCISES
1/ Look again at the discussion on page 17
above and then, on the basis of the tree
diagram below, say which of the following
sequences are constituents of A.
(1) c + d. (2) a + b + c. (3) c + d + e + f. (4) e + f.
(5) e + f + g + h. (6) g + h. (7) E + C. (8) D + E.
(9) F + g + h.

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 ANSWER KEY
1. (1) Yes. Both c and d – and only c and d – can be traced back to node E.
(2) No. D dominates a and b but not c. Node B does dominate a, b and c,
but it also dominates d; so there is no node that dominates all and only a,
b, and c.
(3) No. No single node that dominates all and only c, d, e, and f. Only A
dominates them all, but A dominates a, b, g, and h too.
(4) Yes. e and f (and only e and f ) can be traced back to the single node F.
(5) Yes. They alone can all be traced back to C.
(6) No. (7) No. (8) Yes. (9) Yes.
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 EXERCISES
2/ In tree diagram (a) above, what are the immediate constituents of:
(1) A? (2) B? (3) C?

Answer: (1) B and C. (2) D and E. (3) F, g, and h.

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