What is syntax? The study of the structure and ordering of components within a sentence. The word syntax came from Greek and literally meant “ a setting out together” or “arrangement”. Cont

Cont.

For others, the “meaning component” is primary.
For some, the only relevant issues are syntactic ones, that is, how to describe structure, independently of “meaning” considerations.

Symbols used in syntactic description

Before we look at some basic features of the original analytic approach, we need to be introduced to the symbols related to that approach.

S
(= sentence)
N
(= noun)
Art
(= article)
“ consists of”
For example :
NP
Art
N

Cont.

( )
= something optional
For example
The green book
NP
Art
( Adj )
N
NP Art N
NP pronoun
NP proper noun
{
}
Art N
pronoun
proper noun

Cont.

S SENTENCE
PN proper noun
Art article
NP noun phrase
* = ungrammatical sequence
consists of
Pro pronoun
Adj adjective
Prep preposition
PP
Prep. phrase

Labeled tree diagram

[ [The] [monkey]]

Art
NP
N
This is a linear sequence of constituents.
Labeled and bracketed sentence

Labeled tree diagram

NP
ART
N
The
monkey
This is a hierarchically organized analysis.
This is a tree diagram.
S
NP
VP
Art
N
The
monkey
V
NP
ate
Art
N
a
banana

Phrase structure rules

Phrase structure rules are the rules used in applying the tree diagram.

S
NP
VP
S
NP
VP

Lexical Rules

We can also have lexical rules which indicate the words to be used for constituents such as,

N { boy, girl, dog }

Transformational Rules

1) John helped Mary yesterday.

2) Yesterday John helped Mary.

Cont.

S
NP
VP
V
NP
Adv
s
VP
NP
V
NP
Adv