English Syntax

2014

ADJECTIVES AND ADJECTIVES PHRASES

ADJECTIVES (A) are sometimes called describing words in that, as far as meaning
is concerned, they define attributes or characteristics.

They commonly occur with nouns. For example:

1.a The fat dog chased the thin girl

In this example, the adjectives are said to modify the nouns. Just as an adverb with
a verb, an adjective works to more narrowly define the sense of the noun by
ascribing certain attributes or characteristics to it. For is instance, if the dog is fat
then it cant be thin, and so on.

Again, and adjective is a constituent of a sentence both at word level and at phrase
level where it becomes an ADJECTIVE PHRASE (AP for short).

An adjective phrase, like all other phrases, can consist of one or more than one
word. For example:
2. The disgustingly fat dog chased the amazingly thin girl

In (2) the adjectives fat and thin are being modified by the adverb phrases
disgustingly and amazingly. These adverb phrases form part of the adjective
phrase:
3.a disgustingly fat

3.b amazingly thin

The adverb phrase itself can also have more than one constituent. For example:
4. The quite disgustingly fat dog chased the amazingly thin girl, where the adverb
disgustingly is modified by a degree adverb (deg).
5. quite disgustingly fat

When adjectives and adjectives phrases work in this way to modify nouns, they
form part of the noun phrase. You can check that this is so by substituting the
pronoun it.
The dog
The fat dog
The disgustingly fat dog

chased the girl

It

Find rule that represent Adjective Phrase in English.

Thomas, Linda. 1995. The beginning of Syntax

English Syntax

2014

ADVERB and ADVERB PHRASES

An Adverb (Adv for short) is another word category. As far as meaning is concerned, adverbs
often add information in relation to circumstances of manner, time or place; in other words,
they answer the question How?, When?, Where? For example:
1a. Ken snores loudly.
1b. The baby cried continually.
1c. He advertises nationally.

These types of adverbs are called CIRCUMSTANCE ADVERBS. Not all circumstance adverbs
end in ly but very many.

In terms of a phrase category, an ADVERB PHRASE or AdvP can be formed by one or more
constituents.
Compare:
2 a. Ken snores loudly
2 b. Ken snores very loudly

A degree adverb, as its name suggests, tells us to what degree something is done, as in very
loudly. Other degree adverbs include words like:

quite

- more

too

- less

highly

- rather

more

- etc.

Draw the tree diagram for (2a and 2b), where the adverb phrase modifies the verb:
2 a. Ken snores loudly

2 b. Ken snores very loudly

Adverb phrases are, however, very versatile. They not only modify verbs, but adjectives and
whole sentences too.

We will be looking at adjectives and their modifiers later on, so for now we will restrict our
attention to those that modify sentences, namely SENTENCES ADVERBS (SA for short).

SA can appear in a range of sentence positions and often express an attitude or evaluation.
They include words like:

frankly

- perhaps

certainly

- unfortunately

actually

- etc

Here are the example:

3a. Unfortunately the cat killed the mouse

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3b. The cat unfortunately killed the mouse

3c. The cat killed the mouse unfortunately

As you have noticed from the tree diagrams shown above, sentence adverbs modify the
whole sentence and can appear in more than one position. It means that the AdvP node is
immediately dominated by the S node, not by the VP node as at example 2a and 2b where
the adverb phrase modifies the verb.

A sentence adverb is often differentiated in writing by a comma and in speech by a particular

intonation pattern. For example:
4a. He understands everything clearly >> his understanding is clear
4b. Clearly, he understands everything >> it is clear to everyone else that he understands.

Do these questions to check your understanding

a. Draw the tree diagram for the following sentences
-

The baby cried extremely loudly.

Frankly, I love her.

b. Find rules for AdvP in English?

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PREPOSITIONS and PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES

Prepositions (P) belong to a small group or class of words which express relations of
place, direction, time or possession. Words belonging to this class include, of, at, to,
from, till, with, for, beside, against, up, down, by and so on. Preposition can appear
alone as in:
1. a Sally looked up
or in conjuction with a noun phrase
1.b Sally looked up the chimney

In either case, the preposition is part of a PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE (PP). (Remember a

phrase consists of one or more than one constituents). The prepositional phrase (PP)
at (1.a) consists solely of a preposition (P).

The prepositional phrases (PP) at (1.b) consists of a preposition (P) followed by a

noun phrase (NP). The noun phrase in turn consists of a determiner (DET) and a
noun.

Draw tree diagrams of:

1.a Sally looked up

1.b Sally looked up the chimney

You can check that the PP forms part of the predicate and is therefore dominated by
he VP node by using the following substitution test:

2.a Sally looked up

3.a Sally looked up the chimney

2.b George did too

3.b. George did too

Check your understanding

Draw tree diagrams for the following examples and analyze them in terms of
function
a. The cat sat on the mat
b. The baby sleeps quite soundly
c. The cow jumped over the moon

Find a rule that represent PP in English

Thomas, Linda. 1995. The beginning of Syntax

English Syntax

2014

ADJECTIVES AND ADJECTIVES PHRASES

ADJECTIVES (A) are sometimes called describing words in that, as far as meaning
is concerned, they define attributes or characteristics.

They commonly occur with nouns. For example:

1.a The fat dog chased the thin girl

In this example, the adjectives are said to modify the nouns. Just as an adverb with
a verb, an adjective works to more narrowly define the sense of the noun by
ascribing certain attributes or characteristics to it. For is instance, if the dog is fat
then it cant be thin, and so on.

Again, and adjective is a constituent of a sentence both at word level and at phrase
level where it becomes an ADJECTIVE PHRASE (AP for short).

An adjective phrase, like all other phrases, can consist of one or more than one
word. For example:
2. The disgustingly fat dog chased the amazingly thin girl

In (2) the adjectives fat and thin are being modified by the adverb phrases
disgustingly and amazingly. These adverb phrases form part of the adjective
phrase:
3.a disgustingly fat

3.b amazingly thin

The adverb phrase itself can also have more than one constituent. For example:
4. The quite disgustingly fat dog chased the amazingly thin girl, where the adverb
disgustingly is modified by a degree adverb (deg).
5. quite disgustingly fat

When adjectives and adjectives phrases work in this way to modify nouns, they
form part of the noun phrase. You can check that this is so by substituting the
pronoun it.
The dog
The fat dog
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The disgustingly fat dog

2014

chased the girl

It

Find rule that represent Adjective Phrase in English.

THE VERB PHRASES

There are six classes of verb in English, they are TRANSITIVE, INTRANSITIVE,
DITRANSITIVE, INTENSIVE, COMPLEX-TRANSITIVE and PREPOSITIONAL. Each of these
classes of verb appears with its own obligatory constituents without which it would be
incomplete. We will be looking at six classes of these verbs as follow.
Transitive Verb
A verb phrase using a transitive verb normally has to have a direct object to be
complete, as can be seen from the ungrammaticality of:
(1) *This girl likes
There are many transitive verbs, for example:
(2a) Kate hugged the baby
(2b) The dog found a bone
(2c) Jenny hit him
The tree diagram for (2a), now including the verb class, is as shown below:
Kate hugged the baby

Exercise 1

Draw trees for the following examples

-

The dog found a bone

Jenny hit him

She broke the rules

Find rules for Transitive Verb

Intransitive Verb
By contrast, the Intransitive Verb, as its name suggest, is a class of verb which does
not take an object. In fact an intransitive verb requires nothing else to complete the
verb phrase. For example:
(3a) Ken snores
(3b) The baby cried
The tree diagram for (3a), now including the verb class, is as shown below:
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Ken snores

However, what has been said so far doesnt mean that nothing else can appear in a
sentence with an intransitive verb. There are other constituents which can occur with
this class of verb. However, such constituents are optional rather than obligatory. In
other words, they can appear, but unlike the NP in a verb phrase using a transitive verb,
they dont have to. Constituents which acts as adverbials (e.g. AdvP and PP) behave in
this way. So the examples at (3) can become for instance:
(3a) Ken snores very loudly
(3b) The baby cried extremely loudly.
Exercise 2

Using the following examples, draw trees which show the class of the verb, then
analyze the sentences in terms of function.

Alan played the piano

Sally sing in a club

The baby slept in the pram

She knows a secret

Find rules for Intransitive Verb.

Ditransitive Verb
Another class of verb which occurs with an object is Ditransitive. However, this type
of verb, again as its name implies, requires two objects (di meaning two). One of
these is the familiar direct object (dO), the other an Indirect Object (iO). For example, in
the sentence:
(4a) Roy told the children a story

However, the sentence in (4a) can be paraphrased into:

(4b) Roy told a story to the children

Compare (4a) and (4b) with the sentence in (5) below:

(5) Ken made a cake for a party

Thomas, Linda. 1995. The beginning of Syntax

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Exercise 3

Draw trees for the following sentences, and then analyze the sentences in terms of
function.

Sally showed the children the pictures

The children screamed hysterically

Ken gave the cake to the children

She patted the dog on the head

She wrote a message on the wall

Find rules for Ditransitive Verb.

Intensive Verb
Intensive Verb (sometimes referred to as relational, linking or copular) belong to a
small group which include verbs like, be (most commonly), seem, appear, become, look
and so on. For example:
(6a) Sally became a doctor

(6b) George is in the garden

(6c) Sue seems unhappy

In each of these examples what is given after the verb relates back to the subjects,
describing their states. The bit that comes after the verb functions as the Subject
complement (sC). Although the functions of all these bits are the same, the forms, as
you may have noticed are different.
Exercise 4

Draw trees for the following sentences, then analyze the sentences in terms of
function.
-

That man is a teacher

The crowd cheered

She gave him a kiss

The answer seems clear

He laughed nervously
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Find rules for Intensive Verb.

Complex-Transitive Verb
Another class of verb to appear with a complement is called Complex-Transitive.
With this type of verb the complement relates to the object, not the subject. The
complement is therefore an Object Complement (oC). For example:
(7a) The voters elected Mary president

(7b) Kate though John a fool

(7c) Carol put the car in the garage

Compare:
(8a) Ken put the cake in the oven

(8b) She gave a bone to the dog

Exercise 5

Find rules for Complex-Transitive Verb.

Prepositional Verb
The last class of verb we will look at is the Prepositional Verb. A prepositional verb is
one which requires a prepositional phrase in order to be complete. Verbs like glance,
lean, refer fall into this class. In fact they are so closely linked with a preposition that it
is easy to think of them as verbs consisting two parts, as in glance at, lean on, refer to.
They are certainly incomplete without a prepositional phrase. For example:
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(9) The children glanced at the picture

Exercise 6

Draw trees for the following sentences, then analyze the sentences in terms of
function.
-

The baby played in the playpen

Kate dealt with the problem

Sally danced on the table

Sally leant on the table

THE VERB GROUP

Although we have looked in some detail at the sort of constituents which appear with
various classes of verb to complete the verb phrase, we have so far largely ignored the verb
itself. All of our examples have used a single verb. Actually, verbs can consist of one or more
than one element as in, for example:
(1a) Kate hugged the baby
(1b) Kate was hugging the baby
(1c) Kate has been hugging the baby
These elements, one or more than one, form the VERB GROUP (Vgp)
The verb groups in the examples at (1a-1c) have something in common in that they all
include the verb hug in one form or another (i.e. hugged, hugging). This is the part of these verb
groups which carries the meaning and is called the LEXICAL VERB (V). All complete verb groups
have to include a lexical verb which appears last in the group and forms HEAD of the verb group.
The lexical verb can appear alone as in (1a) or with additional elements as in (1b >> was) and
(1c >> has been). These additional elements are called AUXILIARIES (AUX).
Auxiliary verbs modify the lexical verb by indicating MODALITY, or ASPECT, or VOICE. In
addition, the verb group may signify TENSE and for reasons given below, TENSE will also be
included under the category auxiliary. To describe the constituents of a sentence more
accurately then, the tree diagrams should detail the verb group. In other words, a diagram
should show that a verb phrase (VP) consists initially of a verb group (Vgp), and that the verb
group consists of auxiliaries (AUX) and a lexical verb (V). for example, for a verb phrase
incorporating a transitive verb we would have:
VP

verb group + dO

Vgp

AUX + V

dO

NP

Since the VP consists initially of a Vgp rather than just a lexical verb, it is the Vgp node which will
indicate verb class. To see how this works well look in more detail at tense, modality, aspect and
voice.

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Tense
There are two tenses in English: PRESENT and PAST. (Future does not exist as a tense in
English but is indicated in other ways, for example by use of auxiliaries). These tenses affect
the form of the lexical verb as in:
(2a) Present tense
Kate hugs the baby

(2b) Past Tense

Kate hugged the baby

Modal Auxiliaries
Rather than expressing a statement of fact either present or past as in examples (2a) and
(2b), MODALITY allow us to express whether a state of affairs is likely, possible, necessary and so
on. A feature of the language which allows us such expression is the MODAL auxiliary (MOD).
The modal auxiliaries are:
will, would, can, could, may, might, shall, should, must, ought to
and marginally :
need, dare, used to
A modal auxiliary does not carry tense and is indicated on the tree diagram, immediately
dominated by the AUX node as follows:
(3) Kate will hug the baby

A modal auxiliary then always appears with the infinitive form of the following verb (in 3 is a
lexical verb) and so we can find constructions like:
(4a) The dog found a bone
(4b) The dog must find a bone

(5a) The baby cried hourly

(5b) The baby might cry hourly

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Primary Auxiliaries
Auxiliary verbs which are not modals are called PRIMARY auxiliaries. These are:
Have, be, do
For now well restrict our attention to have and be and the way these two signify aspect and
voice.
The meaning of the term aspect is not easy to define but has to do with time and the
relationship of actions or states to periods of time or duration. It is much easier to define aspect
in terms of its formal features (i.e. the form the verb group takes to signify aspect). There are
two kinds of aspect: PERFECT and PROGRESSIVE.
o

Perfect Aspect
Perfect aspect (PERF) is indicated by the presence of the auxiliary verb have. For example:
(6a) Sally has finished this book
(6b) Sally had given the dog a bone

The modal auxiliary can also combine with the perfect, in which case tense cannot feature.
For example a modal auxiliary (MOD) plus perfect aspect (PERF) plus the lexical verb (V)
could produce:
(7) Sally may have given the dog a bone

Exercise 1. Draw the tree diagram for the following examples and analyze them in term of
function

Sally has finished this book.

George had been in the garden.

The phone rings continually.

Jack sat in the corner.

This example should have been illuminating.

The penny dropped

Progressive Aspect
The other kind of aspect is called progressive aspect (PROG) and this is indicated by the
presence of the auxiliary verb be. For example:
(8a) Sally is walking along the beach
(8b) Sally was giving the dog a bone

The progressive can also combine with modal and/or perfect auxiliaries. Again, each type of
auxiliary may appear only once in the verb group and if modal appears, then tense cannot.
For example:
(9a) Sue may be giving the dog a bone

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(9b) Sue has been giving the dog a bone

(9c) Sue may have been giving the dog a bone

No matter what combination of auxiliary verbs you may have, they will always appear in the
same set order. That is, tense or modal (if used) precedes both perfect (if used) and
progressive (if used); perfect (if used) precedes progressive (if used). They all precede the
lexical verb. That is:
Vgp -------- AUX + LEXICAL VERB
Aux -------- tenxe/modal (+perfect) (+progressive)
o

Passive Voice
A final feature to consider in verb groups is that of voice. Voice refers to whether a sentence
or utterance is in the ACTIVE or the PASSIVE. All our examples so far have been active. The
majority of sentences and utterances are in the active and so this feature is not overtly
marked on a tree diagram.

Compare:
(10a) A dog chased that girl

(10b) That girl was chased by a dog

Exercise 2. Draw the tree diagram for the following examples and analyze them in term of
function
-

A bone has been given to the dog

The murder was committed by the butler.

The dog may have been being given a bone by Sue.

George does drink heavily.

She might be seen by the neighbors.

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She must be innocent.

Ray had been telling the children a story.

The attic is visited by a ghost.

Sue has been visiting the theatre regularly.

The summons might have been delivered already.

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The Noun Phrase

As we have discussed, the most meaningful part of the noun phrase is the NOUN. It is
the obligatory constituent and is the HEAD of the noun phrase.
Pre- and Post-modification
Noun phrases can consist of one constituent, the head (e.g. NOUN) or more than one
constituent (e.g. DET + N). Constituents which modify the head noun can appear before
it or after it. Those which appear before the head noun are called PRE-MODIFIERS; those
which appear after the head noun are called POST-MODIFIERS.

Pre-modification
Constituents which pre-modify nouns are determiners (DET), adjective phrases (AP),
and nouns.
Determiners
o

Basic determiners
-

indefinite article (a and an) and definite article (the).

Other determiners
-

demonstratives (this, that, these, those)

qualifiers (some, any, each, every, etc.)

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-

possessives (my, your, her, his, its, etc.)

WH-Determiners (whose, what, which)

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NB: You should have noticed that pronouns/ nouns appear on their own to form the
noun phrase; determiners appear with a head noun.
Genitives
Apart from the list above, the possessive determiner can also be realized as a phrase,
for example:
1. This boys clothes are very dirty

2. Kates baby is crying.

Adjective Phrases (AP)

Adjective Phrases (AP) are also used to pre-modify nouns. Remember that an adjective
phrase, like any other phrases, can consist of one or more than one element (e.g. fat,
very fat). Within the NP, then, the AP has the function of pre-modifying the head. Take a
look at this example:
1. The fat dog chased a girl.

2. The fat brown dog chased a girl.

Nouns
Nouns also serve to pre-modify other nouns. For example:
1. I bought a new computer game

Post-modification

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As stated before, constituents which modify the head noun can also appear after the
noun. Such constituents are post-modifiers. Here we will look at two ways to postmodify a noun:
o

Prepositional Phrase: e.g. The dog chased the cat with three legs.

Relative Clause: e.g. The cat which is lying on the mat hates dog.

Prepositional Phrase (PP)

1. The dog chased the cat with three legs

2. The dog chased the cat up the tree.

Relative clause
A relative clause is a bit different from anything weve looked at so far because it
introduces a kind of subsidiary sentence into the main one. For instance:
1. The cat which is lying on the mat loves dogs.

Subordination and Coordination

A clause may exist alone or it may join up with other clauses. One way of joining
clauses together is to SUBORDINATE one to another; another way is to
COORDINATE them. A style of speech or writing using lots of subordination is
called HYPOTACTIC; a style using little subordination is called PARATACTIC.
Subordination
There are various types of subordinate clause which well look at individually.
Relative Clause
1. The cat that loves dogs is mad

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Adverbial Clause
Like adverbs and adverb phrases, subordinate adverbial clauses add information in
relation to manner, time, place and so on. They tend to answer the questions how,
where, why. For example:
1. I will give you the next clue when you are ready

Noun Clause
In some cases it is possible for clauses rather than phrases to function as subjects or
objects. These types of clause are called noun clauses. For example:
1. How he deals with the deficit is grossly important.

2. I know they like me.

Complement Clauses
Subject complement
1. The most important thing is that youre happy

Complement of A
1. I am sure that she must have known him

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Coordination
An alternative way of joining clauses together is to coordinate them. Coordinate
elements are of equal importance and carry equal weight. For example:
1. The cat and the dog are good friend.

2. Very old women and men love cakes.

Theta Roles
Agent: the participant who deliberately initiates the action denoted by the verb
(usually animate).
Theme: the participant (animate or inanimate) moved by the action.
Patient: an affected participant (animate or inanimate) undergoing the action
(the roles theme and patient are often collapsed).
Experiencer: the participant (animate or inanimate) that experiences some
(psychological, emotional, etc.) state.
Beneficiary/Benefactive: the participant that gains by the action denoted by
the verb.
Goal: the participant towards which the activity is directed.
Source: the place from which something is moved as a result of the action.
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Location: the place in which the action or state denoted by the verb is situated.
Propositional: clausal arguments have the propositional theta role.
Determine the roles of the argument of the following sentences.
1. Peter loves Mary
2. Peter knows Mary well.
3. The door opened.
4. The purse was stolen.
5. Mary wrote a letter to John the following day.
6. John received a letter from Mary.
7. Mary cut the cake with a knife.
8. Peter has broken a vase.

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