INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX

2020-21
►An important feature of language which is central to the study of syntax is that
language makes infinite use of a finite set of rules or principles, an observation
which led to the development of generative linguistics in the 20th century (Noam
Chomsky – 1965: Aspects of the Theory of Syntax).
► A language is a system for combining its constituents in infinitely many ways. One
piece of evidence of the system is represented by word-order restrictions. Given 5
words such as man, ball, a, the, kicked – how many possible combinations are there?
Are all of these combinations grammatical? Mathematically, the number of possible
combinations of 5 words is 5 factorial, equalling 120 instances. But among these 120
possible combinations only 6 form grammatical English sentences. Can you identify
them?
All the other 114 combinations are unacceptable/ ungrammatical to native
speakers of English. It is clear then that there are rules in English for combining
words.
More evidence of the finite set of rules and principles can be found in cognitive
creative abilities. Native speakers of a language are unconscious of the rules
they use all the time but have no difficulty in producing and understanding sentences
which they have never heard, seen or talked about before → linguistic competence.
A related part of this competence is that a language speaker can produce an infinite
number of grammatical sentences.
►How can these two facts be explained? Memorization appears
implausible, and this is a fact. Native speakers can generate an infinite
number of infinitely long sentences.
Some sentences can go on, and on, and on…..
In addition, there is a limit to the amount of information the human brain can
process. Consequently, a more plausible hypothesis is this:
→ All native speakers have a grammatical competence (internalized
knowledge of language) which can generate an infinite set of grammatical
sentences from a finite set of rules or principles.
[→compared with performance = the actual usage of this knowledge].

►This hypothesis has been accepted by most linguists and has been taken
as the subject matter of syntactic theory. This grammatical competence is
hypothesized to characterize a generative grammar →
a grammar that can generate an infinite number of well-formed English
sentences from a finite set of rules or principles.
Thus the job of syntax is to discover and formulate these rules. Note that
in generative theory, “rules” does not refer to prescriptive rules but to
“descriptive rules”. Prescriptive rules disfavour or discredit certain usages;
they prescribe forms which are generally in use; descriptive rules
characterize the forms speakers actually use.
Why are we supposed to study syntax and what is it good for?
There are many reasons for studying syntax, from general humanistic or
behavioural motivations to much more specific goals:
→ to help us illustrate the patterns of English more effectively and clearly;
→ to enable us to analyse and interpret the structures of English
sentences in a systematic and explicit way.
The practice of syntactic analysis /parsing /diagramming sentences will
improve students’ understanding of the structure of English and will
facilitate their comprehension and production of the language.

► The ability to analyse structures in their context, to compare and contrast

structures is a very important and useful skill for students of English to
acquire and master.
►”To think grammatically” means to use the unique power of the human
brain to reflect on the way a different cultural experience (in this case,
English) is construed in grammar: what English grammar thinks about the
world.
For example, let us see how we are to use the syntactic concept of head, which
basically refers to the essential element in a phrase. The following is a short informal
rule for English subject-verb agreement:
In English, the main verb agrees with the head element of the Subject.
This informal rule can pinpoint what is wrong with a sentence such as the following:
* The recent strike by pilots have cost the country a great deal of money from tourism.
With structural knowledge of such sentences, we can easily see that the essential
element of the Subject in this sentence is not pilots but strike. Thus if the head is
singular, so is the whole phrase, and similarly for plural.
Language relies on structural relationships rather than on a linear sequence of
items.

Let us look at slightly different cases. Can you explain why the following examples are
unacceptable?
*Despite of his limited educational opportunities, Abraham Lincoln became one of the
greatest intellectuals in the world.
*A pastor was executed, notwithstanding on many applications in favour of him.

To understand these examples, we first need to recognize that the words despite and
notwithstanding are prepositions, and further that canonical English prepositions
combine only with Noun Phrases. In the two examples they combine with Prepositional
Phrases again (headed by of and on), thus violating the rule.
More subtle examples are the following:

Visiting relatives can be boring.

I saw that gas can explode. Why?
These examples each have more than one interpretation.
With knowledge of English syntax the meanings can easily be identified.

He said that that ‘that’ that that man used was wrong.
--the kind of sentence one can play with when starting to learn English
grammar. What are the differences between the 5 thats?
Again, syntactic knowledge must be used to explain the differences.
 DEFINITION OF SYNTAX
Syntax is one of the components of grammar: the other major component is
inflectional morphology. Simply put, syntax is the study of the structure of
sentences. Thus syntactic analysis can be defined as:
a/ determining the relevant component parts of a sentence;
b/ describing these parts grammatically.
► The component parts of sentences are called constituents; so syntax
involves two closely related tasks: a/ breaking down the sentence into its
constituents; b/ assigning some grammatical label to each constituent, stating
what type of constituent (or grammatical category) it is, and what grammatical
function it has.
► In syntactic analysis we start from what is regarded as the largest unit of
description – the sentence, and proceed to the smallest meaningful unit. The
system of English grammar can be described in terms of a rank scale, from
the largest to the smallest unit.
sentence
clause
phrase
word/ lexeme
morpheme → the minimal indivisible unit in syntax
 REPRESENTING SENTENCE STRUCTURES
Here we will be looking at two techniques: labelled bracketing and tree diagrams.
LABELLED BRACKETING
[s [NP The terrorists] [VP assassinated [NP the ambassador] VP] s].
NP, VP → category labels
→ Note here the notion of syntax as the description (and study) of constituents,
relations and functions.
TREE DIAGRAMS
S → contains as immediate constituents NP & VP

NP VP
Det N V NP
Det N

The terrorists assassinated the ambassador.

The tree diagram provides the analysis of our sentence down to word level. Analysis can go
beyond word level → morphemes
 REPRESENTING SENTENCE STRUCTURES
►The syntactic information provided by the tree diagram is the same as
that provided by the labelled bracketing.
With tree diagrams, the system of expanding one unit into other units is
expressed as a set of instructions, called Phrase Structure Rules (PS
rules): S→ NP–VP
VP → V- NP → expand/ rewrite
NP → Det –N
The category labels in the tree diagram (S, NP, VP, V etc) are attached to the
nodes of the tree, and the lines connecting these nodes are called branches.
The node labelled S dominates the nodes labelled NP and VP as well as all the
other nodes further down. → the notion of immediate dominance.
The words are attached to the so-called terminal nodes. Thus the tree diagram
shows constituency very clearly: Det and N combine to form a NP constituent.,
V and NP form the VP constituent and so on. We have been using category labels;
you will recall that there are two main category classes: lexical and functional.
In traditional grammar, lexical categories are known as parts of speech: noun, verb,
adjective, adverb, preposition.
 CATEGORIES
Let us briefly examine some of the criteria which are used in determining the
category a word belongs to. One less reliable type of criterion for categories is
semantic, e.g. a noun denotes a person, thing or place; a verb denotes an activity
or state; an adjective, a property. Such semantic generalisations are only
tendencies, not absolute rules. There are nouns which denote activities- the
hammering, events- recital, states- drunkenness and properties- foolishness.

► More reliable evidence for determining the category of words comes from
morphological and distributional criteria.
Examples of morphological criteria: nouns, but no other category, can take
a plural affix; most verbs change their morphological form according to the
requirements of tense and agreement;
Examples of distributional (syntactic) criteria: nouns are often preceded by
Determiners; nouns may be modified by adjectives; verbs may be modified by
adverbs.

In English nouns can be easily used as verbs and verbs as nouns; it is therefore
necessary to look at the context in which a word occurs.
 CATEGORIES
In Shakespeare’s play Richard II [First Folio Edition] there is the following sentence:
Grace me no grace, nor Vunckle me, I am no Traytors Vunckle….
Using the criteria from the previous slide, the first instance of ‘uncle’ must be a
verb, because the noun following it does not need a preposition (by contrast, nouns
can only be followed by preposition and noun). The second ‘uncle’ is a noun
because ‘traitor’ has the possessive ‘s.

► Words which can appear in the same context are said to have the same
distribution: they belong to the same lexical category.
Syntax uses distribution frames, empty slots in a phrase that can be filled by a
certain category e.g. for nouns [the___]; [a___]; [of____].
► The main grammatical categories are Determiner [Det], Auxiliary [Aux],
coordinator and complementizer [Comp].
Grammatical categories determine the syntax of the sentence rather than
contribute to the meaning.
Pronouns are a hybrid category; they do not carry much lexical meaning, but they
can function on their own to stand for a Noun Phrase, unlike articles and
complementizers, which need something to follow them.
 GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES
►►The Det category includes articles as well as demonstratives, possessive
pronouns, possessive nouns, some quantifiers (any; many; much; all), some
interrogatives and some numerals; Det is an umbrella term for all these.
Determiners precede a noun to specify which noun is meant or whose it is. Some
are used before other determiners: all, both and half, e.g. all the books; half that
man’s money; both those problems; these quantifiers are called Pre-Determiners
►Auxiliaries will be dealt with in more detail later.
► Coordinators (sometimes called coordinating conjunctions)
join similar categories or phrases, e.g. and/ or.
John and Paul went to Madrid or Barcelona.
There are also two-part coordinators: both….and; either…..or; neither…nor.
►Complementizers such as that, because, whether, if, since join two clauses
where one is subordinate to the other:
[ S1 His aunt feared [X that [S2 he might catch something ]]].
S2 is a sentence inside S1: it is a constituent of S1.
The role of that is that of linking S2 (also called the embedded clause) to the
sentence inside which it occurs and it occupies the so-called complementizer slot
(COMP slot) in front of S2. Elements which occupy the COMP slot are usually
referred to as complementizers (also called subordinators or subordinating
conjunctions).
 GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES
Complementizers Other uses
After he left, it rained. after him – preposition
Fair as the moon is, it…. as nice – preposition
Before it snowed, it was cold. before me – preposition
I expect for you to do that. for John – preposition
She was tired, so she went to sleep. so tired - adverb

[S1 I expect [X for [S2 you to do that ]]]. S2→ non-finite embedded clause/ sentence
[S1 I expect [X that [S2 you should do that ]]]. S2 → finite embedded clause
Is there any difference in meaning? What about structure?
 CONSTITUENTS - BASIC CONCEPTS RELEVANT TO THE
STUDY OF SYNTAX
We have already seen on slide 7, language as a complex system is
analysable in terms of levels; there are formal units at each level;
relations between units, as well as a hierarchy of units.
-- the phonological level: unit: the phoneme
-- the morphological level: units: the morpheme & the word
-- the syntactic level: unit: the phrase
Note the concept of the Sentence as a maximal phrase with degrees
of complexity: simple/ compound/ complex/ compound-complex.
--the (logico) semantic level: units: the sememe & argument structures.

At the level of syntax, constituents are relevant as groups of words which

function together as a unit. Phrases, the basic syntactic constituents,
combine to form the largest type of constituent studied in syntax, the
sentence.
► Note the difference between a string (of words): any sequence of two
or more than two words, and a constituent: a string which has internal
cohesion and formal properties.
 CONSTITUENTS
n interesting argument for the need for constituent structure, consider the
owing sentences containing the possessive ‘s morpheme:
at lady’s husband left.
at lady over there’s husband left.
at lady near the door’s husband left.
at lady you talked to’s husband left.
at lady you saw’s husband left.
ote that we cannot describe the behaviour of the possessive ‘s in terms of
category of words it attaches to: the examples show that this morpheme can
ear to the right of a word of any category.
ce also that ‘s does not necessarily say that the word it appears to the right of
he possessor. What is the correct generalisation in this case?
ossessive ‘s attaches to a particular type of constituent, namely a NP.
out knowing what a NP is, there is no way to describe the behaviour of
sessive ‘s.
hus sentence structure cannot be described without recourse to constituents;
ablishing constituent structure greatly helps in analysing sentences.
act that constituents form a rank scale allows for recursion: the property of
man language in which categories occur within themselves.
from [PP under[ NP the bed]]]
rsive rules give a language the possibility to have a finite number of
egories but produce an infinite number of sentences: they allow a finite set to
ome an infinite set.
D
SENTENCES, CLAUSES
& PHRASES
As we have already seen, the sentence is the constituent unit at the highest level of
syntactic analysis. As such, it has structural independence, boundary signals
and a phonological contour (intonation and pitch). Here is a widely accepted
definition of the sentence:
“a grammatically self-contained speech unit, consisting of a word or a
syntactically related group of words, usually closed off by a full-stop, a question
mark or an exclamation mark in writing”.
►Sentences are usually identified according to convention: they are marked off by
an initial capital letter and a final punctuation mark → it is writing that convinces us
that sentences exist.
► Note that the above definition makes reference to speech. In linguistic theory
there is a distinction between a sentence, which is a written constituent, and an
utterance, its spoken correlate.
► In terms of structure, sentences can be
1. simple, if they have one predication:
The collision occurred at the junction of High Street and Church Road.
Off with you!
What did she say?
A sentence can also consist of a single word, e.g. Shoot! ( a sentence which
consists of one clause, which consists of one phrase, which consists of one word).
2. compound (consisting of coordinate clauses)
They went to London and stayed there for a week.
3. complex
[ S I should have noticed [X that [ Zelda does not like Zoltan ]]]
main clause embedded clause (complement position)
The embedded clause is a constituent of the Verb Phrase of the main clause.
Sentences which contain embedded/ subordinate clauses of this kind are said to
be complex.
Note that embedded clauses are either finite (as in the above example) or non-
finite, e.g. He didn’t remember [posting the letter]. - -ing clause
►Note that clause and sentence are sometimes used interchangeably in the
grammatical tradition, e.g.
sentence = independent clause = matrix clause = superordinate clause = S
clause = embedded clause = embedded sentence = dependent clause =
subordinate clause
 CLAUSES
The clause contains one lexical verb; if there are two lexical verbs, there are two
clauses. Auxiliaries are not relevant for determining clauses or sentences.
►The clause is the central structure in language, because it represents a complete
thought (a proposition): its meaning is complete as it relates processes and
participants together. → a clause is a self-contained unit of meaning.
►A clause states a single proposition , in which at least one participant is involved
in a process. In an unmarked clause which makes a statement (the most basic
clause form), the agent is the grammatical subject; the affected person/ thing is the
grammatical object; the process is the grammatical predicator.
Circumstances of time, place, manner etc. are represented in the adverbial, which is
grammatically optional unless the predicator (lexical verb) is the kind that requires an
adverbial as complement.
► Agent, Patient, Instrument, Benefactive, Goal, Experiencer etc. are thematic
roles with respect to the predicator; thematic roles are part of the meaning and part
of the structure of clauses.
Sally opened the door for Mary with a key.
agent predicator patient benefactive instrument → the semantic level /
the logical predicate
 CLAUSES
► Any syntactic position that receives a thematic role is an Argument Position;
the NP filling the Argument position is an Argument. → subjects and objects are
arguments of the verb. The subject is an external argument; the objects, which are
dominated by the first projection of the Head, are called internal arguments.
►Thus the verb/ predicator marks its Arguments with thematic roles.

With regard to syntactic structure, every clause contains a VP preceded by a NP, as is

reflected by one of the basic phrase structure rules of English: S→ NP–VP.
Among the vast range of clause structures, linguists distinguish canonical clauses,
which are syntactically the most basic/ elementary.
Canonical clauses are positive (negative clauses are non-canonical); declarative; main
clauses (embedded/ subordinate clauses are non-canonical), non-coordinate and active
(passives are non-canonical).
►Thus the complexities of the clause constituent become apparent: besides syntactic
and semantic features, clauses also have phonological features (phonological contour;
intonation) and pragmatic properties, which relate to the functions of clauses in
communication (clauses as Speech Acts): making a statement; expressing a wish;
apologizing; commanding; agreeing; expressing reproach etc. Philosophers use the term
Speech Acts for things that can be done with clauses.
[J.L. Austin, How To Do Things with Words, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University
Press, 1962/ 1975].
 CLAUSE TYPES that perform different kinds of Speech Acts
The syntax of English distinguishes a set of clause types that perform different kinds of
Speech Acts (communicative functions).
1. Declarative
An old man sat by the road.- a clause that makes a statement (declares sth.)
Declaratives (statements) are the default clause type.
2. Interrogative
Did the old man sit by the road? Was the old man by the road?
The main function of interrogatives is to question, to seek information.
→ In Yes/No (closed) Interrogatives, the Subject follows the Auxiliary Verb.
→ In Wh- (open) Interrogatives, the wh- word comes first.
Who sat by the road? Where is the old man?
The only time a wh- word does not come first is when it is part of Prepositional Phrase
(PP) which forms a wh- phrase, when the preposition precedes the wh- word: In which
town do you live? For whose benefit was it done?
A striking property of the wh-phrase is that it can be moved a long way (long distance
dependency): any number of clauses: What do you think they’ll make of this?
►Note that the wh- word also triggers inversion: Subject-Auxiliary Inversion
characterizes both types of interrogatives.
Although interrogatives are a principal grammatical means of asking questions, it is not
essential to use the interrogative form. The clause
Surely you remember that? Is a declarative clause; nevertheless it is a
question. In writing, this is shown by a question mark and in speech by distinctive
(rising) intonation.
 CLAUSE TYPES that perform different kinds of Speech Acts
Besides Yes/No and Wh- Interrogatives, there are other question types.
Alternative Questions – contain coordination and the coordinator or:
Is he young or old? (intonation is important in speech)
Tag Questions – a tag generally consists of an auxiliary verb + a personal pronoun
subject and its polarity is the reverse of that of the declarative clause to which it is
attached: They have read the book, haven’t they? positive clause + negative tag
They haven’t read the book, have they? negative clause + positive tag
In speech a rising tone on the tag signals a genuine question; a falling tone is confirmation-
seeking. The context is very important.
The reversed polarity tags have to be distinguished from those with constant polarity.
These don’t ask for confirmation but suggest surprise, disbelief or disapproval (these
normally work for positive polarity):
So they’ve done it, have they?
There are further tags, which have a variety of functions to do with regulating
conversational interaction and politeness; they can be used to invite participation from
the listener but they can also be sarcastic or even hostile.
He’s not bad, huh?/ y’know/ ok?

Echo Questions – She went where? (uttered in response to a preceding stimulus, to

check or clarify; in this case She went to school).
 CLAUSE TYPES that perform different kinds of Speech Acts
►Note the pragmatic dimension of questions: questions can be used for other
purposes besides seeking information, e.g.
Mr. Smith, will you come here for a moment? – giving an order
Jane, do you have anything to do tonight? Chomsky is speaking at the Language Centre- -
an invitation
Do you think you’ll get away with this? – threatening
3. Imperative – used to give directives or commands or to make requests or wishes:
Be patient. Sit by the road! Press Tune Mode and select Manual. Get well soon!
► Syntactically, the most important structural property of imperatives is that they
contain no Subject. The subject YOU is deleted, but understood, so that the verb comes first.
Orders and commands can be made less peremptory in various ways, still using the
imperative, e.g. Do sit by the road, old man!, but if expressed as a request rather than an
order, then the interrogative may be used: Would you sit by the road, please?
►Another interesting structural property of imperatives is that they always form the negative
with the auxiliary verb DO: Don’t be careful what you wish for!
If there is an overt subject, it always follows DON’T: Don’t you cross that line!
→ Some imperatives appear to have a 3rd person subject: Everybody follow me!
Somebody, strike a light! Even here there is an understood 2nd person subject, which
becomes clear if we use a question tag: will you?
→ English also has 1st person imperatives which use the imperative particle LET:
Let’s not get carried away. Well, let’s go. (suggestions, not commands)
These imperatives are inclusive, in the sense that the understood subject is not YOU, but US.
Imprecatives are a curious subtype of imperatives:
Damn them and everyone else who does this! Bugger it! Curse this damn umbrella!
Imprecatives are used to express insults, curses and abusive comments.
The reason they are distinguished from regular imperatives is that they show an interesting
difference. Like imperatives they lack an overt subject, but imperatives have an implicit YOU
subject, which becomes evident with tags. But *Bugger it, will you? shows that the
understood subject cannot be YOU.
The models for imprecatives are probably older expressions like God damn X which invoke
God or the Devil, and which were abbreviated to Damn X to avoid blasphemy or profanity.
4. Exclamative
What a winter it was! Exclamatives make exclamatory statements and have a very
distinctive structure: a what- or how-phrase + subject + verb
The what and how are not information-seeking.
How well I remember the good old days!
Exclamative what has the syntax of an adjective; how that of an adverb.

►The function of exclamatives is more restricted than those of any of the other clause types – they
are used to make an exclamation; therefore they have a very expressive or emotional component .
Note that it is possible to make exclamatory messages by simply using the appropriate intonation
on all sorts of clause types: You’re alive, you stupid bastard!
Why can’t he get his dirty stuff into the laundry basket – just once?
Exclamatory meaning can also be expressed by intensifiers, e.g. wow, the hell, surely, so,
such: Get the hell out of here! Look at that fantastic sunset!
Why are you so pathetically stupid?
 PHRASES
Phrases are constituents intermediate between the clause and the word.
Each word-level category has a corresponding phrasal category.
►A phrase consists of minimally just a Head (which is obligatory) and several dependents.
The Head of a phrase determines the environment where the phrase can occur
and determines the properties of the whole phrase:
Noun Phrase: [the badgers] [those large badgers from New York state]
[the most important representatives of workers’ interests at the conference]
Verb Phrase: [suddenly die of cancer at a young age]
[blindly rely on the advice of a counsellor]
Adjective Phrase: [interested in the history of theatre to some extent]
[completely and utterly disappointed at the ineptitude of the firm]
[devoid of content] [dull to the extreme]
Prepositional Phrase: [right near the door] [towards the entrance to the building]
[despite the failed attempt by the paramilitary at blowing up the building]
Adverb Phrase: [extremely well]
[completely independently of the approval of his superiors]

The underlined words are the Heads of the respective phrases. In generative grammar the
Head is said to project its phrase, e.g. Noun projects NP or NP is a projection of Noun.
►The other elements are dependent on the Head in two ways: they are either optional or are
included because the head requires them (the Head subcategorizes for them). ©DanaD
CONSTITUENCY TESTS &
GRAMMATICALITY
Seminar 1
Constituency tests are tests for establishing whether a string (a
sequence of words) is a constituent or not.

1. The Pro-form Test

►Pro-forms are expressions like she/ them/ somewhere/ there/ do so,
which have the function of representing (substituting for) a constituent
which has already been mentioned, in order to save the effort of
pronouncing or writing the same constituent twice.
The best-known type of pro-form is the pronoun, which replaces a Noun
Phrase.
Pro-form Test: if a string can be replaced with a pro-form, the string is
a constituent.
[The lady running [the group]] handed in her resignation on Friday at noon.
[She] handed in her resignation on Friday at noon.
The lady running [it] [handed in her resignation] on Friday at noon.
The lady running the group [did so] [on Friday at noon].
The lady running the group handed in her resignation [then].
She did so then.
2. The Question Test
If a sentence can be converted into a question using a wh-expression
(where/ how/ when/ why/ what/ who(m)), and phrases like with whom?;
at what time?; in whose house?, the string that the wh-expression
replaces is a constituent.
Wh-expressions are pro-forms.
The answer to the question is also a constituent.

What did the lady running the group hand in on Friday at noon?
[Her resignation].

Who handed in her resignation on Friday at noon?

[The lady running the group].

When did the lady running the group hand in her resignation?
[On Friday at noon].
3. The Movement Test
If a string can be moved to some other position in the sentence, it is
very likely to be a constituent.
[On Friday at noon], the lady running the group handed in her resignation.
Rover ran out of the house. → [Out of the house] Rover ran.
This type of front movement is known as Fronting/ Preposing.
►Note that due to the fact that word order in English is fixed to a great
extent, only certain constituents can be moved (fronted).

4. The Coordination test

Coordination is the syntactic operation that joins two words, phrases or
clauses together using coordinators such as and/ or.
►Note that only constituents can be coordinated (conjoined): the
strings joined by coordination must each be a constituent.
►► If the coordinated strings can be switched without any difference
in meaning, this is further proof that they are constituents.
I [went to the post office to post a letter] and [did the shopping].
I [did the shopping] and [went to the post office to post a letter].
5. The Cleft Test
The guests from overseas visited the best parts of the city on Sunday.
It was [on Sunday] that the guests from overseas visited the best parts of the city.
It was [the best parts of the city] that the guests from overseas visited on Sunday.
It was [the guests from overseas] that visited the best parts of the city on Sunday.

Cleft comes from the old verb cleave: split; thus sentences are divided in two.
Clefting is a device used to focus on a particular constituent of the sentence.
It was/is X that…. X= a constituent

6. The Pseudo-Cleft test

Pseudo-Clefting is a process closely related to Clefting, which involves the
use of what and the verb BE.
Jane gave these books to Bill on Saturday.
What Jane did was [give these books to Bill on Saturday].
What Jane gave to Bill on Saturday was [these books].
Pseudo-Clefting operates with whole constituents, like Clefting.
We really want to go up the hill. ↔ [Up the hill] is were we really want to go.
X is/was {who, what, where…} {who, what, where…} is/was X
Constituent tests will sometimes yield unacceptable results, not
because the tested string is not a constituent, but because of
various constraints.
She played the piece [very quickly] and very skilfully.
We know [very quickly] is a constituent because it is coordinated with
[very skilfully] – only constituents can be coordinated.
However, the Question test does not work with this constituent.
*How did she play the piece and very skilfully? – the ungrammaticality of
this question does not show that [very quickly] is not a constituent.
It is explained by a constraint, namely one cannot ask a question of a
coordinated unit (the Coordinate Structure Constraint).
►[Constraints are restrictions on the application of various syntactic
rules/ processes].
 In English, word order is fixed to a large extent, and if a given word
order is disrupted, the sentence becomes less acceptable or even
ungrammatical.
► Sequences of words that conform to the rules of syntax are said to be
grammatical/ well-formed; sequences which violate syntactic rules are
ungrammatical/ ill-formed.
► Sentences are not simply random strings of words; they conform to
patterns determined by the syntactic rules of the language (in the sense
of the PSRs which describe structure). Sentences are structured word
sequences.
Native speakers of a language can distinguish grammatical from
ungrammatical structures in their language and can often ‘fix up’
ungrammatical strings to make them grammatical.
In English, the syntactic rules specify the word order of sentences, while
syntax provides a generalised account of sentence structure.

Key syntactic concepts: constituent; phrase structure rules;

lexical category; grammatical category; complementizer (subordinator);
grammaticality/ well-formedness; ungrammaticality/ ill-formedness.
1. Apply constituent tests to show that the bracketed phrases are constituents.
Someone saw [a suspicious-looking man with a briefcase] walking around
[in the foyer] on Monday [half an hour before the building blew up].
2. Identify the NP and VP which combine to form the following sentences .
1. The lady over there and her friend know George.
2. Fred obviously believes the story about the Martian invasion.
3. One big problem with the theory still remains.
4. He usually read or watched television.

3. In the following sentences, find each instance of the category given in brackets..
Be careful when deciding where each phrase begins and ends.
He drove his brother’s wife’s car from the top of the hill to the beach. (NP and PP)
At the next meeting, the president of the committee called in an expert on
environmental pollution and global warming from America. (NP and AP)

4. You probably know the concept of linguistic ambiguity, which is either lexical
(e.g. glasses) or structural. Can you bracket this sentence to show its two
interpretations?
The British left waffles on the Falkland Islands.
5. Are the sentences below grammatical or ungrammatical? Why?
Think in terms of subcategorization rules and make a clear note of the rule
that has been violated in all the ungrammatical examples.
1. Omar sighed a book.
2. The women were bringing.
3. I gave the car back to him.
4. I gave the car to him back.
5. My car realizes that I’m a lousy cook.
6. John very much Mary loves.
7. Who did we meet at the party?
8. Whom did we meet at the party?
9. They built last year a house.
10. She preferred very much for the students to do their homework.
 VERB PHRASES
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES
NEGATION
Consider this sentence:
[S Her mother [VP read [ NP a book ]]] . Is [read] a constituent?
Tests will help answer this question.
The Question test: What did her mother do? [Read a book].
The Pro-form test: She did so yesterday.
The Pseudo-cleft test: What her mother did was [read a book]. →
→ [read a book] is the VP constituent: read is the Head, followed by a NP which
completes the VP and is a complement of the verb read.

He [ VP told [NP the girl] [S that she was clever ]]. -- here tell takes two complements
Note that sentences become ungrammatical without their complements; also, it is
impossible to define the Head of a phrase without referring to its complement. A
definition of tell mentions something that is told and a person to whom something is
told.
► Modifiers are always optional constituents, while complements are obligatory.
As we have already noted, modifiers can be added recursively; in principle, there is
no limit to the number of modifiers within a phrase:
He [sometimes ]walked the dog [slowly] [in the park] [on Fridays] [after work]
[for two hours] [to clear his mind].
Now consider the lexical verb dine.
The dictionary definition (the lexical entry in the mental lexicon) for this verb specifies that
the food may appear in the sentence: We dined., or it may appear as a PP headed by the
preposition on: We dined on the chicken., but not as a NP: *We dined the chicken.
► Thus lexical Heads fall into different classes depending on the kind of complements, if any,
they must occur with → we say a Head (in this case a verb) subcategorizes for the
complements (dependents) it takes. Another way of saying this is that a verb occurs inside a
certain distribution frame.
► The main subcategories of lexical verbs are:
--intransitives : dine, work, arrive, die, disintegrate
-- monotransitives – take a single NP complement: see her; open a bottle; read a book
-- ditransitives (double object verbs) take two NP complements, often referred to as
Indirect Objects and Direct Objects, respectively: tell him a lie; show him a book; bake me a cake.
-- prepositional verbs – have a PP as (one of) their complements:
rely on them; deal with them; frown on them.
She interested me in the proposal.
He subjected them to an ordeal.
►►Note that a lexical verb may belong to more than one subcategory:
The silk feels nice. – feel takes a Predicative/ Subject Complement - [nice]
He felt his pulse. -- feel is monotransitive.
In analysis it is important to look at the entire sentence, not just look at the verb.
ELEMENTS BEFORE THE HEAD VERB
If a VP is marked for Tense, it is said to be finite: he laughs/ he laughed/ he is laughing:
the form of the verb is altered from present tense to past tense. Finite VPs contain an
obligatory element, Tense, besides the lexical verb.
►A Tense system is associated with the verb and is used to mark the location in time of
the situation; note that ‘time’ is a semantic notion; we distinguish between duration/
habitual time/ punctual time etc. The tense system is marked by verb inflections and/
or Auxiliaries.
► The question of where Auxiliaries are located in the sentence is a highly debated one
in linguistics. In one analysis, the VP is the complement of the Auxiliary. For several
reasons, including simplicity, we shall adopt the alternative analysis, in which Auxiliary
is part of the VP.
► Auxiliary verbs in English have 4 syntactic properties termed NICE:
Negation/ Inversion/ Code/ Emphasis
1. In negative clauses the negator NOT follows the first Auxiliary. In Modern English
lexical verbs do not allow the negator NOT to follow them. *We live not in Poland.
An Auxiliary is required in front of NOT; if there is no Auxiliary available, DO must be
inserted: We do not live in Poland. [ this syntactic rule is DO -SUPPORT]
2. In certain questions, Auxiliary and Subject invert: Do/ have we live(d) in Poland?
3. In constructions that code (stand for) a previously mentioned VP, the first Auxiliary is
repeated and inverted: We [VP live in Poland], don’t we?
4. In constructions in which the truth of the proposition is emphasized, the first Auxiliary
receives emphatic stress: We do live in Poland. [DO –SUPPORT]
The 4 syntactic properties of Auxiliary serve to illustrate the special status of the first
Auxiliary in English. Note that in English the Auxiliary is a complex formative which is
fundamental for the structure of the English verb system.
Here is the representation of the structure of English Auxiliary in terms of PSRs:
VP → Aux – (M)V
Aux → Aux1 – Aux2
Aux1 → T(ense) – M(odal)
Aux2 → (Perfective) (Progressive)
Tense → Present, Past
Modal → can, may, will, must ….
Perfective → have- en
Progressive → be –ing
► Tense is the obligatory element in a finite VP besides the lexical verb and its
complements, if any; the other elements are optional. Note also that Tense is only
marked once in English: if a Modal is inserted, Perfective is no longer marked for Tense.
Also Tense is always marked on the very first part of the VP (it is always the
first verb, whether lexical or auxiliary that displays Tense marking → Remember
we have adopted the model of analysis in which Auxiliary is part of the VP.
Perfective Aspect Progressive Asp. Passive
VP → T (M) (have + en) (be + ing) (be + en) V
Aux 1
Aux 2

This formula was discovered by Noam Chomsky in 1965 in his book

Aspects of the Theory of Syntax.
Since the Auxiliary contains discontinuous constituents and unattached affixes,
the grammar needs the rule of AFFIX-HOPPING: the affix associated with a particular
auxiliary does not appear on that auxiliary, but on the next verb:
She may have been working in the garden.
Pres. M Perfective Progressive

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES

Category AvP/NP P NP/ S/ PP

Function Specifier Head Complement

with red hair
right on time/ the spot
two minutes before her arrival
regarding whether he might come
towards the entrance to the building
straight through the wall
three inches above the door
Phrases consisting of a Preposition as head followed by a NP or a clause as complement are
PPs: [in the corner]; [to the man]; [about this topic].
As shown on the previous slide, the Head may be preceded by phrases measuring space
and time functioning as Specifiers: [back on the table]; [three miles across the border]
►Note that besides simple prepositions, there are also complex ones: out of;
because of; prior to; on behalf of; contrary to; ahead of; due to; inside of; such as; as for;
except for; on account of; in comparison with; by dint of; in addition to; with regard to.
► Note also the subcategory of prepositions derived from verbs:
following, during, pending, beginning, involving
Considering your loss, the bill will not be sent.
Assuming the accuracy of the report, action must be taken at once.
But Assuming that the report is accurate, action must be taken at once.
► English also has several PPs which are in fact postpositions:
[PP three weeks ago] [PP all joking aside]

►►Now consider these examples:

They went inside / straight inside/ downstairs/ onwards/ forwards/ ahead/ everywhere.
Modern syntacticians see these as prepositions without complements → Intransitive
prepositions. Traditional grammars see them as adverbs, but this is misleading.
Prepositions have little in common with adverbs, which are mainly derived from
adjectives: warmly; powerfully; slowly.
Intransitive prepositions refer to directions and places, just like other prepositions.
They may also be coordinated with PPs, which suggests that they are in fact prepositions:
They walked [inside] and [down the hall].
They went [upwards] and [over the hill].
SUMMING UP PHRASES
1. each phrase type has a Head;
2. the Head may be preceded by Specifiers;
3. the Head may be followed by Complements and by optional constituents (Modifiers).

A more abstract representation of phrase structure:

X-phrase: Specifier – Head – Complement – {Modifier}
X = N, Adjective, Verb….
 NEGATION
The grammatical system in which positive and negative contrast is called polarity: positive
vs. negative polarity. Syntactically, positive is the default polarity.
Negation applies at two main levels: sentence/ clause vs. phrase (subclausal) negation.

► A negative sentence or clause is a denial of an implicit or explicit statement; (it is the

negation of an entire proposition).
Semantically, a simple pair of positive and negative clauses are related in such a way that
they cannot both be true, but they also cannot both be false.
Sentence/ clause negation is a complex syntactic phenomenon, for several reasons:
1. Although the NEG cannot attach to any constituent, it is nevertheless very mobile:
John saw no one on the premises at any time.
John didn’t see anyone on the premises at any time.
At no time did John see anyone on the premises.
2. The presence of a sentence negator may trigger other changes in the S form:
He has already had lunch. He hasn’t had lunch yet.
3. NEG is a grammatical formative that has several (not fully synonymous) realizations
NEG → not, hardly, scarcely ….. I hardly know anyone here.
►There is a universal tendency to attach the NEG to the verb, which is only logical, because
negating a sentence amounts to negating its predicator. In English, the NEG is moved into
the VP to become a constituent of the Auxiliary, being placed between Aux1 and Aux2
(cf. the NICE properties of auxiliary verbs on slide 4).
If the Auxiliary contains a modal, the NEG is placed after it. The NEG is very mobile: its
favoured position is within the Auxiliary but very often it attaches to other constituents,
namely indefinite NPs or frequency adverbs, e.g.: nobody; no one; nowhere.
He doesn’t love anyone ↔ He loves no one.
She won’t ever return. ↔ She will never return.
►The combinatorial properties of positive and negative clauses are used as
identification tests.
1. Addition of not even: a constituent introduced by not even can be added after a
negative, never after a positive clause.
I haven’t read the book, not even the introduction.
* I have read the book, not even the introduction.
2. The coordinators so and neither – nor
When a related clause of the same polarity is added, the positive pair may be linked
by so, the negative pair by neither – nor:
I have read the book, and so have they.
I haven’t read the book, and neither have they.
3. Confirmatory tags with reverse polarity to the clauses to which they are attached.
Clausal negation is of two main types: verbal and non-verbal.
She didn’t tell me anything. ↔ She told me nothing.
She does not live here anymore. ↔ She no longer lives here.
Verbal negation requires the insertion of Auxiliary DO under certain conditions, unlike
non-verbal negation. NOT can be attached to a wide range of non-verbal elements;
Not everybody agrees with you. * Not somebody…
Not all her friends supported her. * Not each…
Not even Tom liked it. *Not Tom…

►Other markers of non-verbal negation

1. Absolute negators
i. none, nobody, no one, nothing, nowhere (AmE no place)
ii neither, nor, never
Neither Kim nor Pat has arrived.
Nobody objected to the plan.
We found no mistakes. ↔ We didn’t find any mistakes.
He never apologizes. ↔ He doesn’t ever apologize. →→
→ When the negator follows the subject, there is usually an equivalent clause with verbal
negation.
2. Approximate negators
few; little; rarely; seldom; barely; hardly; scarcely
SUB-CLAUSAL NEGATION works below the clause level.
Distinguish between clausal and sub-clausal negation in these examples:
1. Affixal negation
Compare: He was unkind. He wasn’t kind
Determining which prefix to use with which stem is not always predictable, e.g.
unhappy; inappropriate; illogical; irrelevant; atypical, disordered.
How can we account for this variety?
2. Other cases
i. She works for nothing. She is interested in nothing.
ii. It was no mean achievement. It was no great deal.
iii. This is a not uncommon error. This is not an uncommon error.
iv. Not surprisingly, he complained. Surprisingly, he did not complain.

Nothing and no generally mark clausal negation.

The social functions of negation

Compare: Moe is dumber than Curly.

Moe is not as intelligent as Curly.

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