Syntax Presentation - Group 7

GROUP 7
SYNTAX
Welcome to our presentation!
Group 7’s Members:
Q C D H
Ngô Thị Nguyễn Nguyễn Hải Phùng
Như Quỳnh Xuân Hồ Dương Huỳnh Như
Châu Hảo
Quỳnh
Table of contents
01 02 03
Definition Lexical rules
Deep & Surface
Structure
04 05 06 07
Phrase structure Tree diagram Ambiguity Generative
rules grammar
Quỳnh
01
Definition
What does the word “Syntax” mean?
Quỳnh
Quỳnh
Syntax is the grammatical structure of

words and phrases to create coherent
sentences.
Examples:
“The boy jumped happily.”
NP V Adv
Quỳnh
02.
Deep & Surface
Structure
Quỳnh
Deep structure Surface structure
is concerned with meaning is concerned with grammar
refers to concepts, thoughts, refers to the words/ language we use to
ideas, feelings represent the deep structure
Example: Example:
Lucy broke the pen The pen was broken by Lucy
Þ active sentence, focusing on Þ passive sentence, focusing on the

what Lucy did pen and what happened to it
Þ concerned with meaning Þ concerned with grammar.

Quỳnh
Exercise : What are deep structures of these sentences?
a. Who should my mother help? ( Surface structure)

b. What can I read? ( Surface structure)
c. Which one I can choose? ( Surface structure)
d. My brother will go to Big C cinema tonight. ( Surface structure)
e. Using this method will be effective. ( Surface structure)
a. Deep structure: my mother should help who
b. Deep structure: I can read what

Quỳnh
03
Lexical rules
What are lexical rules?
Châu
Rules stating which words can be used for constituents
generated by phrase structure rules.
In order to turn phrases, we form from phrase structure rules,

it is necessary to make them recognizable in language we
have to look whether they are lexically correct or not.
Châu
Examples:
PN → {John, Mary}
N → {girl, dog, boy}
V → {followed, helped, saw}
Pro → {it, you}
Art → {a, the}
Adj → {big, small}
Châu
Examples:
(1) A dog followed the boy. (7) *Dog followed boy.

(2) You saw it. (8) *You it saw.
(3) John saw the big dog (9) *John Mary small dog .
(10) *Followed Mary the dog
(4) It followed Mary.
big.
(5) The small boy helped you. (11) *The helped you boy.
(6) Mary helped John. (12) *Mary John helped.
Châu
04/ Phrase
structure rules
Châu
04/ Phrase structure rules:
As the name suggest, these rules state that structure of

a phrase of a specific type will consist of one or more
constituents in a particular order.
Phrase structure rules are usually of the
following form: A -> B C
• S -> NP VP
• NP -> {Art (Adj) N, Pro, PN}
• VP -> V NP
Châu
the subject NP colorless green ideas
the minor NP green ideas Constituents
the VP sleep furiously Châu
Exercise: Write phrase structure rules for the following
phrases
1. I will tell her the story.

2. I will run.
3. On the desk near the window
4. A sign on the door
5. Up the tree in the yard
6. Hammered the nail into the wall
7. The boy in the tree
Châu
Keys
1. I will tell her the

story.
Châu
Keys
2. I will run.
Châu
05. Tree diagram
Hảo
Phrase tree
1 2
One of the best ways to create We can use the symbols introduced
a visual representation of earlier to label parts of the tree when
underlying syntactic structure we create a representation of how
is through tree diagrams each part fits into the underlying
structure of phrases.
Hảo
Examples:
Figure 1- Verb phrase

tree diagram
Hảo
Tree diagram of English
sentences
Within each sentence, words are grouped into

phrases. Phrases can be grouped together to form
other phrases, and to form sentences. Tree diagrams
will help us see about the syntactic relationships
between the parts of sentences.
Hảo
Examples
Hảo
Exercise : Draw the tree structure of the following sentences
a) The student lost the debate.

b) Maria never ate a brownie.
c) The teacher gave homework to her student.
d) He put the car into the garage.
e) That person in the stress is good at English.
Hảo
KEYS
Hảo
6. Ambiguity
are there?
What is ambiguity? How many kinds
Hảo
6. Ambiguity
What is ambiguity?
A word, phrase, or sentence is ambiguous if it has more than one
meaning, in other words ambiguity has more than one interpretation.
Hảo
6. Ambiguity
Kinds of ambiguity
+ Lexical ambiguity:
Lexical ambiguity occurs when a sentence contains a word or words that
has or have more than one meaning.
Hảo
Examples:
“Light”
not heavy the lamp

Hảo
Examples:
"Bank"
the bank river the financial institution

Hảo
6. Ambiguity
Kinds of ambiguity
+ Lexical ambiguity:
Lexical ambiguity occurs when a sentence contains a word or words that
has or have more than one meaning.
+ Structural ambiguity:
Structural ambiguity occurs because a part of the sentence is interpreted
as having either different structures or the same structure but with
different groups of components.
Hảo
Example: “I saw the man with the telescope.”
Using the telescope, I

saw the man.
Hảo
Example: “I saw the man with the telescope.”
I saw the man, and he

had a telescope.
Hảo
Exercise : Give two possible meanings for the ambiguous
sentences below:
1. We will give you a ring tonight.

2. Henry washed the car in the garage.
3. We were late but the coach was late too.
4. I don’t like the case.
5. We gave the library books.
a. We will give you a telephone call tonight.

b. We will give you a diamond ring tonight.
Dương
Exercise : Give two possible meanings for the ambiguous
sentences below:
1. We will give you a ring tonight.

2. Henry washed the car in the garage.
3. We were late but the coach was late too.
4. I don’t like the case.
5. We gave the library books.
a. In the garage, Henry washed the car.

b. Henry washed the car which was in the garage.
Dương
7. Generative
grammar
mar?
What is the definition of Generative Gram
Dương
7. Generative grammar
a small and limited set of rules that will be
Def capable of producing a large and potentially
unlimited number of well-formed structures
The term “generative” originally characterized a

note conception of grammars as such recursive rule
system in English syntax
Dương
Recursive rule system example
S Lisa loves Jennie
S  NP VP NP VP
VP  V CP Rose
CP  C S V CP
knows
1. Lisa loves Jennie C S
2. Rose knows that Lisa loves Jennie that
3. Jisoo notices that Rose knows that Lisa loves Jennie

n. Lisa knows that Mike learns that Kim wonders that Jack said that Ann asked that
Dương
THE END!!
Thank you for

listening
Any questions?

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GROUP 7

Syntax is the grammatical structure of

“The boy jumped happily.”

Lucy broke the pen The pen was broken by Lucy

Þ active sentence, focusing on Þ passive sentence, focusing on the

Þ concerned with meaning Þ concerned with grammar.

a. Who should my mother help? ( Surface structure)

a. Deep structure: my mother should help who

b. Deep structure: I can read what

In order to turn phrases, we form from phrase structure rules,

Adj → {big, small}

(1) A dog followed the boy. (7) *Dog followed boy.

As the name suggest, these rules state that structure of

1. I will tell her the story.

1. I will tell her the

Figure 1- Verb phrase

Within each sentence, words are grouped into

a) The student lost the debate.

not heavy the lamp

the bank river the financial institution

Using the telescope, I

I saw the man, and he

1. We will give you a ring tonight.

a. We will give you a telephone call tonight.

1. We will give you a ring tonight.

a. In the garage, Henry washed the car.

The term “generative” originally characterized a

3. Jisoo notices that Rose knows that Lisa loves Jennie

Thank you for

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