Syntax Ch8 PDF

Syntax ch8 What is syntax?  Combining words into phrase and phrases into sentences. The structures of sentences.  Word order English (declarative): SVO Bill Drove the car. *drove Bill the car.  Sentence formation (structure) Sentence= subject + verb + (object)...

Syntax ch8 What is syntax?  Combining words into phrase and phrases into sentences. The structures of sentences.  Word order English (declarative): SVO Bill Drove the car. *drove Bill the car.  Sentence formation (structure) Sentence= subject + verb + (object) The two basic parts should be included in a sentence are: the subject & the verb. Generally speaking, the existence of the object depends on the type of the verb (whether the verb is transitive or intransitive)  Types of verbs Transitive & intransitive  Intransitive No object (It expresses a complete thought without an object) Example: jump, run He ran (quickly) The cat jumped  Transitive A transitive verb expresses an action directed toward a person or a thing named in the sentence; it requires an object. It requires an object to express a complete thought. Transitive verbs can be divided into two types: 1. monotransitive: take one object 2. ditransitive: take/require two objects  1. monotransitive It takes one object Example: bring, catch I brought the book  2. ditransitive It takes/requires two objects. Example: give, put I gave my mother a flower.  Generative… Generative grammar: a set of rules defining the possible sentences in a language. Deep structure & surface structure Deep structure: the underlying structure of sentences as represented by phrase structure rules. (the underlying meaning of a sentence) This meaning of a sentence can be expressed in different structures/ways/forms. (surface structure)  Deep: what you wish to express. Surface: how you express…  Vinicius scored goals (deep structure) Goals were scored by Vini Was he..? He scored goals He was scoring goals Surface structures  Ambiguity Ambiguity: when an item (a word or a sentence) has more than one meaning / reading/interpretation and hence might cause confusion. Types: 1. Lexical & 2. structural  Types of ambiguity Lexical Ambiguity Structural At word level At sentence (bank, level mouse)  Lexical Ambiguity Lexical: when a word has more than one reading/interpretation. Example: bat, bank, mouse… There is a bat in the house. (an animal OR the wooden object used in baseball). I went to the bank. (a financial institution OR a land along the sides of a river) Bat Bank  Structural Ambiguity Structural ambiguity: when a sentence has more than one reading/ interpretation / meaning. The police officer fined the driver from Zarqa. 1: The driver was fined from/in Zarqa. 2: The driver who lives in Zarqa was fined (in Irbid).  The girl killed the boy with the knife. 1: she killed him using a knife. 2: she killed the boy who holds a knife.  Syntactic Analysis A set of conventional symbols are used for parts of speech and phrases. N = noun V = verb Art = article Adj = adjective Adv = adverb Pro = pronoun PP = prepositional phrase NP = noun phrase (e.g. article + noun or noun) VP = verb phrase (verb + noun phrase) PN = proper noun (e.g. John, Ali)  Tree diagrams When drawing trees for sentences, we should start with ‘S’, which stands for ‘sentence.’ Next, we have two branches for NP & VP. Then, we go further and analyze the components of the NP & the VP. Sentence NP  Tea NP Art N Φ tea  PP (e.g. on the boat) PP P NP on NP Art N the boat VP Full sentences Full sentences Full sentences  Practice 1: The child found a puppy. 2: The child found a puppy in the garden. 3: The cat sat on the mat 4: The students moved the chairs into the hall. 5: The students in the class moved the chairs into the hall.