SENTENCE STRUCTURE:

CONSTITUENTS AND FUNCTIONS

Junnie Salud December 10, 2011 University of Santo Tomas Graduate School

 a.

it is divisible into parts (called CONSTITUENTS); b. there are different kinds of parts (called CATEGORIES); c. the constituents are ARRANGED in a specifiable way; d. that each constituent has a certain specifiable FUNCTION in the structure of the thing as a whole.

IMAGINE ALL THE POSSIBLE OBJECTS YOU COULD CONSTRUCT BY FIXING THESE COMPONENTS TOGETHER

ILL-FORMED (UNGRAMMATICAL)
1.) The nevertheless procrastinate foxtrot. 2.) And and if. 3.) Disappears none girls of the students. 4.) Put Mary. 5.) Max will bought a frying pans. A full syntactic description of the English Language consists in explaining why some strings of words of the language are well-formed expressions and why others are not.

wheel
wheel

frame

chain

handlebars

a constituent (part) of a bicycle.

Bicycle Wheel

Bicycle Spoke

[3a]

Tree-Diagram
Bicycle
[3b]

wheel spoke spoke

Bicycle
wheel spoke spoke

[4]

[5]

old

Sam sunbathed

beside a stream

[6]

*Stream old Sam sunbathed beside a

[7]

*Sunbathed old beside stream a Sam

ESTABLISHING CONSTITUENTS
[4][5] OLD SAM SUNBATHED BESIDE A STREAM. [10] Old Sam sunbathed beside a [11] Old Sam sunbathed beside [12] Old Sam sunbathed [13] Old Sam [14] Old [15] Martha smiled. [16] Martha smiled invitingly.

PHRASES

Sequences of words that can function as constituents (parts) in the structure of sentences. Since our tree diagrams are intended to represent structure by marking which sequences of words in a sentence are its constituent phrases, such diagrams are called PHRASEMARKERS.

BESIDE A STREAM = a constituent of sentence [4]. = a phrase.

[17] The very muscular gentleman next to me lit a cigar.

[18] The () gentleman next to me lit a cigar. [19] The very muscular gentleman () lit a cigar. [20] The () gentleman () lit a cigar.

Very muscular [18] [19] Next to me [19] [20] ***PHRASES which are OPTIONAL constituents (parts) in the structure of sentence [17].

*If a sequence of words can be omitted from a sentence leaving another good sentence, this is a good indication that the sequence is a phrase functioning as a constituent in the structure of the sentence. However, not all phrases are omissible.

EXAMPLE (SENTENCE [16] )

Martha smiled invitingly. INVITINGLY was a constituent in [16].

*If you can replace a sequence of words in a sentence with a single word without changing the overall structure of the sentence, then that sequence functions as a constituent of the sentence and is therefore a phrase.
Beside a stream is functioning as a constituent in [4] OLD SAM SUNBATHED BESIDE A STREAM.

[25a]
PHRASE

[25b]
PHRASE PHRASE

[25c] PHRASE
PHRASE

beside
a

stream

beside

stream

beside

stream

[33] SAM SUNBATHED BESIDE A STREAM THAT HAD DRIED UP.

[34] PHRASE-a beside PHRASE-b PHRASE-b PHRASE-c [35] PHRASE-a

a stream that had dried up

beside a stream

that had dried up

LET US TRY!!!
A B D a b c E d e F f g h C

In tree-diagram above, what are the immediate constituents of: 1.) A? 2.) B? 3.) C?

Draw a phrase-marker for the phrase: their rather dubious jokes. Showing that it contains further phrase: rather dubious jokes, which in turn contains rather dubious as a phrase.

Draw a phrase-marker for the phrase: Men from the Ministry Showing that it contains further phrase: from the ministry, which in turn contains the phrase: the ministry.

SUBJECT AND PREDICATE [1] Ducks paddle. SENTENCE

ducks paddle

The ducks are paddling away. [The ducks] [are paddling away.]

[5] [Those gigantic ducks] [were paddling away furiously]. [6] [The mouth-watering duck on the table] [wont be paddling away again].

The sentences were divided into two divisions 1.) Subject and 2.) Predicate. Turn the sentence into a question that can be answered by yes or no. [7] [8] [9] Are [the ducks] paddling away? Were [those gigantic ducks] paddling away furiously? Wont [the mouth-watering duck on the table] be paddling away again?

The question movement test is important because it is actually part of the definition of what a subject is that it changes its position in such questions.

[10] It is snowing again. [11] Is [it] snowing again?

Identify the subjects of the following sentences: [12] Some nasty accident could have occurred. [13] The clown in the make-up room doesnt want to perform. [14] Elizabeth and Leicester are rowing on the river. [15] None of her attempts to give up chocolate were really serious. [16] As a matter of fact, the man you paid to do it has been arrested.

NOUN PHRASE AND VERB PHRASE

All the subjects we have looked at have one thing in common: they all contain, and are centered on, the same CATEGORY of word, which is a NOUN. They are all NOUN PHRASE. Any phrase that can function as a subject is a Noun Phrase.

The phrases functioning as PREDICATES, on the other hand, all contain, and are centered on, a VERB. They are all VERB PHRASE.

*Chiropodist- is a foot doctor @_@

[25] The chiropodist fell in love with most of his patients.

[32] The pianist has rejected the chiropodist.

NP

VP

The ducks

are paddling away.

Try with sentence [32]: THE PIANIST HAS REJECTED THE CHIROPODIST.

DEPENDENCY AND FUNCTION

When two constituent nodes are immediately dominated by the same single node, as is the case with B and C in [35], they are said to be sisters. [35]
B

A
C

B and C are also daughters of A.

A, the node that immediately dominates them.

MODIFIER AND HEAD

PHRASE-a their PHRASE-b jokes

PHRASE-c rather dubious There are three sister relationships: 1.) their and PHRASE-b, 2.) PHRASE-c and jokes, 3.) rather and dubious.

Rather depends on dubious but not vice versa. This function is called MODIFICATION.

HEAD AND COMPLEMENT

PHRASE-a beside PHRASE-b a stream

HOW MANY SISTER RELATIONSHIPS ARE THERE IN THE PHRASE?

BESIDE is the head of the phrase

BESIDE demands a following phrase like a stream. When a head demands a further expression in this way, that other obligatory expression is said to be COPLEMENT.

Complements typically follow their heads in English

IDENTIFY THE SUBJECTS AND PREDICATES OF THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES:

a. Her memory for names and dates was a constant source of amazement to him. b. The prune fritters left something to be desired. c. There are too many uninvited guests here. d. Only six of the thirty domino-toppling contestants came properly equipped. e. It was Lydia who finally trapped the pig. f. The fact that you received no birthday greetings from Mars doesnt mean that it is uninhabited. g. In the machine, the gremlin could be heard juggling with ball-bearings.