Morphology and Syntax

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Morphology and Syntax

• Constituents

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Sentences have structure

• The girl is tall.
• Is the girl tall?
• The tall girl can see the boy who is holding the
  plate.
• Can the tall girl see the boy who is holding the
  plate?
• Yes/no question formation in English, wrong
  version
• Find the first auxiliary in the clause and put
  this up front.

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• The boy who is holding the plate can see the tall
  girl.
• Is the boy who holding the plate can see the
  tall girl?
• Can the boy who is holding the plate see the tall
  girl?
• Yes/no question formation in English
• Find the first auxiliary after a particular group
  of words belonging together, namely the subject
  of the sentence, and put this up front.

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How to detect constituents

• A. A constituent can be replaced by a single
  word.
• B. A constituent can, as a whole, be placed in a
  different position in the sentence.

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Noun Phrases (NPs)

• Cats are lovely.
• Intelligent cats are lovely.
• Cats with long tails are lovely.
• Intelligent cats with long tails are lovely.
• Intelligent are lovely.
• With long tails are lovely.
• Intelligent with long tails are lovely.

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NPs can be replaced by pronouns

• Joan saw the boy who fed the cat.
• Joan saw him.
• Joan saw him who fed the cat.
• Joan saw the boy while he fed the cat.
• Joan saw him while he fed the cat.

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• The elderly but still youthful looking lady who
  was eating a sandwich while waiting for the bus
  fell on the pavement.
• She fell on the pavement.
• The elderly but still youthful looking lady who
  was eating it while waiting for the bus fell on
  the pavement.

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Preposition Phrases (PPs)

• The man in the room
• The man the room
• Water under the bridge
• Water the bridge

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PPs can be replaced by adverbs

• She went to the port of Rotterdam.
• She went there.
• I have never seen that in a place like Edinburgh.
• I have never seen that here.

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• He was in the theatre with the old chairs.
• He was there with the old chairs.
• He was there.
• He was in the theatre with a friend of mine.
• He was there with a friend of mine.

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Adjective Phrases (APs)

• Marian seems very ill.
• That music is too loud to be bearable.
• Marian seems very.
• That music is too to be bearable.

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APs can be replaced by so

• Marian seems very ill and Harriet seems so, too.
• Harry is rather weird.
• Harry is rather weird and Bill is so, too.
• Harry is rather weird, and Bill is very so, too.
• This test only works when the AP is used
  predicatively, not when it is used attributively
• a rather weird man and a so woman, too

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Verb Phrases (VPs)

• I like to talk a lot about cheese sandwiches.
• I like to read books in the evening.
• I like to a lot about something.
• I like to books in the evening.

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VPs can be replaced by do so

• Mary will rent some dvds tonight and Bill will do
  so as well.
• Shane has given money to that charity and Jane
  has done so, too.

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Constituents can be displaced

• Mary will never read that novel by Robinson.
• That novel by Robinson Mary will never read.
• That novel Mary will never read by Robinson.
• Shelly was reading a book in the garden.
• In the garden Shelly was reading a book.
• A book in the garden Shelly was reading.
• John never will read a thousand novels.
• Read a thousand novels, John never will.
• Read, John will never a thousand novels.

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Constituents can be questioned

• Ruby ate a sandwich with cheddar.
• What did Ruby eat? Answer A sandwich with
  cheddar
• What did Ruby eat cheddar? Answer A sandwich
  with
• John was in the large garden.
• Where was John? Answer In the large garden
• Where was John garden? Answer In the large

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Cleft sentences

• It form of to be X that Y
• where X is the focus of the cleft.
• It was Messi that scored the goal.
• It is the female that has yellow feathers.
• It is a strong tree that can carry such a heavy
  burden.

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Only constituents can be the focus of a cleft

• The old lady with the grey coat fell on the steep
  stairs.
• It was the old lady with the grey coat that fell
  on the steep stairs.
• It was on the steep stairs that the old lady with
  the grey coat fell.
• It was the old lady that with the grey coat fell
  on the steep stairs.
• It was on the steep that the old lady with the
  grey coat fell stairs.