Syntax

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Syntax

• Phrasal Categories
• In addition to Lexical Category, there is another
  kind of syntactic category the phrasal category.
• Recall that we can determine a words category by
  finding characteristics it shares with other
  words.

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Syntax

• That is, we can find words which behave the same,
  or have the same distribution, as other words,
  and these sets of words we group into a category
  and give it a name, such as noun or verb.
• Then recall that words can combine with other
  words to form semantically coherent groupings, or
  constituents.

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Syntax

• Larger chunks of words, called Phrases also
  behave the same
• A phrasal category is a set of constituents which
  behave the same, or share the same functions and
  distribution.
• Consider the following
• (1)   The joggers ran through the park.

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Syntax

• One constituent of this sentence consists of the
  words the joggers, since it is a natural,
  semantically coherent group of words that can
  stand on its own.
• If we put this in terms of the lexical categories
  we have discussed, we see that this constituent
  is formed by the combination of a determiner and
  a noun.

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Syntax

• Now consider each of the words or groups of words
  that follow.
• Note that each of them could be substituted for
  the phrase the joggers in sentence (1), and a
  grammatical sentence would result

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Syntax

• a. Susan
• b. students
• c. you
• d. many dogs
• e. some children
• f. a huge, loveable bear
• g. my friend from Brazil

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Syntax

• Each of the examples could likewise be shown to
  be a constituent in this sentence if it occurred
  in the place of the joggers. 
• Note, however, that some have different
  structures than the DET N constituent in the
  joggers.

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Syntax

• For example, (a) and (b) are single Ns, (f) is
  composed of DET ADJ ADJ N, and (g) is made
  up of DET N PREP N
• Also note that other sets of words that are
  constituents cannot be substituted for the
  joggers, such as in the tree or made a cake.

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Syntax

• What we have proven is that constituents with
  different structures can have the same functions
  because they can be used in the same position in
  a sentence.
• This means that they belong to the same category,
  and since some constituents may involve
  combinations of more than one word, these
  categories are called phrasal categories. 

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Syntax

• What are those categories?
• Noun Phrases
• In the category we just discussed, a noun alone
  or a noun plus other words forms a noun phrase
  (NP).
• Sometimes, a single word can count as a NP all by
  itself, but not always.

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Syntax

• For example, the word dog cannot be substituted
  for the NP slot in
• (2) __________ ran through the park.
• Thus, in the sentence The dog ran through the
  park, dog is a N, but not a NP (whereas dogs and
  other nouns in the plural, would count as both if
  placed alone in the slot).

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Syntax

• So we observe from (1) and (2) that proper nouns,
  pronouns, and plural nouns can be used
  individually as NPs, but some types of singular
  Ns cannot be.

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Syntax

• Verb Phrases
• Now consider the sentence
• (3) The mothers visited their children.
•  visited their children is a constituent
• It is composed of V NP.

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Syntax

• Note that this particular structure does not
  share the same properties of the structures
  grouped into the category of NP because we could
  not insert visited their children in the slot in
  (2).

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Syntax

• Other structures can be substituted for visited
  their children, however.
• For example
• a. snored
• b. loved music
• c. walked the dog through the park
• d. believe that dogs are smart
• e. wanted to leave

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Syntax

• f. will sleep soundly
• g. can lift 100 pounds
• h. are wearing sunglasses

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Syntax

• All of the structures behave the same, and thus
  can be grouped into another phrasal category,
  namely that of verb phrase (VP).
• Note that VPs can consist of a single V or a V
  other words.
• For example, (c) is V NP PP and (f) is AUX
  V ADV.

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Syntax

• Adjective Phrases
• Another phrasal category is that of adjective
  phrases (ADJPs), such as
• a. smart
• b. very tall
• c. as tall as his father
• d. smarter than the average bear
• e. certain to win

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Syntax

• Note that each of these could be inserted into
  the syntactic frame
• (4). John is ________________ .
• Again, they can be made up of a wide range of
  structures, all of which can serve to describe
  John.

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Syntax

• Adverbial phrases (ADVPs) are often used to
  modify verbs and adjectives and adverbs
• a. soundly
• b. fiercely
• c. as fluently as a native
• d. almost certainly

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Syntax

• Thus, they often appear as constituents of VPs
  and ADJPs, as in
• a. speak French as fluently as a native (VP)
• b. fiercely loyal (ADJP)
• c. sleep soundly (VP)

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Syntax

• Prepositional Phrases
• Another phrasal syntactic category is that of
  prepositional phrases (PPs).
• PPs always consist of a preposition plus an NP,
  as in the following
• a. from Brazil
• b. with Howard and his dog
• c. for nothing
• d. to the Principals office

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Syntax

• A PP can be a constituent within a wide range of
  phrases
• a. go to the movies (VP)
• b. my friend from Brazil (NP)
• c. angry with Howard and his dog (ADJP)
• d. separately from the others (ADVP)

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Syntax

• Sentences 
• Sentences (S) also form a phrasal syntactic
  category. Sentences are, of course, often used by
  themselves
• a. It is raining.
• b. I like apple pie.

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Syntax

• The sentence
• (5). I like steak but Fred prefers chicken.
• actually contains two conjoined Ss.

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Syntax

• In fact, any expression resulting from the
  combination of two or more smaller expressions by
  a conjunction belongs to the same category as the
  smaller ones do.

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Syntax

• Thus, in Howard and his dog, both Howard and his
  dog are each separate NPs.
• But they also combine to make an NP higher up in
  the hierarchical structure.