The human experience 10th grade

Chapter 8

Synta
x
The human experience 10th grade

Introduction &
01. syntactic rules
Deep and surface
02. structure
Tree diagrams &
03. symbols used in
syntactic
Phrase analysis
04. structure rules
& lexical rules
05. Movement rules
Table of contents
The human experience 10th grade

01.
Introduction
& syntactic
rules
By: Rowan Alaa
The human experience 10th grade

Introduction to Syntax
• Syntax is the study & Syntactic
of how words Rules
are arranged
to form phrases and sentences.
•
• The word “syntax” comes from the Greek word
syntaxis, meaning “arrangement” or “putting
together.”
•
• It focuses on the structure of sentences and how
different components fit together to convey
meaning.
•
• Syntax differs from traditional grammar by
analyzing the deeper rule system rather than
just surface-level sentence structures.
Example of famous
Consider this Sentence Structure
sentence Challenges
by Oettinger
(1966):
“Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a
banana.”

The first phrase is interpreted as time

moving fast.

The second phrase, however, suggests that

“fruit flies” (the insects) enjoy bananas.

This highlights the importance of sentence

structure in understanding meaning.
Syntactic Rules
● Syntactic rules help us determine
which sentences are grammatically
correct and which are not.
●
● These rules follow the “all and
only” principle:
●
● They must allow all grammatically
correct sentences.
●
● They must reject ungrammatical
sentences.
The human experience 10th grade

Example of Rule Formation

Incorrect Rule:
“A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition followed by
a noun.”
This would generate incorrect phrases like near tree or with dog
(which are ungrammatical).
Correct Rule:
“A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition followed by
a noun phrase.”
This allows correct structures like:
near London
with you
near a tree
with the dog
The human experience 10th grade

Generative
Syntax isn’t just Grammar
about listing sentence
patterns; it’s about understanding how an
infinite number of sentences can be generated
from a limited set of rules.

This is called generative grammar—a finite set

of rules that can produce an unlimited number
of well-formed sentences.
Example:
Rule: “A sentence (S) consists of a noun
phrase (NP) and a verb phrase (VP).”
This rule can be used to generate countless
sentences like:
- The boy ran.
- A girl saw a dog.
- My teacher is reading a book.
The human experience 10th grade

02.
Deep and
surface
structure
By: Habiba Hossam
 The human experience 10th grade

1. Deep and Surface Structure

The deep structure represents the abstract organization of a
sentence, while surface structure refers to how it is actually
expressed in words.
Sentences can have different surface structures but still share
the same deep structure.
Example:
Charlie broke the window (active voice)
The window was broken by Charlie (passive voice)
These sentences look different on the surface, but they have the same
deep structure because they share the same core meaning.
One deep structure can generate multiple surface structures.
Example:
It was Charlie who broke the window.
Was the window broken by Charlie?
The human experience 10th grade

2. Structural Ambiguity
Some sentences have two different deep
structures but the same surface structure,
leading to structural ambiguity.

Example: Annie bumped into a man with an

umbrella.

Meaning 1: Annie had an umbrella and

bumped into a man.

Meaning 2: Annie bumped into a man who

was holding an umbrella.
The human experience 10th grade

Example: I once shot an elephant in

my pajamas.

Meaning 1: “While I was wearing

pajamas, I shot an elephant.”
Meaning 2: “I shot an elephant that
was inside my pajamas.”

This happens because the same

surface structure can represent
different interpretations at the deep
level.
 The human experience 10th grade

03.
Visualizing
Sentence
Structure: An
Introduction to
Tree Diagrams
By: Sama Baher
The human experience 10th grade

The Need for Structure Representation

• As Anthony Oettinger’s example illustrates
(“Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a
banana”), understanding sentences requires
recognizing their **underlying structure**.
•
• * Simply looking at the sequence of words is not
enough to grasp the different meanings and
relationships within a sentence.
•
• * Tree diagrams provide a **visual
representation of this underlying syntactic
structure**.
The human experience 10th grade

What is a Tree Diagram?

• A tree diagram uses a **hierarchical
structure** with “branches” to show how
different parts of a sentence fit together.
•
• * Although they visually grow
downwards, they represent the
constituent structure of a sentence from a
higher level (the sentence itself) to lower
levels (individual words).
•
• * **Symbols** (abbreviations for
syntactic categories) are used to label
each part of the tree.
The human experience 10th grade

Basic Components and Symbols

The **topmost node** of a tree diagram typically represents
the **Sentence (S)**.
* The sentence is then divided into its main constituents,
usually a **Noun Phrase (NP)** and a **Verb Phrase (VP)**.
* Common symbols include:
* **S:** Sentence
* **NP:** Noun Phrase
* **N:** Noun
* **VP:** Verb Phrase
* **V:** Verb
* **Art:** Article (e.g., *a*, *the*)
* **Adj:** Adjective
* **Pro:** Pronoun (e.g., *it*, *you*)
* **PN:** Proper Noun (e.g., *Mary*, *George*)
* **PP:** Prepositional Phrase
The human experience 10th grade

Illustrating Constituent Structure

Consider the labeled and bracketed phrase: `[NP [Art The] [N
girl]]`.
* This can be represented by the following tree diagram:

```
NP
/ \
Art N
| |
The girl
```

* This diagram clearly shows that “The” is an Article and

“girl” is a Noun, and together they form a Noun Phrase.
The human experience 10th grade

ABuilding a Sentence
complete sentence Tree
tree shows the hierarchical
organization of all its constituents. For example,
“The girl saw a dog” can be represented as:
S
/\
NP VP
/\/\
Art N V NP
| ||/\
The girl saw Art N
| |
a dog
* This illustrates how the Sentence (S) is
composed of a Noun Phrase (NP) and a Verb Phrase
(VP), and how these phrases are further broken
The human experience 10th grade

Tree Diagrams and Phrase Structure Rules

• Tree diagrams can be seen as a visual
output of **phrase structure rules**, which
specify the structure of different types of
phrases.
•
• * For example, the rule `NP → Art N` (a
noun phrase consists of an article followed
by a noun) is directly reflected in the
structure of the NP in the tree diagram for
“The girl” and “a dog”.
The human experience 10th grade

• Deep Structure
Tree diagrams canand Surface
represent the Structure
**underlying or deep structure** of
sentences, which can be transformed into
different **surface structures** through
**movement rules**.
•
• * For example, the deep structure for “You
can see it” can be represented by a tree,
and a movement rule (Aux NP VP → Aux NP
VP) can show how it is transformed into the
question “Can you see it?” in the surface
structure.
The human experience 10th grade

Cross-Linguistic Applications
• Tree diagrams are not limited to English;
they can be used to analyze the syntactic
structure of **different languages**, even
those with very different word orders.

• * For example, the tree diagram for a

Gaelic sentence with a V NP NP structure
would look different from an English
sentence with an NP V NP structure.
The human experience 10th grade

• Conclusion
Tree diagrams are a powerful tool for visualizing
and understanding the hierarchical organization
of syntactic structure.**
•
• * They allow us to represent **constituents**
and their relationships within a sentence.
•
• * They provide a visual link between **phrase
structure rules**, **deep structure**, and
**surface structure**.
•
• * They can also be used to illustrate **structural
ambiguity** and compare the syntax of
**different languages**.
04.
Phrase
structure
rules &
lexical rules
By: Clara Milad
The human experience 10th grade

Phrase Structure Rules & Lexical Rules

When analyzing syntax, linguists
use phrase structure rules and
lexical rules to explain how
sentences are formed. These rules
help break down a sentence into
its components and specify how
words combine to create
meaningful structures.
 The human experience 10th grade

1. Phrase Structure Rules (PSRs)

Phrase structure rules describe how words and
phrases are hierarchically organized in a
sentence. They define the basic syntax of a
language by showing how different parts of a
sentence (like nouns, verbs, and phrases)
combine.
Example Rules:

1. Sentence (S) → NP + VP

A sentence consists of a Noun Phrase (NP) and a Verb Phrase

(VP).

Example: The boy (NP) plays football (VP).

 The human experience 10th grade

1. Phrase Structure Rules (PSRs)

2. Noun Phrase (NP) → (Det) + N (+ PP)

A noun phrase consists of an optional determiner (Det), a

noun (N), and possibly a prepositional phrase (PP).

Example: The cat (Det + N) or The cat on the roof (Det +

N + PP).

3. Verb Phrase (VP) → V + (NP) + (PP)

A verb phrase consists of a verb (V) and may include a

noun phrase (NP) or a prepositional phrase (PP).

Example: Kicked (V) the ball (NP) into the goal (PP).
 The human experience 10th grade

Tree Diagram Representation:

Phrase structure rules allow us to represent
sentences visually using syntax trees, where
each phrase branches into its components.
2. Lexical Rules
While phrase structure rules define how words combine,
lexical rules specify what words belong to each category.

Example Rules:
N → cat, dog, book, house
V → eat, run, sleep, study
Det → the, a, an, this
P → in, on, under, near
 The human experience 10th grade

2. Lexical rules: Tree Structure:

Lexical rules ensure that only S
words from the correct category
/\
are inserted into phrase structure
NP VP
rules.
/ \ / \
Det → the Det N V PP
| | | / \
N → cat, mat the cat sleeps P NP
| / \
V → sleeps on Det N
| |
P → on
the mat
 Syntactic
05.
Movement
Rules:
Reshaping
Sentence
Structure
By: Alaa Yasser
 Revisiting Phrase Structure Rules

Chapter 8 introduces phrase structure rules as a

way to represent the underlying grammatical
structure of sentences. .
These rules describe how phrases of a specific type are composed
of constituents in a particular order.

Phrase structure rules can be visualized using tree diagrams,

illustrating the hierarchical organization of sentence elements.

However, phrase structure rules alone typically

generate sentences with a fixed word order, which
is convenient for declarative statements
 The Need for Movement Rules

While phrase structure rules can generate basic sentence

structures, they do not account for variations such as questions.
•
To form different sentence types, such as interrogatives, movement
rules are introduced.
•
Movement rules describe how components of the underlying or
deep structure of a sentence can be rearranged to create a
different surface structure.
•
This allows for a single underlying representation to be transformed
into various surface realisations.
The Aux-
Movement Rule:
Forming
Questions
This rule is involved in the creation of one basic type of question in English.
•
To understand this rule, the basic phrase structure rules are expanded to include an
auxiliary verb (Aux) as a constituent of the sentence (S ^ NP Aux VP).
•
Examples of auxiliary verbs include can, could, should, will, would.
 How the movement works …
The Aux-movement rule is
formulated as follows: NP
Aux VP ) Aux NP VP
This notation indicates a transformation: if
a sentence has an underlying structure of
a Noun Phrase (NP) followed by an
Auxiliary verb (Aux) and then a Verb
Phrase (VP), the rule moves the Aux to the
beginning of the sentence
 Examples …

Declarative (Deep Structure): Declarative (Deep Structure):

You (NP) can (Aux) see it (VP) You (NP) will (Aux) help
Mary (VP)
◦ ◦
Applying the Aux-Movement Applying the Aux-Movement
Rule: Can (Aux) you (NP) see Rule: Will (Aux) you (NP)
it (VP)? (Interrogative Surface help Mary (VP)?
Structure) (Interrogative Surface
Structure
The Aux-movement rule illustrates the distinction between deep structure
and surface structure.
•
The deep structure, generated by phrase structure rules, represents the
underlying grammatical relations and word order (e.g., You can see it).
•
Movement rules then operate on the deep structure to produce the
surface structure, which is the actual form of the sentence we speak or
write (e.g., Can you see it?).
•
The resulting questions are surface structure variations derived from a
more abstract single underlying structure
 Active and Passive Movement
Another important application of movement rules involves the relationship
between active and passive sentences.
•
Traditionally, an active sentence focuses on the agent performing an
action (e.g., "Mary helped George").
•
A passive sentence, on the other hand, focuses on the recipient of the
action (e.g., "George was helped by Mary").
•
The passive sentences can be derived from active structures through a
movement rule.
•
A simplified version of this rule can be represented as: (active) NP1 V
NP2 >>> NP2 be V-ed by NP1 (passive)
 A simplified version of this rule can be represented as:
(active) NP1 V NP2 >>> NP2 be V-ed by NP1 (passive)
Mary helped George. >>> George was
helped by Mary.
Here, the second noun phrase (NP2, George) moves to
the subject position, the verb (V, helped) takes a passive
form (be V-ed, was helped), and the first noun phrase
(NP1, Mary) often appears in a by-phrase.

This demonstrates how the passive voice is not

simply a different sentence structure but can be
seen as a transformation of an underlying active
structure through syntactic movement.
 * Conclusion
Movement rules are essential for understanding how different
sentence types, including questions and passive
constructions, are formed in English.
•
They demonstrate that sentence structure is not always a direct
reflection of the underlying grammatical relationships.
•
By moving constituents, these rules allow for flexibility and
expressiveness in language, enabling us to form a variety of
syntactic structures from more basic underlying forms.
Thanks!
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any questions?

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