ENGLISH CONSTITUENT STRUCTURE

TWO MAIN SENTENCE PARTS

“The angry policeman blew his whistle, and traffic stopped.”

(An example of a more complicated sentence.)These are all examples of basic sentences.

The policeman was angry. The policeman blew his whistle. Traffic stopped.These are examples of short sentences.

2. The policeman blew his whistle. The policeman + blew his whistle

two natural groupings, or structures in the sentence

blew his whistle also contains a smaller structure – his whistle.A sentence is not just a random series of words. It is a structure made up of smaller structure.

The policeman was angry.noun phrase verb phrase

Traffic stopped.NP VP

These facts will be stated as phrase structure rules, or, simply, PS-rules.

The phrase-structure rule describes:

SENTENCE NOUN PHRASE + VERB PHRASE

Ungrammatical (not formed according to the rules of the language)

*Blew his whistle the policeman

A simple diagram that illustrates the information contained in the first PS-rules:

S

NP VP

The policeman blew his whistle.

The Structure of the Noun Phrase

Structures are described in terms of what they do, their functions.

Woodchucks – subjectsHe - subjects

Woodchucks live in burrows.NP

He borrowed my bike?NP

A coyote is howling.The fork is bent.My tooth aches.

A noun preceded by a determiner is a noun phrase structure that frequently functions as a subject.

Noun Phrase as a Phrase Structure rule

Noun Phrase

(DETERMINER) NOUN

PRONOUN

DETERMINERArticle DemonstrativePossessive

DETERMINER(PREDETERMINER)

ArticleDemonstrativePossessive

1. Some of the snow has disappeared. 2. Several of the girls are giving up candy.3. Half of the apple was wormy.

DETERMINER

(PREDETERMINER)ArticleDemonstrativePossessive (Number)

1. Five of those six bikes are new.2. Some of my first drawings are very poor.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE VERB PHRASE

S

NP VPPronoun

1. Someone jumped.2. Someone could jump the fence.3. Someone has jumped the fence.4. Someone was jumping the fence.5. Someone could have been

jumping the fence.

In the PS-rule,VERB PHRASE MAIN VERB In sentences 2-5, what auxiliary words precede the main verb? In sentences 1,3,4, and 5, what endings are attached to the main verb?

Auxiliary identifies words like could, has, was, have, and been that precede the main verb. But the term also includes endings like –ed and –ing that are attached to the main verb.Some parts of the auxiliary must appear in every verb phrase. *”Someone jump,” is ungrammatical as a basic sentence because no part of the auxiliary is included.

PS – rule VP AUXILIARY + MAIN VERB

(the rule is not yet complete)

The main verb with everything following it – except auxiliary endings – is referred to as the main verb phrase. In sentence 2-5, the main verb phrase is jump the fence.

Complete PS-rule:VP Auxiliary + Main Verb Phrase

Verb Phrase functions as the predicate of the basic sentence

Explain the makeup of the verb phrase in each of the following basic sentences by identifying the main verb, the auxiliary, and the main verb phrase.

1. Kurt is marching in the parade.

2. Something must have destroyed the nest.

The Parts of the Auxiliary S

NP VP1. Barney works in a gas station.2. Barney may work in a gas station.3. Barney has worked in a gas

station.4. Barney was working in a gas

station.5. Barney might have been working in a gas station.

The Tense Auxiliary

The endings –s and –ed show that something has changed the form of the main verb work. It is called the tense auxiliary. Tense is a separate grammatical element.

Ex. Enjoys = “experience pleasure” + “at the present time”

enjoyed = “experience pleasure” + “at some time in the past”

The tense auxiliary is assigned a separate position in the symbol string, which identifies the underlying structure of a sentence.

Det. + N + Tense + MVP

My uncle+ Pres. + enjoy table tennis

My uncle enjoys table tennis.

New PS rule

a. S + (AUX) + VP

b. AUX willwould + have + been

hashad iswas

been+

The Optional Auxiliaries1. They may fish for bass.

2. They can fish for bass.Modals or modal auxiliaries – words like may and can. Present Form: may can shall will

mustPast Form: might could should

would

When a modal appears on a verb phrase, it appears first.

NP + TNS + MOD + MVP

PRES may fish for bass

Dad may fish for bass.

Past might

The optional auxiliary (have + en auxiliary)

NP + TNS + HAVE + EN + MVP

Present fish for bass.

Dad has fished for bass.

+ singular

The Optional Auxiliary: be + ing auxiliary

1. Dad is fishing for bass.2. Dad was fishing for bass.

A form of be – am, is, was, are, or were – appears before the main verb and –ing attaches to the main verb.

NP + TNS + BE + ING + MVP

Present fish for bass

Dad is fishing for bass.

Combining Parts of the Auxiliary

Verb Phrase AUX + MVP

Aux TNS (Modal) (Have + En) (Be + Ing)TNS Present

Past

Some possibilities when more optional auxiliaries appear in the same verb phrase.

Choose Modal +Have + EN:

TNS + Mod +Have +En + MVP

Past may shiver in the rain

might have shivered in the rain

Choose Modal + BE + ING:

TNS + Modal +BE +ING + MVP

Past may shiver in the rain

might be shivering in the rain

Choose HAVE + EN + BE + ING:

TNS +Have +EN+BE+ING +MVP

Past shiver in the rain

had been shivering in the rain

Choose Modal +HAVE + EN + BE + ING:TNS+Mod+HAVE+EN+BE+ING + MVP

Past may shiver in the rain

might have been shivering in the rain

A REVIEW ON PHRASE

STRUCTURE RULES

Only 8 of these PS-rules are needed to provide an inventory of basic sentence and their relationships.1. Sentence NP + VP 2.Noun Phrase

(DETERMINER) NOUN

PRONOUN

3. DETERMINER

(PREDETERMINER)ArticleDemonstrativePossessive (Number)

4. VP Auxiliary + Main Verb Phrase

5. AUX TNS(M) +(Have+En)+(Be+Ing)

6. TNS -prs - pst

7. MVP Main V

CompleterNoun Phrase 2

(manner)(place)(time)

8. Completer Adjective Noun

Phrase Place

Adverb

Put the following sentence in its diagram form or the PS-rule diagram

- Those bears might have been hungry yesterday.

REFERENCE Harsh, Wayne et al. Success in English:

Experiences in Language. Laidlaw Brothers, Publishers. Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1973