Learning Activity N.

° 5

Subject: Morphology and Syntax

NRC: 15519

Topics: Syntactical Analysis and Symbols in Syntactic Analysis

Teacher: Eddy Francisco Cardenas López

Group 2

Josselyn Nicole Ayala Rodríguez

Marcelo Alejandro Rodriguez Zapata
Ivone Elizabeth Pachacama Reinoso
Gina Lisbeth Jumbo Olmedo

Active Year: 2024 – 2025

 Learning Activity 5

(Units 10 and 11)

1.- ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

a.- What is syntactic analysis?

Syntactic analysis is the process of examining sentences to understand their structure

and how words are arranged to form meaningful phrases and sentences. Moreover, it
involves applying grammatical rules to determine how words and phrases relate to each
other within a sentence. Essentially, it's about breaking down sentences to see how their
components fit together according to the rules of grammar.

For example, in syntactic analysis, you might look at how subjects, verbs, and objects
interact within a sentence, and how different parts of speech are organized to convey a
coherent meaning. This process helps in understanding not just the grammatical
correctness but also the logical structure of the sentence.

EXAMPLE

"The cat sleeps”.

In this sentence, "The cat" is the subject and "sleeps" is the predicate. The structure
follows a basic Subject-Verb pattern, which is a standard rule in English syntax. The
analysis confirms that the sentence is grammatically correct and conveys a clear
meaning.

b.- What is the lexical category?

The lexical category is typically understood as classes of words that are part of the lexicon
(e.g., noun, verb, preposition). They can be part of a determined category according to
the way it is used in discourse.
c.- What is the classification of lexical categories?

In the classification of lexical categories, two kinds are going to be examined: open and
closed. On one side, a lexical category is open when both; the new and the original word
belong to the same category. Nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are open lexical
categories. On the other side, closed lexical categories find it difficult to acquire new
members. They include conjunctions (e.g., and, or, but), determiners (e.g., a, the),
pronouns (e.g., he, she, they), and prepositions (e.g., of, on, under).

d.- The words and, or are examples of… conjunctions

e.- The words he, she are examples of… pronouns

2.- PHRASE STRUCTURE RULE

a.- What is the phrase structure rule?

Phrase Structure Rules are fundamental components of generative grammar that

describe how sentences are structured in a language. These rules are a central element
in transformational grammar, which was first proposed by Noam Chomsky in the late
1950s.

The primary function of Phrase Structure Rules is to break down sentences into their
constituent parts, such as noun phrases (NP) and verb phrases (VP). They define the
syntactic structure of sentences by specifying how different parts of speech combine to
form meaningful phrases and sentences. This allows for the generation of well-formed
sentences and helps in understanding how language rules are applied to produce
coherent and grammatically correct expressions.

Rule: S → NP + VP

This rule indicates that a sentence (S) is composed of a noun phrase (NP) followed by a
verb phrase (VP).

Example

"The cat sleeps.”

● Analysis:
○ NP: "The cat"
 ○ VP: "sleeps"

Rule: NP → Det + N

A noun phrase (NP) can be further broken down into a determiner (Det) and a noun (N).

Example

"The big dog chased the cat."

● Analysis:
○ NP (Subject): "The big dog"
■ Det: "The"
■ N: "dog"
○ NP (Object): "the cat"
■ Det: "the"
■ N: "cat"
○ VP: "chased the cat"
■ V: "chased"
■ NP: "the cat"

b.- Diagram these sentences with linear Phrase Structure rules.

Follow this example as a guide:

Given the sentence,

Mary had a little lamb. (From left to right)

S → NP VP
NP → N
N → Mary
VP → V NP
V → had
NP → DET NP
DET → a NP
→ AdjP N
AdjP → ADJ
ADJ → little
N→ lamb
1.- She went to Guayaquil by car.

S → NP VP

NP → Pronoun

Pronoun → She

VP → V PP PP

V → went

PP → P NP

P → to

NP → Proper Noun

Proper Noun → Guayaquil

PP → P NP

P → by

NP → Det Noun

Det → car

Noun → car

2.- The boy read a book.

S → NP VP

NP → Det Noun

Det → The

Noun → boy

VP → V NP

V → read

NP → Det Noun
Det → a

Noun → book

3.- A green big toy.

NP → Det AdjP Noun

Det → A

AdjP → Adj Adj

Adj → green

Adj → big

Noun → toy

4.- They live in a big apartment.

S → NP VP

NP → Pronoun

Pronoun → They

VP → V PP

V → live

PP → P NP

P → in

NP → Det AdjP Noun

Det → a

AdjP → Adj

Adj → big

Noun → apartment
5.- I will be here tomorrow.

S → NP VP

NP → Pronoun

Pronoun → I

VP → Aux V AdvP

Aux → will

V → be

AdvP → Adv Adv

Adv → here

Adv → tomorrow

3.- TREE DIAGRAM

a.- Take a look at this example

b.- Now do the same with the sentences below:

1.- He has two brothers.

2.- Carlos spilled his coffee on the table.

3.- The doctor prescribed absolute rest to her patients.

4.- Teachers love reading books.

5.- A boy with white socks scored a goal.

4.- COMPLEMENT PHRASE

a.- Take a look at this example of complement phrase analysis.

John believed that Cathy knew that Mary helped Georg

b.- Now do the same with these sentences

1.- I know that you like dark chocolate.

2.- He thought that I was late.

3.- My mom said that the food was rotten.

4.- Charles knew that they travelled in the morning.

5.- My parents believed that I knew the answer.

5.- TRANSFORMATION RULE

a.- Take a look at this example

b.- Now do the same with following examples

1. Is he studying French?

2. Are the students practicing for the test?

 3. Have you ever driven a bus?

4. Am I doing it right?

5. Was she early?

6.- Symbols used in syntactic analysis.

a.- Using these symbols as reference, analyze the sentences.

Given the sentence CHARLES HAD A NEW BIKE

Where S is Charles had a new bike;

Noun phrase (NP) is the subject Charles;
Verb phrase (VP) is the predicate had a new bike .
This would be represented as: S → NP VP

Next, we break down each constituent further

NP consists of a single noun (N)
This would be represented in the next line as: NP → N
The noun in the subject is Charles
This would be represented in the next line as: N → Charles
Next is a VP consisting of a verb (V) and another noun phrase (NP)
This would be represented in the next line as: VP → V NP
The verb (V) in the VP is had and would be represented as: V → had
The NP in the VP is a new bike and consists of a determiner (DET) and a smaller NP.
This would be represented in the next line as: NP → DET NP
The DET in the sentence is a
The DET would be represented in the next line as: DET → a
The smaller NP consists of the Adjective Phrase (AdjP) and noun (N)
This would be represented in the next line as: NP → AdjP N
The AdjP consists of a single adjective (ADJ)
This would be represented in the next line as: AdjP → ADJ
The ADJ is new
This would be represented in the next line as: ADJ → new
Last, the noun is bike and would be represented in the final line as: N → bike

b.- Now do the same with these sentences.

1.- We usually go on holiday in August.

Where S is “We usually go on holiday in August”

Noun phrase (NP) is the subject “We”

Verb phrase (VP) is the predicate “usually go on holiday in August”

This would be represented as: S → NP VP

Next, we break down each constituent further

The NP consists of a pronoun (Pro)

This would be represented in the next line as: NP → Pro

The pronoun in the subject is “We”

This would be represented in the next line as: Pro → We

Next is a VP consisting of an adverb (Adv), a verb (V) and a prepositional phrase (PP)

This would be represented in the next line as: VP → Adv V PP

The adverb (Adv) in the VP is “usually” and would be represented as: Adv → usually

The verb (V) in the VP is “go” and would be represented as: V → go

The PP in the VP is “on holiday in August” and consists of a preposition (P) and a noun
phrase (NP)

This would be represented in the next line as: PP → Prep NP

The Prep in the sentence is “on”

The Prep would be represented in the next line as: Prep → on

The NP consists of a Noun (N) and a smaller prepositional phrase (PP)

This would be represented in the next line as: NP → N PP

The N in the sentence is “holiday”

The N would be represented in the next line as: N → holiday

The smaller PP consists of a preposition (Prep) and a noun phrase (NP)

This would be represented in the next line as: PP → Prep NP

The Prep in the sentence is “in”

The Prep would be represented in the next line as: Prep → in

The NP consists of a single proper noun (PN)

The NP would be represented in the next line as: NP → PN

Last, the proper noun is “August” and would be represented in the final line as: PN →
August

2.- The dog under the bed was scared.

Where S is “The dog under the bed was scared”;

Noun phrase (NP) is the subject “The dog under the bed”

Verb phrase (VP) is the predicate “was scared”

This would be represented as: S → NP VP

Next, we break down each constituent further

The NP consists of an article (Art), a noun (N) and a prepositional phrase (PP)

This would be represented in the next line as: NP → Art N PP

The article in the subject is “The”

This would be represented in the next line as: Art → The

The noun in the subject is “dog”

This would be represented in the next line as: N → dog

The PP in the NP is “under the bed” and consists of a preposition (P) and a noun
phrase (NP)

This would be represented in the next line as: PP → Prep NP

The Prep in the sentence is “under”

The Prep would be represented in the next line as: Prep → under

The NP consists of an article (Art) and a noun (N)

This would be represented in the next line as: NP → Art N

The Art in the sentence is “the”

The Art would be represented in the next line as: Art → the

The N in the sentence is “bed”

The N would be represented in the next line as: N → bed

Next is a VP consisting of a verb (V) and an adjective (Adj)

This would be represented in the next line as: VP → V Adj

The V in the sentence is “was”

The V would be represented in the next line as: V → was

The Adj in the sentence is “scared”

This would be represented in the final line as: Adj → scared