Syntax
What is syntax, and how do
we use it?
Plan for today
01 What is syntax? Syntax Trees 03
02 Word Classes Work on Tasks 04
What you will learn today
1. How to sort words into word-
classes
2. What phrases are, and how to
identify them
3. How to create simple syntax-trees
SYNTAX
The study of how
sentences are built up
and structured
Relevance to assessment
• Shows the structure of a language
• You can compare languages by creating syntax
trees
• Teaches you about different functions of words
and phrases
Definitions
Sentence Phrase Word
The entire sentence Phrases determine Words are the
is built up by several what a group of building blocks in
phrases. There is words do in a phrases. They all
always one Noun- sentence. belong to certain
Phrase and one Verb- Can consist of word-classes.
phrase several phrases.
N
Noun
(Substantiv) Items,
Word Classes A
Adjective
names, places, etc. V (Adjektiv) Describes or
modifies other words
Adv Verb
Adverb (Verb) An action, state
or occurence P
(Adverb) Describes or
modifies verbs or
Pronoun
Words that replace nouns (you,
adjectives specifically they...), as well as possessive
Det pronouns (my, your, theirs...)
Pp Determiner
Prepositions Modifying words C
(Preposisjon) Shows the referencing a noun, such as Conjunctions
relation between words, “a”, “the”, “every”, “three” (Konjuksjoner) Words that
time, placement connect sentences, phrases or
words together (and, but,
if...)
Det A N V Pp Det N Adv Det N
The brown dog ran down the stairs quickly every morning
PHRASES
1. Sentences are built up by phrases
2. Phrases are built up by smaller phrases or words
3. Phrases determine the FUNCTION of a group of words
• Noun Phrase (NP)
• Verb Phrase (VP)
• Adjective Phrase (AP)
• Adverb Phrase (AdvP)
• Prepositional Phrase (PpP)
PHRASES
(Almost) every sentence consists of 1 Noun Phrase and 1 Verb Phrase
1) (NP) The brown dog
2) (VP) ran quickly down the stairs every morning
To identify what is the NP and what is the VP, ask the two questions:
1. Who did something? (NP)
2. What did they do? (VP)
Task: Identify NP and VP
1. I walk
2. The cat eats a fish
3. My mother is a good person
4. The book was boring
5. Charlie and Hannah went to the
amusement park
Shown in a simple syntax tree
I walk
The cat eats a fish
Smaller phrases
Some phrases, such as the VP “eats a fish”,
consist of several smaller phrases.
“a fish” is a NP!
The cat eats a fish
Sentence
VP
PpP
NP
PpP
NP NP NP
VP AdvP
Det A N V Pp Det N Adv Det N
The brown dog ran down the stairs quickly every morning
Tasks
1. Do Worksheet 1 (Simple Word Classes)
2. Do Worksheet 2 (Advanced Word Classes – optional)
3. Do Worksheet 3 (Simple Syntax Trees)
4. Do Worksheet 4 (Advanced Syntax Trees – optional)
