INTRODUCTION TO

ENGLISH ORPHOLOGY AND

SYNTAX
Lic. Israel Castro Magayanes. MSc.
 INTRODUCTION

LINGUISTICS is defined as the scientific study of language.

Subfields of linguistics
The study of linguistics is under taken in different subfields or
branches of linguistics which are:
 Phonetic: study of physical properties of speech production.
 Phonology: study of the sound system in a particular language.
 Semantics: study of meanings.
 Pragmatics: study of how utterances are used in
communication and the role played by context.
 Discourse analysis: study of languages in use.
 Morphology: study of the internal structures of words.
 Syntax: study of how words combine to form
grammatical sentences.
 Traditionally, grammar is subdivided into morphology
and syntax- the internal structure of words (morphology)
and the combination of these words to form grammatical
sentences. (Syntax)
 Morphology

 Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words, and of the rules by
which words are formed.

 It can be broken down into,

 Morph +ology

 Ology - science of or branch knowledge concerning.

 Morph- is the Greek word for form.

 The basic units of study in morphology are Morphemes

 A morpheme is the smallest unit that has meaning or grammatical functions.
 Morpheme: it communicates - meaning - grammatical
function.
Kindness ________ kind- , -ness
Unkind ___________ un- -kind
He walks ___________ walk- -s
Identify morphemes in the words below and specify
whether they are bound or free morphemes.
-indivisible_______ in- , divis-, -ible
- Unrealistic _________un- , real- , ist-, -ic
- Untouchables ________ un-, touch-, -able, -s
What is a Word?

It is the smallest gramatical analysis; however, the definition is not sufficient

because in other languages, a single word can be a sentence.

Some linguistis define a word as an entity which has a space before and after it.

Example of morphemes.

Laughed: laugh + -ed both laugh and ed are morphemes.

 Irresponsible: ir- + response + - ible
Not react make a verb an adjective

 Ir- , response, and –ible are all morphemes.

 A morpheme is the least meaningful unit of grammatical

analysis.
 A morpheme can also be defined as:
• The minimal linguistic unit.
• An arbitrary union of a sound and a meaning.
• A grammatical function that cannot be further analyzed .
 Forms taken by morphemes

 A single sound e.g. amoral, apathy, asexual

(morpheme a- means without)
 Single syllable e.g. - child + -ish
 2 syllables e.g. lady, water
 3 syllable e.g. camera, crocodile
 Any number of syllables e.g. Onomatopoeia (7
syllables) , hallucinate (4 syllables)
 TYPES OF MORPHEMES

There are two types of morphemes:

1. Free/ lexical morphemes
2. Bound/ functional morphemes
Lexical/ free morphemes: these are morphemes that can stand alone
and constitute words by themselves e .g. work, laugh, boy.
Functional morphemes: these are morphemes that are never words by
themselves but are always attached to a free morpheme e .g.
 Realistic: real + -ist-ic (-ist-ic are a bound morphemes)
Bound morphemes are also known as affixes.
 Types of affixes

Affixes can be divided into,

 prefixes e.g. pre- in prejudice (prefixes appear at the initial
position in a word)
 Suffixes e.g.-ing in eating (suffixes occur in the word final
position in words)
 Circumfixes
 Infixes
In the English language, there are neither circumfixes nor infixes.
Infixes are inserted into other morphemes.
 The infix –um- has been inserted after the initial
consonant ‘f’. The infix changes the noun/adjective into a
verb.

 Circumfix: it is attached to the base morpheme both

initially and finally. It can also be called a discontinuous
morpheme.
 Questions

1.Discusshow affixation is used to communicate meanings in

your language. For example,
-Are there locative, reciprocal or causative affixes in your L1
(first language)?
- Are there other meanings expressed through affixation in your
L1?
2.Does your L1 have infixes and circumfixes? Illustrate with
examples.
 DEFINITION OF TERMS USED IN MORPHOLOGY

 Lexemes and word forms

 Both lexemes and word forms are different senses
(meanings) of the term word.
 dog and dogs are word forms of the lexeme ‘dog’
 A lexeme is the base form of word. The one without
affixes. The one listed in the dictionary
 Word forms refer to the whole range of a lexeme’s
variants. e.g. go, goes, gone, went are word forms of the
lexeme go.
MORPH, MORPHEME AND ALLOMORPH
 Morpheme - an abstract unit
Least meaningful unit
E.g. un- meaning not as in the word unlawful
 Morph - concrete realization of a morpheme
A morph refers to the actual segment as spoken/pronounced
 E .g morpheme Un + responsible = irresponsible morphs
Un + literate = illiterate un-/-ir /-il
 Plural –s morpheme is realized as –s, -iz, and –z -s, -iz, -z
 in the words Cats, boys and girls
 Allomorph refers to the different realization of the same morpheme
E.g. –s, -iz, -z are morphs of the morpheme {s}.
ROOTS, BASE AND SYSTEM
A stem is the word from which other words forms are formed. i.e. the part
which remains if all inflectional affixes are cut off. e.g.
DISINFECTANTS
Walk + -ed
Stem + inflectional affix
A stem is the part of word that is in existence before any inflectional affixes
have been added. E.g. walk, work, call e.t.c.
A base is a general term that affixes can be attached to. A base can be a
stem or a root. It can consist of a single root morpheme e.g. mind
It can also be a word that contains more than one morpheme
E.g. mindless + -ness = mindlessness
 Base + affix
 Blacken + -ed = blackened
 Base + affix
 A root is a free morpheme around which words can be built up
through the addition of affixes e.g. kind (root) – UNkindness, kinder,
kindest, and kindly.
A root is the item you have left when you strip off all other morphemes
off a complex word (the base form of a word)
 DERIVATIONAL AND INFLECTIONAL MORPHOLGY

Affixes are divided into:

 Derivational affixes
 Inflectional affixes
Derivational affixes
 In English they are either prefixes or suffixes. The derivational affixes
either,
 Convert the base to which it is attached from one part of speech to
another ( class changing)
Examples:
 a) move (verb) + -er (derivational affix) = mover (noun)
 b) Intend (verb) +-sion (derivational affix) = intention (noun)
 Or,
 Change the meaning of the base on which it is attached (class
maintaining)
 il- + logical ______ illogical class maintaining
 host +-ess ______hostess but meaning changing derivational
affixes
 NB: When a word contains both inflectional and derivational
affixes, the derivational affixes always precede inflectional
affixes.
Examples
Work + - er (derivational affix) + -s (inflectional affix) = workers
 host + -ess (derivational affix) + - es (inflectional affix) = hostess
Derivational morphology involves both prefixation and suffixation processes
Examples of derivational prefixes in English:
re - + turn = return re - + do = redo
un- + true = untrue il- + legal = illegal
im - + possible = impossible in - + complete = incomplete
ir -+ responsible = irresponsible
NB: Derivational prefixes in English alter meaning but do not always change the word
class
Further examples of commonly occurring derivation prefixes

Free morpheme Result

Pre- School, arrange, Pre-school, pre-arrange
prefix Anti- Malaria, terrorist Anti- malaria, antiterrorist
Be- Friend, witch Befriend, bewitch
De- limit delimit
En- rich, circle enrich, encircle
Ex- terminate exterminate, extinguish
Hyper- market, sensitive hypermarket, hypersensitive
Pro- abortion, life pro-abortion, pro-life
Sub- marine sub-marine
Supper- market supermarket
Trans- national transnational
Examples of derivational suffixes in English
NB: Commonly occurring derivational suffixes in English are class changing
Examples:
 Suffix “-ful” changes nouns into adjective e.g.
Beauty + - ful = beautiful Event +-ful = Eventful
 Suffix -tion changes verbs into nouns. E.g.
Determine + -tion = determination (deverbative noun)
The term ‘deverbative nouns’ means ‘nouns formed /derived from a verb’
Adore + - tion = adoration
 Suffix – er is a deverbative prefix deriving nouns from verbs
E.g. Paint + - er = painter
 • Suffix -ment changes derive nouns from verbs
e.g. bewitch + -ment = bewitchment develop + - ment = development
 • Suffix -or derives nouns forms verb
E.g. Act + - or = actor Sculpt + - or = sculptor
 • Suffix -ity derives nouns from adjectives or from verbs
Solemn + - ity = solemnity Commune + -ity = community
 • Suffix –ship forms abstract nouns from common nouns
E .g horseman (common noun) + - ship = horsemanship (abstract noun)
Leader + - ship = leadership (abstract noun)
 • Suffix- ise/ ize derives verbs from nouns e.g.
Hospital + - ize = hospitalize Epitome + - ize = Epitomize
 Suffixes –less, -able, -ical, -y, -ous form adjectives
Eg care + -less = careless Depend + - able = ical = dependable
Circle + - ical = cyclical Poison+ - ous = poisonous
Might + - y = mighty
 Suffix -ly derives adverbs from adjectives
E.g. secure + - ly = securely Quick + - ly = quickly
NB: Though the suffixes above are associated with particular word classes, it is worth
remembering that you can only judge the word class of a lexical item by looking at the context
E.g. Although ‘lovely’ and ‘friendly’ end with-ly, a suffix associated with adverbs, they are
actually adjectives used thus,
- Lovely girl - friendly teacher
Question
1. Give as many examples of the different derivational affixes in your L1as you can.
Remember to provide glosses in English for all your work.
INFLECTIONAL AFFIXES
Inflectional affixes never bring about a change in word class, but indicate grammatical
functions e.g. number, tense, aspect etc..
In English, all inflectional affixes are suffixes.
 A particular inflectional affix attaches to all or almost members of a certain word class.
 Inflectional morphemes follow the derivational morphemes in a word, therefore they
come last.
 Inflectional affix are all bound morphemes.
 inflectional morphemes carry grammatical information, expressing concepts such as
number, case, person, gender, aspect, tense and comparison in adjectives/ adverbs.
Number (-S)
Number is an obligatory category in English noun. Nouns have to carry an inflectional
affix showing whether they are singular or plural: e.g.
Girl - girlsShip - ships
Sheep - sheepTooth - teeth [supletion (vowel alteration)]

Person (-S)
In English, only the third person singular verb is marked using an inflectional affix.
 E.g. he/she walks
But,
 I walk, they walk, you walk.
Case
In English, case isn’t marked by inflection
In nouns, whether they function as subject or object, they remain the same.
Pronouns; however, are marked for case
Person Singular Plural

1st person
Nominative I We
Possessive My Our
Objective Me Us
2nd Person
Nominative You You
Possessive Your Your
Objective You You

3rd Person
Nominative She/he/It They
Possessive His /Hers/ Its Their
Objectives Them
 In nouns the genitive (possessive) is marked using an inflectional affix (-s)
 E.g. Mary’s book
 Gender
 Refer to whether a noun is masculine, feminine or neuter.
 English morphologically marks the famine gender. E.g.
 lion - lioness tiger - tigress host - hostess
 Tense (- ed)
 The inflectional affix (-ed ) is added to regular verbs to form the past tense. E.g.
 walk + - ed = walked wash + - ed = washed
 Aspect (- en/ - ing)
 Aspect is the quality of an action that marks it as being completed at the
moment of speaking or indicates an action / state as on- going. There are two
aspects in English:
Progressive aspect (- ing) ongoing action /state
Perfective aspect (-en) action / state complete at
moment of speaking
These two aspects are marked using inflection affixes:
Walk + - ing = walking (progressive aspect)
Write + -en = written (perfective aspect)
Degree in adjectives and adverbs
Gradable adjectives and adverbs are marked for degree
of compassion using inflectional affixes
Positive degree Comparative degree Superlative degree

Good (adj) better best

Tall (adj) taller tallest

Far (adj) farther farthest

Fast (adj) faster fastest

Inflectional affixes can be divided into productive and non-productive
inflections.
Productive inflections - attach to new words entering the language
to express particular grammatical categories e.g. number, possessive
case e.t.c.
Non -productive inflections- are found on select members of a class
but would never be added to a new word e g – plural vowel alteration –
tooth- teeth, most in foremost, -en in past participle write - written,
supletion in ring – rung e.t.c.
Examples of productive inflections in English
Plural –curriculums, (genus, yogas, bandanas, thugs) - from Hindi,
formulas,
Possessive case – curriculum’s, genus’, formula’s, bacteria’s
3rd person present - he xeroxes all the information
Past tense - he xeroxed
Past participle -ed - the info had been Xeroxed
Present participles –she was xeroxing
 Comparative degree– opaque [Latin]- more opaque
- Eccentric – more eccentric
A comparison of derivational and inflectional affixes

Derivational affixes Inflectional affixes

1. There can be more than one in a word  Only one per word e.g. cares
e.g. carelessness
2. Derive a new word with a different  Only mark grammatical information
meaning or word class such as tense, possession, number
3. Come before inflectional affixes e.g.  Follow derivational affixes always last
derivations. in words e.g. hostesses
4. Sometimes attached to bound  Always attached to complete words.
morphemes e.g. prepare ( before)
automatic (self)
Words can morphologically be analyzed thus:
Simple - one free morpheme e.g. hand
Complex - a free root + one or more bound morphemes e.g.
handy, needful, beautification.
Compound - 2 free roots e.g. handbook, railway
Compound complex words have two free roots and a bound
morpheme e.g. handwriting, waste- paper- basket.
Question
1.Analyze inflections in your L1. Provide enough examples.
CRITERIA FOR DEFINING A WORD
Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words and the rules
for word formation.
So what is a word?
Several definitions have been brought forward:
The semantic criteria
Based on meaning, a word is a unit with a single meaning e.g. pen, car,
box e.t.c.
Weaknesses of the semantic criteria
1. A single expression can have many meanings.
E.g. sing heat kick
 Singer reheat kicked

.The definition does not apply to agglutinative languages e.g.
Swahili as opposed to isolative languages like English.
 In agglutinative language words sticks together e.g. alianguka (he
fell) – one word but a sentence in English.
 3. There is no one on one relationship between meanings and an
expression unit
 e.g. ‘heavy smoker’ though two words has one referent.
 ‘Passenger train’– these are two expression unit but with one
referent
 4. In English there are fixed expression meaning the combination
of words have to occur together and in a fixed order to be
meaningful e.g. put up with – tolerate.
Phonological criteria
Words are marked by pause at the end of each of them.
Some linguistics argue that words flow in a continuum;
however, hesitant speakers may pause in the middle of a
word e.g. inter –um- national
If a language has primary stress either at the beginning or
on the last syllable, then this criterion can identify words.
Grammatical criteria.
In written language, words can be identified by the spaces
left between them.
WORD FORMATION PROCESSES
1.Derivation – adding a word forming affix e.g. drama –
dramatize
a) Nominalizers
 Verb to Noun
Ment- judgment, -er – worker, -tion – action, - al-
disposal, -anc/-ence - ignorance
 Adjective to Noun
-dom – freedom, -ness – happiness, -ity – purity.
 b) Verbalizers
 Adjective to Verb
-en - lighten
 Noun – Verb
-ify – pacify, -ize – prioritize, -ate - hyphenate
c) Adjectivizers
 Noun to Adjective
- y – flowery, -ous – poisonous, -ful- hopeful
d) Adverbiaslizers
 Adjective to adverb
 -ly - quickly
 N - Adj
-ward – homeward, -ways - sideway
2. Reduplication
The initial syllable or the entire word is doubled, sometimes with slight phonological alteration e.g. goody -
goody, so - so, fifty - fifty, criss - cross, zig - zag, flip - flop, wishy – washy, riff –raff, nitty - gritty
3. Conversion ( functional shift )
A word changes to another part of speech without addition of an affix.
E.g. That was a good run, drive, walk, (highlighted words can be used both as verbs and as nouns)
 I will bruise you
 She mans this place
 She will weary(adj used as a verb) you with gossip
 I will better myself
 The teacher doubles as clerk
4. Commonization
A proper noun is converted to a common one
E.g. china - utensils
Sandwich (originally name of a person)
5. Compounding
Combining two or more free roots
E.g. shipyard
Phrasal compounds: Forget - me – not, Dog - in – the - manger
Amalgamated compounds: started as compounds but have been fused e.g.
cobweb, neighbour,
Neah ( near) + gebur (dweller) – old English
Endocentric compounds: Their meanings center around one of the words in
the compound. One word modifies the other. E.g. bathroom, armchair, beehives.
The main word that is modified is called the semantic head of the compound.
Exocentric compounds: The meaning of the word is external. The semantic head
is external to the compound word e.g. Egghead - intelligent person, hammer
head - type of bird, Red- handed - to be caught off guard
6. Blends
Two free words combined clipping off the end of the first word and the beginning of the
second
E.g. smog = smoke + fog, Motel = motor + hotel, Informatial = information +
commercial
 Transistor = transfer + resister, Skyjacker _____ sky + hijacker
7. Back formations
This is a specialized form of reduction. A word in one word class is reduced to form a word
in another word class
E.g. Televise from television, Edit from editor, Opt from option, Enthuse from enthusiasm
8. Clipping
A word comprising of more than one syllable is reduced to a shorter form of especially in
casual informal speech e.g. flu from influenza, Ad from advertisement, Lab from
laboratory, Prof from professor, Plane from aeroplane, Add from addition, Gas from
gasoline, Fan from fanatic.
9. Acronym
Words formed from initial letters of a set of words. Often written in capital e.g. NATO - North Atlantic
Treaty Organization, COMESA-
WHO - World Food Organization, UNESCO - United Nation Educational Scientific and Cultural
Organization
Some are in lower case e.g.
Laser: light amplification by stimulation of emission of radiation
Radar: radio detecting and ranging
Scuba: self continued under water breathing apparatus

10. Borrowing
Words are taken from another language and adopted for use in another e.g. safari, chapatti
(Spoon, Trek, Skipper) – Dutch (Alcohol, coffee) - Arabic
(Jubilee, Amen) –Hebrew (Sonnet, stanza, piano) - Italian
(Wall, swindle) – German Zebra - Bantu
Further word formation process:
 Onomatopoeia: words created to sound like the thing
that they name e.g. chuckle, zip, boo, gurgle, moo,
meow, whoosh, whiz
 Eponyms: words derived from proper names or things.
E.g. Down’s syndrome - an eponym from the English
doctor John Down, Guillotine from Dr. Guillotine, Achilles
from Greek mythical characters Achilles’ tendon, Achilles’
heel, Adams Apple from Adam, a Biblical character.
 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MORPHOLOGY AND
SYNTAX

The two are independent but interrelated

Morphology studies structure of words
Syntax studies how words are arranged to show relationship within a
sentence
Pointers of the relationship between morphology and syntax

1. A morphological change of the verb requires a corresponding

syntactic change. E.g. the passive morpheme reduces the
participants in a sentence by one ( the subject becomes optional )
E.g. James kicked the ball - The ball was kicked ( by James ) optional
The morphological change of the verb kick (active) to was kicked (passive)
causes a syntactic change.
2. Morphological phenomena like the phenomena of subject - verb agreement or
pronouns/ antecedent agreement is in some languages realised by phrases
Example: Mwanangu - my child
3. some elements lie in between syntax and morphology e.g. the farmer’s car
(‘s is a suffix, it can attach to a phrase e.g. the king of spain’s hat
4. In agglutinative languages like Kiswahili syntactic structures e.g. phrases
are realized by morphemes e.g. babake - his father. In this case, it has
attached to a syntactic not morphological unit.
Question
1. Examine word formation processes in your L1.
 SYNTAX

Definition

The word syntax is derived from the Greek verbal noun ‘syntaxis ‘ meaning
‘arrangement ‘ or ‘ setting out together ‘.
 It can be broken down to syn- together and tax- arranging.
 Syntax can be defined as the study of rules that govern the combination of
words into larger units such as phrases, clauses and sentences. (Rodman and
Fromkin, 1993)
 According to Todd (1987) , Syntax is the component of Grammar which
considers the system of rules and categories that underlie sentence formation.
 A sentence is considered grammatical if it conforms to the rules of syntax of
the particular language.
THE CONCEPT OF GRAMMATICALITY
 A distinction can be made between well – formed / grammatical sentences and ill- formed /
ungrammatical sequences.
e.g. * in the house lives a woman tiny – ill- formed.
 A tiny woman lives in the house –well - formed.
The grammaticality of a sentence, however, does not always guarantee that the sentence makes
sense.
 *Green ideas sleep furiously. (Chomsky, 1965)
 The sentence is grammatical but it does not make sense. This is because there is a distinction
between form [structure – grammaticality] and content [meaning].
 However in some cases, a change in form [structure] may result in a change in content
[meaning].
 The cat chased the mouse.
 The mouse chased the cat.
The change in the order of the words results in a change in meaning.
Syntax has overtime been studied from different theoretical approaches: traditional grammar,
structuralism, phrase structure grammar, transformational grammar, functional grammar.
TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR
Traditional Grammar (T.G) refers to an approach to the study of syntax that was used by
early linguists. It goes back to the Greek Civilization of the 5th century.
The Greeks prided themselves in being great orators. Rhetorics [the art of speaking] was of
interest to scholars who investigated how a speech can be made engaging and persuasive.
A Greek philosopher, Plato who lived in the 4th century BC made a distinction between nouns
and verbs.
Another Greek Scholar, Protagoras is credited with the distinction of the three genders –
masculine, feminine and intermediate [today’s neuter].
Aristotle, who was Plato’s student, is credited for recognizing the category of tense in the
Greek verb.
Stoics [stoicism was a school of philosophy in Athens] distinguished four parts of speech-
nouns, verbs, conjunctions and articles.
-Later Stoics separated common nouns from proper nouns. The adjective, was classified
together with nouns.
The Alexandrians [another school of Philosophy] established patterns of
inflexion, pronouns, prepositions, participle, case, gender, number, tense,
voice and mood.
 Traditional Grammar analyzed sentences by parsing. For instance, they
would recognize the subject and the predicate in a sentence.
The book / is on the table
Subject predicate
-Traditional grammar provided basic terminology for discussing language.
For instance, terms like concord/agreement and parts of speech are all
terminology from T. G.
Traditional Grammar’s parts of speech
Words were classified according to their meanings / functions. The
following parts of speech are all terminology from T.G.
1. NOUNS: Words that name people, places and things. e.g. Nairobi, Mary,
desk.
2. VERBS: Defined as doing words. They denote action. Write, talk, and
stand.
3. ADJECTIVES: T.G included articles under adjectives. Adjectives were defined
as words describing or modifying nouns and pronouns. E.g. that man, the
huge man
4. ADVERBS: They were seen as modifiers of adjectives, verbs and other
adverbs.
5. PREPOSITIONS: Viewed as relating words. Precisely seen as relating a
pronoun or a noun to another word in the sentence. E.g. I am sitting on a
chair.
6. PRONOUNS: Defined as words that replace nouns. E.g. the man was jailed.
He was in jail.
Coordinating conjunctions join equal categories:
 Word level- rice and fish, tall but ugly
 Phrase- tall men and beautiful girls
 Clause- The dry lands were reclaimed, and the arable lands
were tilled.
Subordinating conjunctions Join clauses that are unequal
grammatically.
 Although he wept, he was not forgiven.
 Subordinate clause main clause
8. INTERJECTIONS: Defined as words used to express strong
emotions e.g. damn! Gosh! Oh!
AN UPDATED CLASSIFICATION OF WORDS
They are no longer called parts of speech but word classes, forms of words or word
categories.
They include:
1. Nouns – nouns include pronouns [pronouns a sub- class of nouns]
2. Verbs- include doing words and state words.
3. Adjectives
4. Prepositions
5. Coordinator
6. Subordinators
7. Adverbs
8. Determinatives. They include:
-Articles e.g. a, an , the
-Demonstratives e.g. that, those, this, these
-Possessive e.g. his, hers, theirs etc.
-Quantifiers e.g. one, double, twice, some, several.
9. Interjections.
QUESTIONS
1.Distinguish between form and content.
2.How has Traditional Grammar contributed to the study
of the study of modern grammar?
PHRASES
Words combine to form larger units called phrases. A phrase is a group of
words without a subject and a finite verb.
E.g. The young girl / is going / to the salon.
N phrase v phrase prep. phrase
Traditional Grammar identified five phrases named according to the most
important word in the group:
i) Noun phrases: It is a group of words headed by a noun and contains
dependents. The dependents occur before or after the head in an NP. These
dependents could be articles, adjectives, prepositional phrases e. t. c.
Example
The big books with white covers were sold
 Pre- modifiers head post modifiers
The Head word is obligatory. The above sentence can read: ‘Books were sold.’
i) Verb phrases: The head word is the lexical verb and the dependents are the auxiliary verbs. All
dependents in a verb phrase occur before the head. They occur in a fixed order:
 Modal + primary auxiliary + head
 She should / have been / interviewed

i) Adjective phrases: Some dependents within the Adj p occur before the head and others occur after
the head. Pre- modifiers are usually adverbs of degree such as, too, very, extremely, so, rather etc.
Example
He is extremely selfish
Pre-modifier Head
Post modifiers are usually prepositional phrases.
Example
The cabinet is too small for all the MPs.
Pre-Modifier Head post modifier
i) Adverb phrases: Pre- modifiers are usually adverbs of degree. Post modifiers could be words,
phrases or even clauses.
Example
He drives too fast for safety
Pre modifier head post –modifier
i) Prepositional phrases: Prepositional phrases always begin with a preposition and are followed by
a prepositional complement which usually takes the form of a pronoun, a noun or a NP.
Examples:
 The milk is in the fridge
Preposition NP

I was guided by him

Preposition pronoun
They arrived on time
Preposition Noun
Both the preposition and the complement are obligatory elements in a prepositional phrase.
CLAUSES
 It is formed by combining phrases. A phrase is a group of words containing a
subject and a verb.
Example:
I will plant if it rains
Sub verb subject verb
The sentence above has two clauses. Clauses are divided into:
 Main / Independent clauses
 Subordinate / dependent clauses
Main clauses are equivalent to a simple sentence. E.g. I will plant
Subordinate clauses can further be sub- divided into: noun clauses, adjective
clauses and adverb clauses.
Noun clauses: They function like nouns in a sentence. For instance, they can
function as a subject, object or complement:
That she lied is obvious
Noun clause (subject)
 She doesn’t know what to do
Noun clause (object)
 Where she spent the night is a mystery
Noun clause (subject)
 The problem is how she behaved
Noun clause (complement)
Adjective clauses: They are all relative clauses, meaning that the subordinator is a relative
pronoun.
Examples:
 Athletes who qualify for Olympics practice hard.
 The report which you brought was good.
 The tree that he planted was uprooted.
The underlined clauses in the sentences above are all relative clauses. They begin with
relative pronouns who, which and that. They are also adjective causes because they modify
the nouns that precede them.
Adverb clauses: They modify verbs, adjectives and other
adverbs by answering the questions how, where, when, why, e.t.c.
Examples:
They won because they were united – adverbial clause of reason
 All the guests arrived when they were expected. – Adverbial
clause of time
 The meeting was a very ridiculous one. – Adverbial clause of
manner
Comparative clauses:
 The boy was taller than I had anticipated.
 He is now fatter than he was before.
SENTENCE
 A sentence is the expression of a complete thought.
 It is a group of words that make complete sense.
 It is a group of words that contain a subject and a verb.
Structural classification of sentences
This classification is based on the internal structure of a sentence:

Simple sentence- A sentence which contains one clause e.g. Fatima is in class
 It is equivalent to a main clause.

Compound sentence –It contains at least two main clauses joined together by a coordinating
conjunction.
Example:
He saw me, but he did not greet me
Main clause coordinator Main clause
Complex sentences –They contain one main clause and at least one subordinate clause.
Example:
The students passed because they worked hard
 M .c s .c
He will be elected if he is popular.
Compound-complex sentences – They contain two main clauses joined together by a coordinating
conjunction, and at least one subordinate clause.
Example:
He has campaigned, but he will lose because he has a bad name.
Main clause coordinator main clause subordinate clause
Functional classification of sentences
Sentences are named based on the functions they perform.
Declarative sentences [statements] - They state some information.
Example:
 The corrupt will be arrested.
Interrogative sentences [questions] - They seek information
Example:
Will the corrupt be arrested? [Yes / No] closed.
 When will the corrupt be arrested? [wh-] open.
Imperatives [commands] - They make someone do something by
giving commands or making requests.
Example:
Arrest the corrupt promptly.
Lend me your pen.
Exclamative - Used to express strong feelings.
Examples:
How rude!
Short comings of Traditional Grammar
i) As far as word classes are concerned, there were a number of weaknesses:
a. They defined a noun as a word that names things – concrete objects. This
definition therefore left out qualities like ‘patience, ’ ‘kindness’, and ‘helplessness.’
b. The verb was defined as a doing word. This definition excludes stative verbs
such as seem, like, e .t .c.
c. Conjunctions and prepositions were said to have a connecting role. However
prepositions do not connect but rather they show relation between noun phrases in
a sentence. E. g. He is at the corner – relates ‘He and corner.
ii) Subject was defined as a doer or actor .Example, John kicked the ball
However this definition is not sufficient because it would mean sentences such as.
‘He is a doctor’ do not have a subject since there is no doer.
iii) Another weakness of Traditional Grammar is in the prescriptive rules that they
gave:
 Do not begin a sentence with a conjunction. However, speakers
use conjunctions at the beginning of sentences and correctly so
as in,
- We were convinced that he would win. And he did.
 Do not end a sentence with a preposition though it often
happens in casual speech. E.g.
- This is the candidate I voted for.
 T.G. would expect the sentence to be,
- This is the candidate for whom I voted (used in formal
situations).
 We should use ‘may’ not ‘can’ in expressing requests and in
granting permission.
 Examples:
- Can I talk to you (used in informal speech)
- May I talk to the director (used in formal situations)
- Yes you can (informal)
- Yes you may (formal)

 Shall’ should only be used with a first person subject [ I, We ].

 I will leave now (informal)
 I shall leave now (formal).

 Do not split infinitives. However, splitting an infinitive does not interfere with meaning,
so each of the sentences below are correct.
 He wants to stop smoking completely.
 He wants to completely stop smoking.
Question
1. Discuss phrases, clauses and sentences from a T.G. perspective.
STRUCTURALISM

 This is an approach to the analysis of Language which was

developed in an attempt to overcome the shortcomings of traditional
grammar. It began in the 20th century and is associated with
Ferdinand De Saussure.
 It is referred to as Structuralism because it is anchored on the belief
that grammar has structure at all levels:
 Syllable – Boy (CVC)
 Boys - boy +-s [free + bound morpheme]
 The boy is smart
 NP + Vp + Adjective [complement].
 Structuralists acknowledge that language has variety such that there
are formal and informal structures. E .g. She is taller than I [formal]
 She is taller than me [informal]
 The Structuralist approach is descriptive in nature. It describes how a
language is used instead of prescribing rules of usage like traditional
grammarians do.
 Structuralism also acknowledges the fact that language changes over time
and it, therefore, does not prescribe fixed rules like traditional grammar
does.
 Contributions of Structuralists to Grammar
 Structuralists based their definitions on form and position.
 NOUN: Form –A word that can take the plural morpheme e.g. student –
students.
 - A word that takes the possessive morpheme e.g. boy’s shirt.
 They also gave the possible endings of a noun. Examples:
- ment – movement
- ness – kindness
- ity – brevity
- er - butcher
Position: A noun is a word that can be preceded by a determiner e. g the teacher
Det noun
It can be preceded by an adjective e .g. Good student
Adj Noun
A noun is seen as a word which can be used as a subject in a sentence and it is the one
that the verb agrees with e.g.
The workers have been sacked
Noun verb
A noun is that word that can be used as a subject, object or complement in a sentence.
E .g. Water is life
Sub
Give me water
Obj
This is water
Complement
 Structuralists used test frames to classify words e.g. the --------- was good.
 The word that fits in this gap is a noun.
 VERBS: Form – A word that is marked for tense. E.g. walked
 Structuralists gave possible verb endings:
Talks - ize - organize - en- soften
Talked - ify- solidify
 A verb is also a word that can be marked for aspect: perfective – have eaten,
progressive- is eating
 Position – A verb typically comes after the subject
Hannah prayed persistently
S V
 A verb is a word that agrees with the subject in number and person e. g I
walk,
She walks, We walk.
 A verb is a predicate and it can sometimes be followed by an object – e. g He
brought a cup. [Obj]
 Subjects: Structuralists define the subject as typically placed before the verb.
E.g. He went
 It is the element that agrees with the verb. E.g. he goes,
they go
- It is typically a NP
- It is the element copied in a question tag, e .g she went to hospital, didn’t
she?
 De Saussure is considered to be the father of modern Linguistics. He
expressed his ideas using pairs of concepts.
Diachrony versus synchrony
 In this categorization, De Saussure distinguished historical and non-
historical approaches to the study of language. The diachronic approach sees
language as continually changing over a period of time. It compares
language at different points in time e.g. Old English, Middle English and
Modern English.
The synchronic approach sees language as a self- contained system of
communication at any particular time. It therefore studies language at a specific
point in time comparing it with descriptions of the language at other points in
time.
Langue versus Parole
 Langue refers to competence. It is the innate knowledge of the rules of a
language. It enables a speaker to construct utterances that conform to the
grammar of a language. Parole refers to performance. It refers to actual
utterances that a speaker produces in speech.
 Significant versus signifie
 De Saussure recognized that language is a system comprised of forms and
meanings. He emphasized that the relationship between the two is arbitrary.
The form, the thing that signifies e.g. the written code or sound or image he
refers to as significant. Signifie, on the other hand, is the thing or the concept
that is signified.
 He called the relationship of signified to signifier a linguistic sign. The sign is the
basic unit of communication in languages. Langue is seen as a system of signs.
Syntagmatic versus Paradigmatic Relations
 De Saussure recognized that language is organized at two levels:
 The Horizontal level, which he called Syntagmatic relations.
 The vertical level, which he called paradigmatic relations.
Example:
 In the word ‘cup’, ‘c’ is in a syntagmatic relation with ‘u’ and ‘p’. Together
[cup], they form a syntagm. Similarly, ‘Cherotich is my friend’ is a syntagm
comprised of the combination of the words Cherotich + is + my +friend.
 Cherotich is my friend - we can replace with,
 Jepchumba ‘’ “ “
 Keboi “ “ Enemy
 Therefore, Cherotich, Jepchumba and Kemboi
stand in paradigmatic relations with each other.
 Similarly, cup can be replaced with Cub
 Every item in language is in a paradigmatic
relation with every other unit it can be substituted
for, or that for which it can be a substitute.
 When constructing meaning, therefore, we make a
choice of elements in paradigmatic relations to
help pass the desired meaning.
IMMEDIATE CONSTITUENT ANALYSIS [ICA]
 The structuralist method of analysis of the sentence is known as ICA. It
comprises of principles of segmentation and classification of elements that
make a sentence.
 The method is a brainchild of Bloomfield [1983]. It is based on the
understanding that sentences can be broken down to successive
constituents until no further divisions can be made.
 ICA used two main methods, the bracketing method, similar to T.G.’s
parsing, or tree diagrams: [The] [girl] [chased] [the] [dog]] s
 Art NP V Art VP
 The girl chased the dog S
NP VP
 DET N V NP
 DET N
 THE DOG
 THE GIRL CHASED
Weaknesses of ICA
 It could not analyze all sentences e.g. discontinuous elements. E.g. He picked
the girl up
 There is no way of showing that ‘picked’ ‘and ‘up’ belong together.
 It is not able to detect ill- formed structures e.g. ‘child ate food’
 It has no way of showing how closely related sentences are derived from
each other .e. g It cannot show how questions are derived from statements
or how passive sentences are derived from active sentences.
Questions
1. Discuss how T.G. definitions differ from Structuralists’ definitions. Give
examples
2. Use ICA to analyze the sentences:
i) The snake slithered away
ii) The book is boring to read.
PHRASE STRUCTURE GRAMMAR
 It is the brain child of Chomsky [1957]. It aims at addressing the
weaknesses of T. G and I.C.A
 It describes the grammar of a language in terms of rules that
generate well- formed sentences. Phrase structure grammar has
two components: Rewrite rules and the lexicon.
 Rewrite rules spell out what a sentence can consist of. These
rules are finite, but they can produce an infinite number of
sentences. It makes use of symbols /notations thus:
S – Sentence; NP – noun phrase; VP – verb phrase; AP –
Adjective phrase; ADVP – Adverb phrase; PP – prepositional
phrase; N – noun; V – Verb; ADJ – Adjective;
ADV – Adverb; P – Preposition; DET – determiner.
Example
 The monkey ate the banana.
Rewrite rules
 S _______ NP+ AUX + VP
 AUX _________ TNS (past)
 NP1__________ DET + N
 VP______________ V + NP2
 NP2 __________ DET +N
 A phrase marker can represent this information:
S
NP VP
DET N AUX V NP
TNS(PST) DET N
The monkey eat the banana

STRENGTHS OF P. S. G
It can resolve ambiguity
E. g. I saw the man with binoculars.
- Carrying binoculars
- Using binoculars
a) I saw the man carrying binoculars
S --------- NP + AUX + VP
AUX ----------TNS (past)
NP ---------- V + NP
V ---------- Saw
NP ----------- NP + PP
NP ---------- N
PP ------------ P + NP
N ------------ binoculars
PHRASE MARKER
S

NP AUX VP
TNS(PST)

PRON V NP
I See
NP PP

DET N P NP
the man with
N
binoculars
iv) I saw the man using a binoculars
S --------- NP + AUX+ VP, AUX --------- TNS (past), NP------ - PRON
VP -------- V + NP + PP, NP-------- DET + N, PP ----------- P + NP, NP --------- DET
PHRASE MARKER
S

AUX
NP TNS(PST) VP

PRON V NP PP
I saw DET N P NP

the man with N

binoculars
 The prepositional phrase ‘with a binoculars’ is causing the
ambiguity. In the first meaning it is part of the NP as it is saying
more about the man who was seen, while in the second meaning
it is part of the VP completing the meaning of the verb ‘Saw ‘.
Questions
1. Write PS rules for the following sentences and draw tree
diagrams for the same.
• The tower is on fire.
• A beautiful girl helped me.
• Mumias makes profit.
2. Use P.S.G. to disambiguate the sentence:
They shot the man with a gun.