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Syntax Continued
Constituency Tests
Phrase Structure Rules
How to determine constituency

Semantic intuitions
– sometimes, we just know that certain strings
of words go together as a unit.

Constituency Tests (more reliable)
– tests that can be applied to string of words in a
given sentence to determine if the string is a
constituent or not.
Three kinds of constituency tests



Stand Alone Test
Substitution Test
Movement Test
Stand Alone Test


A constituent can often be replaced by a
question expression such as who, what,
where, how, why, or do/did what.
The replaced constituent can then stand
alone as an answer to the question.
Stand Alone Test

Clarice played the accordion under the table.
Q: Where did Clarice play the accordion?
A: under the table

Clarice played the accordion under the table.
Q: Clarice played what under the table?
A: the accordion
Substitution Test

Only constituents can be replaced by pro-forms.
Pro-form
pronouns
pro-verbs
pro-adverbs
pro-adjectives
examples
she, he, it, they, us, her, that
do, be
there, then, here
such, so, thus
Substitution Test






Clarice played the accordion under the table.
Clarice played the accordion there.
Clarice played the accordion under the table.
Clarice played it under the table.
Clarice played the accordion under the table.
Clarice did. (Who played the accordion under the
table?)
Movement Test






If a string can be moved to the beginning of a sentence, it
is a constituent.
Clarice played the accordion under the table.
Under the table, Clarice played the accordion.
? The accordion Clarice played under the table. (We
already know this is a constituent.)
* Played the accordion under the table Clarice.
(We already know this is a constituent.)
Sometimes, constituency tests won’t work for strings that
are actually constituents.
When applying const. tests, keep this
in mind…



The tests aren’t foolproof. Often a constituent
will only pass two of the three tests.
Decide whether or not a string is a constituent
based on how convincing the test results are.
One strong pass is enough to determine
constituency in some cases.
When applying const. tests, keep this
in mind…





We can only say whether or not a string is a
constituent relative to a particular sentence.
Time flies like an arrow.
Fruit flies like a banana.
We watched shooting stars all night
The Milky Way was shooting stars from the
galactic center.
Phrase Structure Rules
Our Grammar Consists of a set of rules
acquired in order to form sentences
 They are formed by putting words from
different lexical categories together
 PSRs (Phrase structure Rules) differ from
language to language.

Lexical category



Parts of speech
Many words, limited categories
What you learned in school
– Noun
• Person, place or thing
– Verb
• Action word
– Adjective
• Describes something
But…

“bad”
– “oops, my bad”

“sandwich”
– “to sandwich something between two things”
Determiners
a, an, the, every, this, that, those, her, his,
my, yours
 ______ (Adj) N
 Det

Nouns
______ + plural morpheme {-s}
 Det (Adj) ______
 N

Adjectives
______ + comparative morpheme
 more/most ______; very/quite ______
 linking verb ______ (seems, feels, is)
 Det ______ N
 A

Verbs
______ + progressive morpheme {-ing}
 ______ + past tense morpheme {-ed}
 auxiliary verb ______ (must, will, might)
 to ______
 ___ (NP) (PP)
 V

Prepositions
at, up, over, into, above, through
 right ______ NP
 ___ NP
 P

Phrase Structure Rules (PSRs)

Make observations about language
– subject and predicate (NP and VP)

Make a rule
– S  NP VP
– “a sentence consists of an NP and a VP”
Noun phrases (NPs)

Cats make good pets
– NP  N

The book is red
– NP  Det N

My friendly neighbor enjoys jogging
– NP  Det Adj N
Collapse the rules
NP  N
 NP  Det N
 NP  Det Adj N

= NP  (Det) (Adj) N
English PSRs
S  NP VP
 NP  (Det) (AP) N
 VP  V (NP)(PP)
 AP  (Adv) A

Building trees
Words and rules
 Different ways

– top-down
– bottom-up
Top-down
S
Top-down
S
VP
NP
Top-down
S
VP
NP
NP
V
Top-down
S
VP
NP
Det A
NP
N
V Det
A
N
Top-down
S
VP
NP
Det A
NP
N
V
Det
A
N
My new roommate eats my leftover food
Bottom-up
My new roommate eats my leftover food
Bottom-up
Det A
N
V Det
A
N
My new roommate eats my leftover food
Bottom-up
NP
Det
A
NP
N
V Det
A
N
My new roommate eats my leftover food
Bottom-up
VP
NP
Det A
NP
N
V Det
A
N
My new roommate eats my leftover food
Bottom-up
S
VP
NP
Det A
NP
N
V Det
A
N
My new roommate eats my leftover food
Practice Sentences

The energetic boy ran up the hill.

The little dog ate the biscuits.