BS English Literature Notes.
www.bseln.com
Lecture by Uffaq Zahra
YouTube Channel URL (https://www.youtube.com/c/BsEnglishliteraturenotes) For More Notes.
Phrase Structure Rules
1. Phrase structure rules
 The grammar contains a set of rules that generate the trees phrase structure rules
o phrase structure rules that will produce the structure of
The child found the puppy in the garden
S
[The child] [found the puppy in the garden]
NP
VP
[The child] [found] [the puppy] [in the garden]
Det N
Vt
NP
PrepP
the puppy Prep NP
Det N
in the garden
Det N
1. S  NP VP
2. VP  Vt NP PrepP
3. NP  Det N
4. PrepP  Prep NP
Abbreviations for syntactic categories








S- sentence
NP- noun phrase
N-noun
D-determiner
VP-verb phrase
V-verb
AP-adjectival phrase
A-adjective
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BS English Literature Notes.
www.bseln.com
Lecture by Uffaq Zahra
YouTube Channel URL (https://www.youtube.com/c/BsEnglishliteraturenotes) For More Notes.
 AdvP-adverbial phrase
 Adv- adverb
 PP-prepositional phrase
 P-preposition
 these rules describe all the steps in the generation of the phrase structure tree:
1. Begin with rule 1
o create the node S
o one line below it, create the nodes NP and VP
o connect the NP and VP nodes to S
2. Then apply rule 2
o one line below VP, create three nodes VT, NP, and PrepP
o connect each of them to VP
3. Continue with rule 3
o one line below PrepP create a node Prep and its object NP node
o connect the NP node to PrepP
4. Finally, apply rule 4
o now, below each NP, create two nodes, Det and N
o connect each Det and each N to the NP node that immediately dominates it
2. Increasing the generative power of phrase structure rules
 the generative capacity of phrase structure rules can be greatly increased
o by modifying the phrase structure rules in various natural ways to allow
for the production of other, related phrase structure types adding
additional items
 optional Adjective Phrases
o
modifying the NP rule to allow for adding an optional AdjP to
rule 2
NP  Det (AdjP) N
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BS English Literature Notes.
www.bseln.com
Lecture by Uffaq Zahra
YouTube Channel URL (https://www.youtube.com/c/BsEnglishliteraturenotes) For More Notes.
the little child
 in principle the number of AdjPs in the NP is unlimited
the chubby red-haired little child
o
adding another rule that specifies the structure of AdjPs
AdjP  Adj
 optional Adnominal Prepositional Phrases
o adding an optional PrepP to rule 2
NP  Det (AdjP) N (PrepP)
the child in the corner
the puppy with the black spot
the puppy [with the black spot] [over his left eye]
3. Lexical insertion
 phrase structure rules generate the phrase structure tree, that is, they define
the nodes of the grammatical constituents
 at the next stage, the appropriate lexical items are inserted in nodes
 lexical insertion rules
o connect the output of the phrase structure rules – the phrase structure
tree - to the lexicon
o provide potential lexical items to occupy the nodes labeled by the parts of
speech
N: child, puppy, garden
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BS English Literature Notes.
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Lecture by Uffaq Zahra
YouTube Channel URL (https://www.youtube.com/c/BsEnglishliteraturenotes) For More Notes.
Det: the
Vt: find
Prep: in
o assure that the cooccurrence restrictions applying to lexical items are
respected, restrictions such as the following
 the verb "find" ordinarily requires subjects that are animate
 the adjective "pregnant" is ordinarily applied to animate females
“We looked through my grandmother’s old photo album.”
ANALYSIS OF THE SYNTAX TREE DIAGRAM BY WAY OF PHRASE STRUCTURE RULE.
WE = NP (SUBJECT).
LOOKED = VP (PHRASAL VERB).
THROUGH MY GRANDMOTHER’S OLD PHOTO ALBUM = PP.
ANALYSIS OF THE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE (PP).
THROUGH = PREPOSITION.
MY = POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVE.
GRANDMOTHER’S = POSSESSIVE NOUN (OF GRANDMOTHER).
OLD = ADJECTIVE (DETERMINER)
PHOTO = NOUN (ADJECTIVE: DETERMINER)
ALBUM = NOUN.
NOTE: We can process the phrase “old photo album” as either “old-photo” album or old ”photo-album”
ANALYSIS:
OLD-PHOTO = NP (FUNCTIONING AS A DETERMINER).
PHOTO-ALBUM = NP. (COMPOUND NOUN).
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BS English Literature Notes.
www.bseln.com
Lecture by Uffaq Zahra
YouTube Channel URL (https://www.youtube.com/c/BsEnglishliteraturenotes) For More Notes.
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