Syntactic Structure of Tree diagram as a Method of

Teaching Translating English Sentences into Arabic

Shaden Shamel Abdullah

College of Languages, Al-Nisour University College,
Baghdad/Iraq

‫التركيب النحوي لمخطط الشجرة كوسيلة تعليم ترجمة الجمل اإلنجليزية‬

‫إلى العربية‬

‫شادن شامل عبدللا‬

‫ العراق‬/ ‫ بغداد‬، ‫ كلية النسور الجامعية‬، ‫كلية اللغات‬

 :‫الملخص‬

‫يمكن تعريف الترجمة كمفهوم واسع بطرق مختلفة من قبل منظرين مختلفين ؛ الترجمة من لغة‬
‫ ال تقتصر الترجمة اليوم على دخول الكلية‬.‫إلى أخرى ليست مهمة سهلة بسبب االختالفات الثقافية‬
‫ ولكن يكفي أن يكون لديك معرفة باللغتين والقدرة‬.‫للتخرج والحصول على شهادة في الترجمة‬
‫ وقد أوضحت الدراسة الحالية‬.‫ ممارسة الترجمة كمهنة تختلف عن تدريسها‬.‫اللغوية للترجمة‬
.‫المقصود بتدريس الترجمة وخصائص التدريس وتقدم طريقة تدريس هي األولى في هذا المجال‬
‫ تعليم الترجمة‬، ‫ مخطط الشجرة‬، ‫ البنية‬:‫الكلمات المفتاحية‬

Abstract
Translation as a broad notion can be defined in various ways by
different theorists; to translate from one language into another
is not an easy task due to the cultural differences. Today
translation is not restricted to entering the college to graduate
and get a degree in translation. But it is enough to have
knowledge of both languages and linguistic ability of translation.
To practice translation as a profession is different from teaching
it. The present study has explained what is meant by teaching
translation, the characteristics of teaching and offers a method
of teaching which is the first in this regard.
Keywords: Structure, Tree-Diagram, Teaching Translation
.
 Syntactic Structure of Tree diagram as a Method of
Teaching Translating English Sentences into Arabic

1- Introduction
Tree Diagram is used in generative grammar as a means of displaying the
internal hierarchical structure of sentences. It is advantage that lies in
showing the syntactic relationships between sentences units, moreover
functional relations are obviously described by this technique. The study
aims at providing the reader with a technique for teaching the translation of
simple and complex sentences for the first classes of Translation
Departments in Iraq, analyzing the syntactic structure of constituents in a
hierarchical way called tree-diagram, giving proper translations and
considering tree-diagram by teachers as a teaching method of translating
sentences. It is hypothesized that first-year class students of Translation
Departments are expected to make syntactic mistakes when rendering simple
and complex sentences from English into Arabic. It is also hypothesized that
the adoption of the Tree-diagram technique can solve part of the problems
facing those students with regard to translation teaching. To verify the
hypotheses, a questionnaire has been made for a number of first-year class
students at the Department of Translation / College of Arts of Al-
Mustansiriyah University where ten students have been chosen randomly to
translate three simple sentences and three complex ones.

2- X-bar Theory
One of the theories of Generative Grammar is X-bar theory where it attempts
to identify the syntactic features of a sentence.
In X-bar terminology, the obligatory constituent of maximal projection is
called the head. If the structural representation of every category includes a
maximal projection, then every maximal projection will include the category
(i.e. head) of which it is the maximal projection. PS rules do not account for
sub-categorsation and non –subcategorisation in relation to the head. For
example, the PS (Phrase Structure) rule that generates the NP (1a) has the
form (1b) and the tree (1c) below: (Ouhalla,1999:114)
1- a. Mary’s solution to the problem.
b. NP → NP N PP

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 Shaden Shamel Abdullah

c. NP
NP N PP
Mary’s solution to the problem
Both PP (which is Complement) and the NP (Subject) are sisters to the head
and therefore to each other. This is unacceptable, because it undermines the
claim that grammatical functions are structurally based. Subjects and
Complements should have different structural or grammatical relations with
respect to the head. It seems that the structural relation, which the Subject
has with the head, needs to be modified.
This modified schema is called (X’) stand for X-Bar, which will include the
head and its complement. Now, the structure of (1) will make a distinction
between the Subject of NP and the Complement of N and the result is (2)
below: (Chomsky, 1970:115)
2- NP
NP N’
N PP
Mary’s solution to the problem
The schema of the above example will be like the following:
3- XP
YP X’
X ZP
The representation above (3) is the abstract structure which generates X,Y
and Z
X = N ( solution)
X’ = N’ ( solution to the problem)
XP = NP ( Mary’s solution to the problem)
YP = NP ( Mary’s)
ZP = PP ( to the problem)
On the other hand, (Radford, 1988:167) explains that an intermediate
category between word-level and phrase-level is needed. There are nominal

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constituents larger than the noun but smaller than a full noun phrase; the
same is applied for verbal, adjectival and so on. It is called category variable
and the symbol is (X), which stand for any category of N, V, Adj , etc.
To generalize the statement is to say that all phrases have the schematic
structure indicated below: (ibid: 229)
4- X’’
(specifier) X’
X (complement)
Specifier and Complement are not categorical, but rather represent
grammatical functions, so they have similar status to Subject and Object, for
example:
5- John is [a student of physics]. (Jackendoff,1977:226)
The representation of the above example will be specified below:
6- N’’
D N’
a N PP
student of physics
A student of physics is a NP and (a) is determiner which functions as the
specifier of the student. The word (determiner) is used to designate the
category which (a) belongs to (Radford, 1988: 229).
In the generalized schema (4) above, the word-level category (X) is said to
be the (Immediate) Head of the X-bar constituent containing X and it’s
Complement. This X-bar is itself the (Immediate) head of the X-double-bar
constituent containing it and the specifier phrase (Radford, 1988: 230).
Jackendoff (1977:153) says that the name “X-bar theory” comes from the
original mechanism for indicating intermediate categories. N' was written N¯
with a bar over the letter. This over bar is the origin of the “bar” in the name
of the theory. “X” is a variable that stands for any category (N, Adj, V, P,
etc.).

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 Shaden Shamel Abdullah

Since over bars are hard to type, even with Unicode fonts, most people use a
prime (') or apostrophe (‘) for the intermediate level and write the phrasal
level as NP (or more rarely, N'').
3- X-bar Theory and non-Lexical Categories
It is also important to mention the non-lexical categories which are also
called functional categories like Determiner (D), Inflection (I) and
Complementizer(C). They form the so-called closed classes of words. Their
membership, unlike the lexical categories, is to a greater or lesser extent
stable and unchanging in language. (Greenbaum & Quirk, 1997: 15-16).
The structure of IP has replaced the category (S); it specifies that Aux is the
suitable one where NP and VP are phrasal categories and therefore, neither
one of them is likely to be the head. They are likely to be Specifier and
Complement. It is used to refer to node in the structure of S and its full form
refer to the verbs be and have, to avoid the confusion created by the term
Aux, the term Inflection will be used instead, which is a shortened to Infl or
just (I) (Ouhalla, 1999:123).
Given that clauses are categorized as finite or non-finite is easy to conclude
that (I) represents the head of the clause. The structure below has (I) is the
head and (IP) its maximal projection. VP is the Complement of (I). The NP
subject is the Specifier of (IP): (ibid:124). Sentence (8) is an example of the
(7) schema.
7- IP =S
Speci I’
NP I=Aux VP
8- IP ( Black,1999:23)
NP I’
Sally I VP
has V’
V NP
declined the job
In the tree of (IP), (I) will not be filled by lexical word, thus it does not have
any lexical entry. It always takes VP as it’s complement. (Black,1999:11).

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 Syntactic Structure of Tree diagram as a Method of
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Furthermore, Ouhalla, (1999:128) encoded the feature (+/ −) to determine

either the verb is finite or nonfinite.
(+ finite) is understood by agreement and tense.
(− finite) is understood by to-infinitive, ing-participle and ed-participle.
On the other hand, Cook&Newson (2007: 105) mentions another functional
element to be analyzed with X-bar theory is the Determiner. DP hypothesis
claims that the determiner is the head of the nominal phrase not the noun.
The noun will become the complement of the determiner. DP is necessary to
accommodate what are traditionally called the post-determiners-determiner
like elements which typically come after standard determiners. For example:
9- DP
D’
D NP
Those AP N’
many AP N’
stupid N
ideas
When there is only on word in (DP) category and take the (N) position,
(Carnie, 2006:210) suggests that (D) or bare nouns (D) is present but null
and has the phonological representation of (Ø). Like in the following
example:
10- DP
D’
D NP
Ø N’
N
Book

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4- Tree Structure
Drawing trees look simple and interesting when it is demonstrated; however,
when it is performed, it is not an enjoyable process at all. Thus, they are
fundamental skill to be learned and mastered in the study of syntax
(Fang,2012:3).
According to Crystal ( 2008, 494-495) the term Tree is a two-dimensional
diagram used in generative grammar as a convenient means of displaying the
internal hierarchical structure of sentences as generated by a set of rules.
Consider the simple example below to represent the structure of tree
diagram.
11- The cat saw the dog.
12- S
NP VP
D N V NP
The cat saw D N
the dog
The tree above shows that the top of the tree (S) is called “Root” which
produced two large lines (NP,VP) called “Branches”. The end of the branch
is called “Node”, nodes are labeled N, V, NP, PP, A, etc. There are three
types of nodes, the node at the top of the tree is called “Root Node” , nodes
at the bottom of the tree is called “Terminal Nodes” and nodes which are
labeled NP, VP, PP, AP, etc. are called “Nonterminal nodes” . Linguists
describe this system of internal relationships as "family tree". If two
categories derive from a single node, they are said to be sisters and daughters
of the mother node from which they derive. It can be specified as Phrase-
Markers in which they show how a phrase or sentence is built up out of
constituents of various types (Radford, 2009:58).
The advantage of tree diagram is to see the syntactic relationships between
sentence units through. First, it specifies certain facts about constituency that
are (words and phrases from which sentences are constructed), for example,
Cat in (11) above is a proper constituent of the sentence. Second, functional
relations are obviously described by this technique. For example, the subject
of the sentence can be identified as the NP daughter of the sentence node,

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 Syntactic Structure of Tree diagram as a Method of
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and the object as the NP daughter of the VP and sister of the main verb
(Finch, 2005:119).
5- Structural Relations
It is useful to develop some terminology to describe the syntactic relations
between constituents since these relations turn out to be central to syntactic
description. Essentially, a P-marker or Tree is a graph comprising a set of
points (labelled nodes), connected by branches (Radford, 2009:59). Different
types of structural relations can be formed:
5-1 Dominance , to say that one node (X) dominates another node (Y) is
simply means that (X) occurs higher up in the tree than (Y), however, A node
is immediately dominate another if it is the next highest node up in the tree
and connected to the other by a single branch (Radford, 1988:110).
5-2 Precedence, one node precedes another if it occurs to the left of the
other node (ibid).
5-3 Immediate Constituent , dominance and immediate dominance can be
used to define two important terms, Constituent and Immediate Constituent
in the following way:
• A set of nodes form a constituent iff they are exhaustively
dominated by a common node (i.e. iff they all branch out of a single
node and if there are no other nodes branching out of the same
single node).

• X is a Constituent of Y iff is dominated by Y.

X is an Immediate Constituent of Y iff X is Immediately Dominated by Y
(Carnie, 2006:110).
5-4 C-command is defined as A node c-commands its sisters and all the
daughters (and granddaughters and great-granddaughters, etc.) of its sisters,
it’s of two types:
• Symmetric c-command: A symmetrically c-commands B, if A c-
commands
B and B c-commands A. This relation holds only between sisters.

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 Shaden Shamel Abdullah

• Asymmetric c-command: A asymmetrically c-commands B if A c-

commands B but B does not c-command A. This relation holds
between an aunt and her nieces (Barker et el,1990:111-112). The
example below is an illustration of all the symbols mentioned in
the types of structural relations above where these symbols are used
instead of NP, VP, AP, etc..

13- A
B C
D E F
6- Teaching Translation
Translation is a broad notion which can be defined in various ways by
different theorists, such as Nida and Taber (1969), who pointed out that,
“Translation consists of reproducing in the receptor language the closet
natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning
and secondly in terms of style” (Shuttleworth,1997:182).
Fry (2003: 121) states that teaching is a profession that can yield something
amazing when the right ideas and beliefs are implemented in the classroom.
It is believed that the purpose of teaching is not to teach students how to
memorize facts, or how to know all the correct answers. The purpose of
teaching lies in getting students to truly understand the concepts being
examined. Delisle (1980: 54) illustrates what a subtle form of torture
teaching translation is: "teaching translation is an arduous job that mortifies
you, puts you in a state of despair at times, but also an enriching and
indispensable work, that demands honesty and modesty. " Teaching
translation to students who are learning the target language at the same time
necessitates taking into account two major issues: first of all, the fact that
learning how to cope with translation related problems is not exactly the
same as learning the language itself, although they go hand-in-hand. Second,
it is vital to decide which teaching translation method is better to be used
along with the method adopted for translation (Larson, 1986: 67).

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 Syntactic Structure of Tree diagram as a Method of
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7- Types of Sentences
Sentence has been defined by different scientists; some deem it from point
of view of phonetics, others from semantics. Brinton (2000:191) says that a
sentence is the immediate integral unit of speech built up of words according
to definite syntactic pattern and distinguished by a contextually relevant
communicative purpose. There are four types of them: simple, compound,
complex and compound-complex, however, the researcher will specify two
of them in the analysis of Tree Diagram, which are simple and complex.
Certain structures of the two types will be explained in the analysis because
the adopted criterion of drawing tree diagram demands that the sentences
start with (NP) functioning as Subject. For the analysis, the researcher adopts
the X-bar theory, functional category IP and DP instead of NP. A
questionnaire of six sentences, three simple and three complex, has been
carried out for students of Translation Department, first grade, at Al-
Mustansiriya University.
7-1 Simple Sentences
The simple sentence contains at least one subject and one verb and can stand
alone as an independent clause (Allen& Widdowson,1975:45).
All the constituents of sentences will be treed; however, the structural
relations will tackle only the problems that students face in translation. Some
categories have been given a triangle to avoid repetition and some of the
labels have been numbered in order to identify the structural relations.
1- Cornelia has finally brought out her new book.
The sentence above contains a phrasal verb (brought out); the phrasal verbs
like (blow up, give in, etc) may confuse the student and results in different
meanings. (Greenbaum & Nelson, 2002:64-65).
The translations are as follows:
‫واخيرا اشترت كونيليا كتابها الجديد‬1-
‫كورنيليا واخيرا احضرت كتابها الجديد‬2-
‫واخيرا قامت كورنيليا بشراء كتابها الجديد‬3-
‫كورنيليا اخيرا جلبت كتابها الجديد‬4-
.‫اخيرا قامت كورنيليا بانهاء كتابها‬5-

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 Shaden Shamel Abdullah

‫اخيرا قامت كورنيليا بانهاء كتابها الجديد‬6-

‫اخيرا احضرت كورنيليا كتابها الجديد‬7-
‫اخيرا احضرت كورنيليا كتابها الجديد‬8-
‫اخيرا اصدرت كورنيليا كتابها الجديد‬9-
‫كورنيليا اخيرا ابرزت كتابها الجديد‬10-
“Brought out” is a phrasal verb which behaves as a single unit. The student
will only translate according to the basic meaning of “brought” and he/she
may not recognize that “out” forms a constituent with the verb “brought”.
That is what students (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10) do in their rendering into
Arabic language.
The representation of the tree diagram in figure (1) below will specify how
the phrasal verb is represented and the structural relation between them.

In the figure,VP is branched into V’, the intermediate category, and then into
two nodes V’ and DP. Besides, (I) has been labeled with (Aux) (has), since
it is the position that specifies the tense agreement.

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 Syntactic Structure of Tree diagram as a Method of
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• The (V’) 1is branched into another V’2 which is necessary to specify
that has two branches AdvP , VB.
• (V’2) immediately dominates it’s daughters AdvP, VB
• AdvP , VB are sisters to each other and daughters of (V’2).
• (V’1) dominates ( V’2) and (DP), but not immediately dominates
(AdvP, VB).
Through tree diagram, it can be demonstrated how the phrasal verbs is
grouped together and branched from a single node. Phrasal verb (brought
out) means “published” and only student (9) has managed to render the
sentence correctly.
2- A desert receives less than twenty-five centimeters of rainfall every
year. (Sharpe,2004:136).
The sentence above illustrates a structure of certain words that are combined
together to form one single unit. It consists of NP that functions as
complement of the verb (receives). The following translations are carried out
by the students, except student (1) did not render the sentence.
‫ سنتيمتر كمعدل لهطول االمطار‬25 ‫الصحراء تستقبل اقل من‬2-
.‫ سنتميترا‬25 ‫يتساقط المطر في الصحراء سنويا بكمية اقل من‬3-
‫ سم كل سنة‬25 ‫يتساقط المطر في الصحراء بمعدل اقل من‬4-
.‫تستوعب الصحراء من كميات االمطار ما يعادل اقل من خمسة وعشرون سم كل سنة‬5-
‫ سنتيمتر تتساقط االمطار كل سنة‬25 ‫الصحراء تستوعب على االقل‬6-
‫تستقبل الصحراء اقل من خمسة وعشرين سنتيمترا من المطر كل عام‬7-
‫ سنتيمتر من معدله كل سنة‬25 ‫المناطق الصحراوية تتلقى امطار اقل من‬8-
‫تتساقط االمطار في الصحراء بنسبة اقل من خمسة وعشرون سم كل سنة‬9-
‫صحراء يتلقى اقل من خمسة وعشرين سم من هطول االمطار كل عام‬10-
The word (rainfall) is a NP which is one word with certain meaning,
however, a student may think that (fall) here should translated as main verb
of the sentence and misses the main verb (receives). Students (3, 4, and 9)
have rendered (rainfall) into (‫)يتساقط المطر‬. However, student (6) has
understood the structure of ST but he/she is confused by the words (rainfall)

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 Shaden Shamel Abdullah

and (receives). This confusion has led to improper rendering. Some students
may add words in translation which are not necessary, as in rendering of
student (8) who adds the word (‫ )المناطق‬that has no equivalent in the English
sentence.
The figure (2) below explains the syntactic relations between the constituents
and how (rainfall) is represented in the tree.

Since DP has only one head, it is necessary to branch the DP into another
DP2 that characterize with the symbol (Ø). The node (Adv) is characterized
as (intensifier adverb) of the post-modifier (twenty-five).

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 Syntactic Structure of Tree diagram as a Method of
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• (Rainfall) is represented in the diagram as head (N) that is branched

from NP and in turn from the mother node (DP’3).
• (Of rainfall) is (PP) that functions as complement of the N
(centimeters).
• Both (AP and NP) nodes are immediately dominated by D’ then to
DP1which is daughter to VP.
It seems from the analysis that students should try to analyze the strings of
words into their immediate constituents to understand that some words like
(rainfall) is forming one single unit with one certain meaning. However,
students (2, 5 and 7) are succeeded in their translations. Besides, student (10)
has translated the sentence literally but it is considered correct.
3- The production of different kinds of artificial materials is essential to
the conservation of our natural resources. (Sharpe, 2004:179).
The sentence above contains modifiers before a noun specified as
(determiners or adjectives) or after the noun like complements of the (NP).
The following translations are carried out by the students of the above
sentence, except students (1and 9) where they did not perform the
translation.
‫انتاج مختلف انواع المواد الصناعية هو ضروري من اجل المحافظة على مصادر الطبيعية‬-2
.‫ انتاج مختلف المواد الصناعية هو شئ اساسي لحفظ الطبيعة وكذلك لمصادرنا الطبيعية‬-3
‫ االنتاج لالنواع المختلفة من صناعة المواد هو ضروري لحماية مصادرنا الطبيعية‬-4
.‫ تختلف انواع االنتاج من مواد مصنعة او اولية للمحافظة على مصادرنا الطبيعية‬-5
‫ ان انتاج االنواع المختلفة من المصادر المصنعة للمحافظة على المصادر االولية‬-6
‫ انتاج انواع مختلفة من المواد الصناعية اساسي لحماية مصادرنا الطبيعية‬-7
‫ انتاج اصناف مختلفة من المواد الصناعية ضروري لمداولة المصادر الطبيعية‬-8
‫ انتاج انواع مختلفة من االصطناعي البد من الحفاظ على مواردنا الطبيعية‬-10
Students (3 and 8) are confused by the structure (conservation of natural
resources). Thus, they have inadequately rendered the sentence.

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 Shaden Shamel Abdullah

However, some students like (6,5 and 10) missed some words in translation
either they do not know how to translate them or they forgot them, like the
adjective (essential) and the noun (materials) which is not translated by
student (10). On the other hand, student (2) has managed the translation
except that the modifier (our) represented as Determiner in the tree, is not
rendered which is important to specify which kind of resources to be
conserved. Thus, the translation is not correct. On the other hand, the correct
translations can be considered by students (4 and 7). The suggested
translation is specified as follows.
‫انتاج مختلف انواع المواد االصطناعية يعد امرا اساسيا للمحافظة على مصادرنا الطبيعية‬
The figure (3) below will specify all the constituents of the sentence and the
structural relation between them.

The tree diagram above illustrates the connection between constituents

(Modifiers and Complements of Noun Phrases).

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Teaching Translating English Sentences into Arabic

• NP1 has branched into (N’), intermediate category, then to nodes

(N+PP) which are immediately dominated by (NP1).
• NP2 has no determiner but Adjective as modifier categorized
(AP). It is branched into its daughters (AP+N’).
• NP3 has nodes (N+PP) and the (D) (the) is specified as the head
of DP but functions as modifier of NP3
• NP4 is represented in a triangle because its structure is repeated in
the tree.
7-2 Complex Sentences
Complex sentence contains one dependent clause and one or more
independent clauses.The same process of analyzing all the constituents into
their syntactic structures through tree diagram will be performed also for
complex sentences.
1- Planting trees is a custom that many people engage in to celebrate
Arbor Day. (Sharpe,2004:144).
The sentence contains two clauses. One is introduced by (planting) ing-
participle acting as noun modifier of (trees) and the second clause is that-
clause or CP which functions as complement of the object (custom), it is
non-finite clause that has a phrasal verb and to-infinitive phrase which
functions as (object) of that-clause. The sentence has been translated into the
following:
.‫ زراعة االشجار مخصصة لكثير من الناس الذين اشتركو في احتفال يوم الشجرة‬-1
.‫ زراعة االشجار هو عادة الكثير من الناس في يوم الشجر العالمي‬-2
‫ زرع االشجار هو تقليد دخل فيه العديد من الناس واحتفلوا به هو يوم الشجرة‬-3
‫ زرع االشجار هو عادة الكثير من الناس اشعال النار احتفاال بيوم الشجرة‬-4
‫ ان االشجار المزروعة تعرف بانجذاب الناس اليها في عيد الشجرة‬-5
‫ زراعة االشجار تعرف بانها ينجذب اليها الناس في اعياد الشجرة والميالد‬-6
‫ زراعة االشجار هي عادة ادخلها الناس لالحتفال بيوم الشجرة‬-7
‫ زراعة االشجار هي العادة التي كثير من الناس متعلقة بااحتفال يوم الشجرة‬-8
‫ يحتفل الكثير من الناس عادة بعيد الشجرة‬-9
‫ زراعة االشجار هو مخصص ان الكثير من الناس الدخول في االحتفال يوم الشجرة‬-10

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The students, in this structure, have not realized that the sentence is made of
two clauses and in turn they cannot make a connection between them in
translation, like students (2 and 9) which they understand the meaning of the
sentence but did not manage the structure. However, students (5, 6, and 10)
did not succeed in conveying the content of the ST. Student (1) has
understood the content of the sentence but failed to translate the noun
(custom).
Students (3 and 4) have rendered the noun (planting) into verb (‫ ) زرع‬where
they think it is a form of ing-participle verb. Besides, student (4) adds the
words (‫ )اشعال النار‬which have no equivalent in the ST. Students (7 and 8)
have succeeded in managing the translation of the sentence. However, the
suggested translation is outlined below.
‫تعد زراعة االشجار عرفا يشارك به العديد من الناس لالحتفال بعيد الشجرة‬
Through tree diagram, the students can specify the structure of the two
clauses. Figure (4) below:

The structural relations of the constituents are as follows:

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 Syntactic Structure of Tree diagram as a Method of
Teaching Translating English Sentences into Arabic

• VP1 is branched into intermediate category V’1, then to its daughter

nodes (VB2+ VP3).
• VB branched into V’2 and then nodes (V+Prt), they are sisters to each
other and both are immediately dominated by (VB) and in turn
dominated by the mother node (VP1).
• The other daughter VP3 (infinitive) is branched into nodes (V’4 +DP)
• VP1 is asymmetrically c-commands the nodes VB+ VP3 and all their
granddaughters.
• VB is symmetrically c-commands VP3
The relation that holds between sisters is called (Symmetrically) whereas the
one that holds between aunt and nieces is called (Asymmetrically).
It was necessary to branch VP1 into another VP3 to explain that (Inf VP)
form immediate constituent with the NP (Arbor Day).
2- The key officials who testified before the Senate committee responded
evasively (Sharpe,2004: 187).
The above sentence contains two clauses, superordinate clause and relative
clause. The relative one starts with the relative pronoun (who) and it
functions as post-modifier of the (S). Relative clauses are one of the major
categories of subordinate clauses. One of its characteristics is indicating
concord with its antecedent and it can function as (S, O, C, A), this kind is
called internal relation. (Quirk et el,1985:1244-1245).
The translations below are carried by students (2, 6, 7, 8 and 9) but the other
students (3, 10, 1, 4 and 5) did not perform it.
‫ المسؤولون الرئيسين الذين ادلوا بشهاداتهم قبل لجنة مجلس الشيوخ تهربا‬-2
‫ المفتاح المرخص الذي يستخدم قبل مجلس الشيوخ‬-6
‫ الرؤوساء الرئيسيين الذين شهدوا قبل ان يقوم مجلس الشيوخ بالرد تهربا‬-7
‫ المفتاح الرئيسي الذي شوهد قبل مجلس الشيوخ يتحمل مسؤولية التهريب‬-8
‫ مسؤولين المفاتيح شاهدوا المجلس هو المسؤول عن ارتكاب التهرب‬-9

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Students (2 and 7) have perceived the content but did not succeed in
transmitting the appropriate structure. However, students (6, 9, and 8) did
not realize the meaning of the English sentence.
It appeared that the structure of the English sentence has caused a trouble for
some students. They did not recognize that (testified) is a verb that belongs
to the relative clause and the main verb is (responded) which completes the
meaning of the sentence. Thus, the aforementioned students did not succeed
in translating the sentence. However, the suggested translation can be
considered as follows.
‫المسؤولون االساسيون الذين ادلوا بشهاداتهم امام مجلس الشيوخ اجابوا بغموض‬
The figure (5) below illustrates the structure of the two clauses in the form
of Tree Diagram:

In the figure above, the relative pronoun of (IP2) has been categorized under
(D) because (who) stands for the proper noun (officials). The two clauses
display tense concord that happened to be in the simple past and is
represented as +finite.

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 Syntactic Structure of Tree diagram as a Method of
Teaching Translating English Sentences into Arabic

• N’2 has been branched into nodes(N + IP2), they are sisters to each
other, since (IP2) is embedded relative clause acting as post-modifier
of the NP
• DP3 has been given triangle to avoid repetition, since this structure
will also branch into the nodes D+NP
• Two VPs, VP1 that is specified under IP2 and VP2 node that is
branched under IP.
• VP1 has two daughters (V+PP) and it immediately dominates and
asymmetrically c-command them.
• The daughters of VP2 are the nodes (V+AdvP ).
3- The first electric lamp had two carbon rods from which vapor served
to conduct the current across the gap. (Sharpe, 2004:291).
The relative pronoun (which) comes as “adverb” and it is a complement of a
preposition (from). This type of structure is used predominantly in formal
English. (Quirk et al, 1985:1252). The following translations are made by
students (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9). However, students (1 and 10) did not
conduct the translation.
‫ اول مصباح كهربائي يحوي جذرين من الكاربون‬-2
‫ اول مصباح كهربائي كان يحتوي على قضبان كاربونية حيث كان البخار يستخدم الاستقطاب‬-3
‫التيار باتجاه الفجوة‬
‫ اول مصباح كهربائي كان يحتوي على قضبان كاربونية وكان البخار موضوعا اليصال الضوء‬-4
‫الاستقطاب التيار نحو الفجوة‬
‫ اول مصباح كهربائي احتوى على اثنين من االعواد الكاربونية التي تستهلك البخار ليسير بها‬-5
‫التيار الكهربائي‬
‫اول مصباح كهربائي يحتوي على اثنين ذرات كاربون للقيادة‬-6
‫ اول مصباح كهربائي كان يمتلك اثنان من قضبان الكاربون من الذي يقوم البخار باستقطاب التيار‬-7
‫حول الفتحة‬
‫ المصباح الكهربائي االول الذي يتكون من قضيبين من الكاربون يحلل من الخادم البخاري الى‬-8
‫سلوكيات التيار خالل الفجوة‬

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 Shaden Shamel Abdullah

‫المصباح الكهربائي االول يحتوي عمودين كاربون وبخارهما مخدوم بتيار يمر بفتحة‬-9
Students (2 and 6) have only managed to translate the first clause. However,
student (9) did not make a connection between the constituents and translated
the sentence literally. The problem mostly lies with the structure of (vapor
served to conduct); (to conduct) is to-infinitive verb phrase that functions as
Object of the relative clause. This appeared in translation of students (4, 5,
and 8). However, student (4) understands the content of the ST but he/she
adds words like ( ‫ )الضوء‬and
( ‫ )موضوعا‬which are improper since they are not exist in the original
sentence.
The figure (6 and 7) below explains the structure of the two clauses and the
structural relations between the constituents.

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 Syntactic Structure of Tree diagram as a Method of
Teaching Translating English Sentences into Arabic

• In the first clause, DP has branched into (DP2 +D’), since there
are two
• determiners, the head determiner (the) and (first) as post-
determiner.
• N’3 has given a (bar) to specify that its sister Adjunct which
labeled as (PP) both are daughters to N’2.
• Since (from) is a preposition, N’2 has branched to (PP) then
(relative pronoun). Thus, “from” and “which” compose a
constituent that stands as sisters to each other in the tree.
• Both (RPr + P) are immediately dominated by (P’) then to mother
node PP
• VP has branched into (V’1), then (V’2 +DP2) which are sister to
each other and daughters of VP
• V’2 subcategorized into nodes (V + InfVP). They are branched
from a single node since they form a constituent.
On the other hand, students (3 and 7) have perceived the intended meaning
and succeeded in conducting the translation. Moreover, the suggested
translation can be specified as follows:

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 Shaden Shamel Abdullah

‫كان اول مصباح كهربائي يحتوي قضيبان من الكاربون حيث يعمل البخار من خاللهما على ايصال‬
.‫التيار عبر الفجوة‬

Conclusion
Most of first-year class students make syntactic mistakes when they render
simple and complex sentences into Arabic. This proves that hypothesis one
has been validated. The Tree-diagram technique that has been adopted in this
study played an important role in solving part of the problems facing those
students with regard to Translation Teaching. This has also verified
hypothesis two. X-bar theory describes three levels of structure: (XP → NP
VP …., Specifier Modifier, (X’) with head (X) and Complements). It also
intends to specify sentences with non-lexical or functional categories like
(CP, TP, IP and DP); each one has its own rules to branch sentences into
their immediate constituents. Translation is the gateway for understanding
other societies. However, to teach is rather difficult process from translating,
teaching translation is still a subject that has not gained much attention.
Though it may seem effortless, translation of simple sentences may be
difficult for students like phrasal verbs, modifiers before the nouns and after
them. Unlike Simple sentences, complex sentences are difficult and consist
of two clauses: one is the independent clause and another one which may be
embedded or subordinate to the superordinate. Students faced problems
when there are two structures of verb phrases like in the relative clause that
is embedded as post-modifier of the NP and the to-infinitive phrase, students
in these structures cannot differentiate between main verbs and minor ones.
The sentences are analyzed into their syntactic constituents with the
technique of tree-diagram. The top of the tree were categorized with (IP) and
it is branched into the nodes (DP+I’). The tree has specified the structural
connection between the constituents in the sentences.
Tree diagram can help students to organize their ideas because the
components or constituents of the sentence are well-connected and well-
arranged. However, the analysis is short and concise. The study considers
the first in regarding tree diagram as teaching method of translation.

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Teaching Translating English Sentences into Arabic

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