INTRODUCTION

TO SYNTAX
UNIT 4 (PART II)

PATCHARAPHAN SUSAMAWATHANAKUN
THE STRUCTURE OF
COMPLEMENTATION
A structure of complementation consists of
two immediate constituents:
a verbal element (VB) and a complement (C).

The verbal element can be a simple verb or a

syntactic structure in which the verb must be
the core.
Therefore, a verbal element may be an
infinitive, a verb or a verb phrase, or a structure
of coordination.
The following examples show different types of verbal elements:

1. Infinitive
VB C
Mr. Smith plans to paint / his house green.
DO OC

2. Verb
VB C
He is / a footballer.
SC
3. Verb phrase
VB C
Martha is buying / her sister a beautiful doll.
IO DO

4. Structure of coordination

VB C
The maid washed and dried / the shirts.
DO
The complements which appear in structures of complementation may be
divided into four types:

I. Subjective Complement

A subjective complement occurs with a linking verb which is

followed by information that describes the subject.
Therefore, a subjective complement always refers to the subject
of the sentence.
I. Subjective Complement (cont.)

The most common linking verb is the verb to be. Others are sense
verbs like look, taste, smell, feel, and sound.
In addition, become, seem, appear, grow, get, go, stay, and turn
can also be linking verbs.
A subjective complement may be a single word or a phrase.
It may be a structure of modification, a structure of coordination,
or a structure of complementation itself.
The following examples show different kinds of
subjective complements:

Kinds of Subjective
Examples
Complements
VB SC
- Verb in present participle Helen’s trade is / writing.
(present participle)

VB SC
- Adjective Those trainees seem / nervous.
(adj.)
 Kinds of Subjective
Examples
Complements
VB SC
- Adverb The time to leave is / now.
(adv.)

VB SC
- Noun phrase My brother became / an engineer of
this company.
(noun phrase)
 Kinds of Subjective
Examples
Complements
VB SC
- Infinitival phrase His wish is / to travel around the
world.
(infinitival phrase)
VB SC
- Prepositional phrase This shirt is / of the finest material.

(prepositional phrase)
 Kinds of Subjective
Examples
Complements
VB SC
- Adjective phrase Martha feels / happy to see her
sister.
(adjective phrase)
VB SC
- Clause The problem is / he can’t speak
English.
(clause)
Some linking verbs have homonyms which are
either transitive or intransitive verbs. They are turn,
blow, sound, and grow.

The following examples illustrate that these verbs

can belong to all three types:
linking verbs, transitive verbs, and
intransitive verb.
 Linking verbs Transitive verbs Intransitive verbs
VB DO
VB SC He is turning / that
His face turns / red. The earth turns.
top.
II. Direct Object

A direct object occurs with a monotransitive verb.

A direct object can be a single word or one of four syntactic
structures: a structure of modification, a structure of predication,
a structure of complementation, or a structure of coordination as
in the following examples:
 Kinds of Direct
Examples
Objects
VB DO
- Verb in present participle Mary likes / reading.

(present participle)

VB DO
- Noun or pronoun The boys saw / John.
(noun)
VB DO
The boys saw / him.
(pronoun)
 Kinds of Direct
Examples
Objects
VB DO
- Present participial phrase Mary likes / sitting alone in the dark.

(present participle phrase)

VB DO
- Clause Everybody agrees/ the proposal is a
good one.
(clause)
III. Indirect Object

An indirect object occurs before a direct object and after a

ditransitive verb.
Unlike direct objects which may be various parts of speech or
more complex structures, indirect objects are always nouns, noun-
headed structures of modification, or structure of coordination
with noun constituents. (Francis 1958: 351-352)
 Kinds of Indirect
Examples
Objects
VB IO DO
- Noun or pronoun Mary told / John her telephone
number.
(noun)
VB IO DO
Jim gave / her a get-well card.
(pronoun)
 Kinds of Indirect
Examples
Objects
VB IO
- Noun phrase Grandmother paid / the driver of the
cab a dollar.
DO

(noun phrase)
Note that an indirect object may be changed to a corresponding
prepositional phrase without any change in meaning, but its position
must be after the direct object:

VB IO DO
The tenant paid / the plumber 40 dollars.
VB DO
The tenant paid 40 dollars to the plumber.
(prepositional phrase)
The verbal element may also be changed into passive construction:
VB IO DO
Nancy handed / Uncle Joe the evening paper.

Uncle Joe was handed the evening paper (by Nancy).

The evening paper was handed Uncle Joe (by Nancy).

IV. Objective Complement
An objective complement refers to the direct object of the
sentence. It occurs after a complextransitive verb and direct
object respectively.
Objective complements, which are sometimes called predicate
objectives, may be nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs (in both
present participle and past participle form), prepositional phrases,
structure of modification, or structure of coordination.
The complextransitive verbs, which are followed by a direct object
and an indirect object complement, usually have the meaning of
designate and cause to be. (Crowell, Jr. 1987: 243)
Complextransitive verbs

appoint find
call have
choose keep
consider leave
declare name
dye pronouce
elect
Complextransitive verbs

An example: 'appoint'
VB DO OC
The committee appointed / him bookkeeper.
These complextransitive verbs can be
changed into passive construction.
Only the direct object becomes the subject. The original
subject of the active construction is often but not always
converted into
a prepositional phrase beginning with by (Crowell, Jr.
1987: 279):
They pronounced that soldier a traitor and a liar.
That soldier was pronounced a traitor and a liar (by
them).

However, a prepositional phrase cannot be substituted

for the direct object; that is, it’s wrong to say They
pronounced to that soldier a traitor and a liar.
THE STRUCTURE OF
COORDINATION
A structure of coordination consists of two or
more conjoins, either with or without a
coordinator or correlative conjunctions.

The most common coordinators are: and, but, or,

with, not, as well as, whereas, as much as, rather
than, together with, except, and along with.

DECEMBER 2020
The correlative conjunctions which are normally
found are: either...or..., neither...nor..., not only...but
(also)..., and both...and...

The structure of coordination is the only structure in English

that can have more than two immediate constituents or
conjoins. See the examples below. Notice that all coordinators
are circled.

DECEMBER 2020
 Structures of coordination

with two immediate with more than two

constituents constituents

red and blue butter, eggs, and milk

Each conjoin may be single words, phrases, or
clauses.

See different types of conjoins below. All the

coordinators are circled. Conjoin 1 in each example is
underlined; whereas conjoin 2, is double underlined.
 Types of Conjoins Examples

Single Words

- nouns tennis not golf

- verbs neither walk nor talk

- adjectives both lazy and dishonest

- adverbs politely but firmly

 Types of Conjoins Examples

Phrases

- noun phrases not only the technician in the

studio but also the televiewers

- verb phrases went to the garage and fetched

me a screwdriver
 Types of Conjoins Examples

Phrases (cont.)

- present participle phrases shutting doors and opening windows

- past participle phrases hidden inside that cabin and kept alive
 Types of Conjoins Examples

Phrases (cont.)

- infinitival phrases to live happily or to die peacefully

- adjective phrases extremely comfortable but hard to find

 Types of Conjoins Examples

Phrases (cont.)

- adverb phrases pretty easily and very clearly

- prepositional phrases either in our garden or outside the

field
 Types of Conjoins Examples

Clauses Did someone knock or am I

imagining things?
Furthermore, each conjoin of a structure of coordination
can be any of the syntactic structures,
namely a structure of modification, a structure of
predication, a structure of complementation and even the
structure of coordination itself.

However, within a structure of coordination,

each conjoin must be syntactically equivalent.
Examples of different types of conjoins are illustrated
below:
 Syntactic Structure as
Examples
Conjoins
Structure of Modification
H M M H
- noun phrase as head an increase / in salary and a / longer vacation

H M H M
- verb as head burst / into tears and disappeared / suddenly
 Syntactic Structure as
Examples
Conjoins
Structure of Modification (cont.)
M H
- adjective as head physically / handicapped but
M H
extremely / intelligent

M H H M
- adverb as head rather / slowly but happily / enough
 Syntactic Structure as
Examples
Conjoins
Structure of Modification (cont.)
M H
- prepositional phrase as obviously / in fury rather than
head M H
completely / out of his mind
 Syntactic Structure as
Examples
Conjoins
S P S P
Structure of Predication Mike's car / broke down and he / had to walk
to a garage.

VB C VB C
painted / the fence and trimmed / the hedges
DO DO
Structure of Complementation
VB C VB
either bring / her some flowers or buy/
IO DO
C
her another wristwatch.
IO DO
 Syntactic Structure as
Examples
Conjoins

Structure of Coordination Jim and Harry not Peter and Paul

CONJOIN 1 CONJOIN 2
Ellipsis in Structures of Coordination

1. Ellipsis of Subjects (and Auxiliaries)

• Identical subjects are omitted:

- Mary ate a ham sandwich, and Mary drank a glass of
orange juice.
- Mary ate a ham sandwich, and drank a glass of orange juice.
• Identical subjects and auxiliaries can be omitted:
- The maid has washed the dishes, the maid has dried them, and
the maid has put them on the shelf.
- The maid has washed the dishes, dried them, and put them on
the shelf.

*As is usual for ellipsis in coordination, the realized items are in the first clause and the ellipsis
is in the subsequent clauses (Quirk and Greenbaum 1973: 261).
2. Ellipsis of Modals (and Auxiliaries)

• If the subjects of coordinated clauses are different, only the identical

modals and/or auxiliaries may be omitted:
- Pam should wash the clothes, and Nancy should cook for the
whole family.
- Pam should wash the clothes, and Nancy cook for the whole
family.
3. Ellipsis of Verbs (and Verb Phrases)

• Identical verbs or verb phrases in coordinated clauses are omitted:

- Peter works in a factory, and his brother works on a farm.

- Peter works in a factory, and his brother on a farm.

4. Ellipsis of Direct Object or Subjective Complement

• If the direct object is omitted, the realized items must be in the last clause
(Quirk and Greenbaum 1973: 264). Notice that the identical subject is also left out:
- George opened the door, and George closed the door.

- George opened, and closed the door.

4. Ellipsis of Direct Object or Subjective Complement (cont.)

• Similarly, if the subjective complement is omitted, and the verb in the last
clause is other than be, the realized item must be in the last clause (Quirk and
Greenbaum 1973: 264):
- Mike was happy, and Jim certainly seemed happy.

- Mike was, and Jim certainly seemed happy.

4. Ellipsis of Direct Object or Subjective Complement (cont.)

• But if the verb in the last clause is be, the realized items can be either in the first
or the last clause:
- Mike seemed happy, and Jim certainly was happy.

- Mike seemed happy, and Jim certainly was.

or - Mike seemed, and Jim certainly was happy.

5. Ellipsis of Head of Noun Phrase in the Structure of Modification

• If the head of a noun phrase is omitted, the realized items must be in the first
clause:

- We wanted fried rice, but they gave us boiled rice.

- We wanted fried rice, but they gave us boiled.

THE STRUCTURE OF
SUBORDINATION
Apart from the four basic types of syntactic
structures, some linguists have developed
another type of structure known as
the structure of subordination, which consists
of a subordinator and a dependent unit.
Subordinators are prepositions (e.g. in, at, on,
to, etc.), relative adverbs (e.g. when, where,
why, how), and subordinating conjunctions
(e.g. before, tell, after, since, etc.).
Dependent units may be words, phrases, or
clauses.
*A structure of subordination can have various functions in all the four basic
structures as shown in the following examples. (Notice that each structure of
subordination is underlined.)
 Functions of Structures of
Examples
Subordination

- As modifier in the structure of To / our surprise, Miss Namibia was

modification crowned Miss Universe 1992.

To = subordinator (preposition)
our surprise = dependent unit

To our surprise modifies Miss

Namibia was crowned Miss Universe
1992, which is the head.
 Functions of Structures of
Examples
Subordination

- As subject in the structure of Where / I live is no concern of yours.

predication
Where = subordinator (relative
adverb)
I live = dependent unit

Where I live functions as the subject.

 Functions of Structures of
Examples
Subordination

- As subjective complement in the The problem is beyond / my ability.

structure of complementation
beyond = subordinator (preposition)
my ability = dependent unit

beyond my ability functions as

subjective complement of the verbal
element is.
 Functions of Structures of
Examples
Subordination

- As direct object in the structure Sue doesn't remember when / she

of complementation saw her dentist.

when = subordinator (relative

adverb)
she saw her dentist = dependent
unit

when she saw her dentist functions

as direct object of the verbal
element doesn't remember.
 Functions of Structures of
Examples
Subordination

- As objective complement in the They kept us in / suspense.

structure of complementation
in = subordinator (preposition)
suspense = dependent unit

in suspense functions as objective

complement which refers to the
direct object us.
 Functions of Structures of
Examples
Subordination

- As the two conjoins in the He walked across / the street and

structure of coordination into / that building.

across, into = subordinators

the street, that building =
dependent units

across the street is the first conjoin;

whereas into that building is the
second conjoin
THE ANALYSIS OF
ENGLISH SENTENCES
Introduction

Syntax is the study of sentence structure.

Every language has rules that govern

how the words in that language come together
to form phrases, clauses, and sentences.
This is the layer of language that informs us that
while some orders work just fine (why did he eat
the sandwich?) others do not work at all
(he eat the sandwich did why?).

It is important to note that while there are

differences in these rules from language to
language, all languages have their own sets of
rules.
What does it mean for languages to have rules for sentence structure?

It means that words cannot be combined randomly.

This chapter shows

how words are grouped into syntactic categories, and how sentences have a hierarchical
design in which words are gathered into successively larger structural units.

how to diagram phrase structure trees.

Constituency
Often, we think of phrases, clauses, and sentences as being a
string of words.
Certainly, when we hear a sentence or produce an utterance, it
comes out in a continuous string. However, linguists have
identified that there are groupings in sentences that form a
hierarchy.
This idea that words are grouped into units is called
constituency.
 Constituency (cont.)
Let consider the following examples.
(1) They quickly ran out the door.
(2) They quickly found out the truth.
(3) Out the door, they quickly ran.
(4)*Out the truth, they quickly found.

Constituents can be individual words, phrases, and clauses.

 Parts of speech
Different words have different grammatical functions.

The basic nine parts of speech that we will cover in this chapter are
nouns (N)
verbs (V)
adjectives (A)
adverbs (Adv)
prepositions (P)
determiners (D)
auxiliaries (Aux)
complementizers (C)
conjunctions (Conj)
 Phrase structure
Phrases are units of language (constituents) that are just above the
level of words.
Phrases can consist of a single word, as in (9), or many words, as in (10). (p. 81)

(9) Ella found my backpack.

(10) The tall woman in the green sweatshirt from the cafe found my backpack.
 Phrase structure (cont.)
Here are many kinds of phrases, but the main ones we will discuss in
this book are the following:

noun phrase (NP)

verb phrase (VP)
adjective phrase (AP)
adverb phrase (Adv)
prepositional phrase (PP)
 Drawing tree diagrams

A tree diagram is a typical way that linguists represent the inner

workings of phrases and sentences.

They are called trees because of the way different constituents

branch off from other parts of the structure.
figure 5.1 Sample tree diagram
Figure 5.1 presents an abstract tree for us A
to reference. Each joint of a tree is called
a node; therefore, every letter on the tree
in Figure 5.1 is a node. B C

D E F

G H

I
 Drawing tree diagrams (cont.)

Terminal nodes are the ones at the ends of the branches, like B, D, E,
G, and I. Also, mother, daughter, and sister are relationships between
nodes.

Mothers are nodes one level directly above the node in question.
So for instance, C is the mother of D, E, and F. F is the mother of G
and H. Daughters are the other way around, so D is the daughter of
C, and C is the daughter of A. Sisters are ones that have a common
mother, so B and C are sisters, and D, E, and F are sisters.
figure 5.2 Good phrase structure trees

Tree 1 Tree 2 Tree 3

VP PP
AP

P NP
V AdvP A

Adv AP N

A
figure 5.3 Bad phrase structure trees

Tree 4 Tree 5 Tree 6

NP PP NP

NP VP N PP
N

P N
Example(s):

D N

a woman from the cafe

D N P
Example(s):
bracketed version

D N P D N
[NPa woman [ PPfrom [ NPthe cafe]]]
NP node
NP

D N PP

P NP

D N
The terminal node
NP

D N PP
the woman

P NP
from

D N
the cafe
 Clauses
The next level of syntax is the clause, which is made up of several
phrases coming together.

A clause is a constituent containing a subject and a predicate.

Subjects are typically noun phrases.
Predicates are typically verb phrases.
The subject and the predicate come together to form the clause.
a simple example clause

NP VP

N V
They laughed
a slightly more complex clause

NP VP

D N V NP
My boss signed

D N
the papers
 Clauses (cont.)
Clauses come in two main varieties.

The first type of clause is an independent clause.

It is named such because it can stand alone, like the examples in (22). Independent
clauses are sentences. (p. 89)

(22)
a. Jill ran.
b. The student studied,
c. Every attendee received an award.
d. The package was delivered to the wrong house.
 Clauses (cont.)
The second type of clause is a dependent clause, or embedded clause.
Dependent clauses usually begin with a complementizer, or a particle that serves as
a connector to the main sentence, as in (23). (p. 89)

(23)
a. Because Jill ran
b. What the student studied
c. That every attendee received an award
d. If the package was delivered to the wrong house
 Clauses (cont.)

Dependent clauses are usually found embedded within an independent clause.

(24)
a. Jack dropped out of the race because Jill ran.
b. I don't know what the student studied.
c. That every attendee received an award surprised us all.
d. We'll see if the package was delivered to the wrong house.
 Clauses (cont.)

In formal spoken English and in most written registers of English, dependent clauses
typically cannot stand alone.

However, it is important to note that it is not ungrammatical or wrong; it is simply a usage

etiquette rule.

It's not atypical to hear dependent clauses by themselves in spoken English or within informal
registers of written English.
 Clauses (cont.)

Related to this, in formal written English, you may have heard of the terms run-on and
fragment.

Run-ons are two independent clauses in one sentence, which usually sounds like just
that; two sentences fused together
(The student studied she got an A in her class).

To remedy a run-on, students can (a) separate them into two different sentences, (b)
put a semicolon between the two clauses if the clauses are related, or (c) turn one of
the sentences into a dependent clause by adding a complementizer.
 Clauses (cont.)

An example of each remedy can be seen in (25).

(25)
a. The student studied. She got an A in her class.
b. The student studied; she got an A in her class.
c. Because the student studied, she got an A in her class.
 Clauses (cont.)

A fragment, on the other hand, is a clause that is missing something.

It could be an independent clause missing a subject found no relationship between the

two variables) or missing a predicate
(the researchers from the institute with many years of experience).

Additionally, a fragment can be a dependent clause that is not embedded within an

independent clause (since the research was funded by the government).
To fix a fragment, students can (a) supply a subject, (b) supply a predicate, or (c)
embed the dependent clause in an independent clause.
 Clauses (cont.)

the examples below in (26):

a. Dr. Park found no relationship between the two variables.

b. The researchers from the institute with many years of experience visited our lab.
c. Since the research was funded by the government they were able to complete the
project.
References
Jotikasthira, P. (2014). Introduction to the English
Language : System and Structure. Bangkok:
Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University.
Park-Johnson, S. K., & Shin, S. J. (2020). Linguistics for
language teachers: Lessons for classroom
practices. New York.