Phrasal Categories

Phrasal Categories

Phrasal Categories

So far we have discussed only lexical categories, that is, classes to which individual words belong. However, there is another kind of syntactic category, namely the phrasal category. Recall that we determine a word’s category by finding characteristics it shares with other words. That is, we find words that behave the same, or have the same distribution, as other words, and these sets of words we group into a category and give it a name, such as noun or verb. Then recall that words can combine with other words to from semantically coherent groupings, or constituents. A phrasal category is a set of constituents that behave the same, or share the same functions and distribution.

For instance, consider the following sentence:

1)      The joggers ran through the park.

One constituent of this sentence consists of the words the joggers, as can be demonstrated by applying the constituent tests discussed in File 6.1. Upon examining the lexical categories involved, we see that this constituent is formed by the combination of a determiner and noun. Now consider each of the words or groups of words below. Note that each of them could be substituted for the phrase the joggers in sentence (1), and a grammatical sentence would result:

2)   a. Susan

b. students

c. you

d. most dogs

e. some children

f. a huge, lovable bear

g. my friend from Brazil

h. the people that we interviewed

Each of the examples in (2) could likewise be shown to be a constituent in this sentence if it occurred in place of the joggers. Note, however, that some have different structures than the DET + N constituent in the joggers. Examples (a) and (b) are single Ns, (f) is composed of DET + ADJ + N, (g) is composed of DET + N + PREP + N, and (h) is different from all of these. Note that other sets of words that are constituents cannot be substituted for the joggers, for example, in the tree or made a cake. What we have discovered is that constituents with different structures can have the same function because they can be used in the same position in a sentence. This means that they belong to the same category, and since some constituents may involve combination of more than one word these categories, are called phrasal categories. In the category discussed above, a noun alone or a noun plus other words forms a noun phrase (NP) sometimes, single word can count us an NP  all by itself, but not always, for example, the word dog cannot be substituted for the NP slot in(3) :

(3)   _________ ran through the park.

Thus, in the sentence The dog ran through the park, dog is an N, but not an NP (whereas dogs, and other nouns in the plural, would count as both if placed alone in the slot). So we observe from (2) and (3) that proper nouns, pronouns, and plural nouns can be used individually as NPs, but some types of singular Ns cannot be.

            An NP can be used as the subject of a sentence, as in (4); as the direct object, as in (5); as the indirect object, as in (6); and in many other ways as well. These are descriptions of the functions that NPs can perform.

(4)   Some children like ice cream.

(5)   Harold likes some children.

(6)   The teacher gave some children a scolding this morning.

Now consider the sentence in (7):

(7)   The mothers visited their children.

Constituency tests demonstrate that visited their children is a constituent. It is composed of V + NP. Note that this particular structure does not share the same properties as the structures grouped into the category of NP because we could not insert visited their children in the slot in (3). Other structures could be substituted for visited their children. For example:

(8)   a. snored

b. love music

c. walked the dog through the park

d. believe that dogs are smart

e. wanted to leave

f. will sleep soundly

g. can lift 100 pounds

h. are wearing sunglasses

i. go home and have a beauty rest

All of these structures behave the same and thus can be grouped into another phrasal category, namely, that of verb phrase (VP). Note that VPs can consist of a single V or a V plus other words; for example, (f) is V + ADV and (c) is V + NP + PP.

A VP can be used as the predicate of a sentence__ i.e., it combines with a subject NP to form a whole S, as shown in (9):

(9)   a. Pat loves music.

b. Henry wanted to leave.

Another phrasal category is that of adjective pehrases (ADJPs), such as those in (10).

(10)                       a. smart

b. very expensive

c. as tall as his father

d. smarter than the average bear

e. certain to win

Note that each of the words or phrases in (10) could be inserted into the syntactic frame in (11):

(11)                       john is ________

ADJPs are often to modify nouns thus often appear as elements of noun phrases; for instance, a very expensive watch; anyone as tall as his father.

Adverbial phrases (ADVPs), such as those in (12), are often used to modify verbs and adjectives and adverb, and thus appear as constituents of VPs, as in (13).

(12)                       a. soundly

b. fiercely

c. as fluently as a native

d. almost certainly

        (13)          a. speak Russian as fluently as a native (VP)

b. fiercely loyal (ADJP)

                  c. sleep soundly (VP)

            Another phrasal syntactic category is that of prepositional phrases (PPs). PPs always consist of a prepositional plus an NP:

(14)                       a. from Uganda

b.with Howard and his dog

c. for nothing

d. to the head honcho

A PP can be a constituent of a wide range of phrases:

(15)                       a. go to the movies (VP)

b. my friend from Uganda (NP)

c. angry with Howard and his dog (ADJP)

d. separately from the other (ADVP)

            Sentences (Ss) also from a phrasal syntactic category. Sentences are, of course, often used by themselves:

(16)                       a. It is raining.

b. Robin likes apples.

            But a sentence may also appear as a element of another expression; for example, each for the following expressions contains a sentence.

(17)                       a. the fact that is raining (NP)

b. a student who met Leslie last Thursday (NP)

c. discover that it is raining (VP)

d. glad that it is raining (ADJP)

Note that any expression resulting from the combination of two or more smaller expressions by a conjunction belongs to the same category as the smaller ones do. Thus, both Howard and his dog are each separate NPs, and in (14b) and (15c) Howard and his dog is also an NP. Likewise, faster than a speaking bullet and more powerful than a locomotive is a larger ADJP containing two conjoined ADJPs; and similarly the sentence it is raining, but it may sleet contains two conjoined Ss.

Tree Diagrams   

Tree diagrams are one way of graphically representing the structure of a sentence. In File 6.1 we saw that tree diagrams could represent which words grouped together to form constituents, and which, in turn, formed larger constituents. Now we see that each constituents in a sentence belongs either to some lexical or phrasal category. This can also be represented in the tree diagram by labeling each of the nodes, or points that indicate a constituent, with the name of the syntactic category to which the lexical or phrasal constituent belongs. For example, consider the sentence in (18):

(18)                       My mother likes her cats.

We can determine (with constituent tests) that the phrasal constituents of this sentence are the following:

a)      My mother (NP)

b)      Likes her cats (VP)

c)      Her cats (NP)

d)      My mother likes her cats (S)

We know that each word is a constituent as well, and we can determine each lexical category. A tree diagram representing the structure of this sentence looks like:

(19)

            Note that the tree diagram represents many aspects of the structure of a sentence. First of all, the linear order is represented because the words appear in some specific order (in the above case, they are in the proper order). Second, the categories to which words and phrases belong are indicated; for example, the noun mother is labeled as being an N, and the phrase my mother is labeled as an NP. Fun thermore, the hierarchical structure is represented by the lines, which indicate which words group to form constituents, and, in turn, which constituents join to form larger constituents. For example, the line form the DET above her and the line from the N about cats join at a node to indicate that the DET + N form a constituent. This constituent join with the V above likes to form another constituent, an indicated by the lines above NV and V, which join at a node labeled VP.

Exercises

0.      Draw a tree for the following sentence. (Answers to all zero problems can be found in Appendix A.)

Many retired workers spend time on relaxing hobbies.

1.      Identify the phrasal category of the underlined constituent in the following sentences:

a.       We were in Holland at that time.

b.      Our loud neighbors will be away this weekend.

c.       The guests ate too much at the reception.

d.      Me and my friends play basketball every Saturday.

e.       Over the holidays I will be traveling to France.

f.        She painted a portrait of her niece from Boston.

g.      The experienced chefs complained about the excessively sweet sauce on the duck.

h.      The newborn babies cried.

i.        The building across the street is Oxley Hall.

j.         Start can be seen best during the winter.

k.      Which of these contradictory suggestions should the conscientious health nut follow?

l.        The twins and their mother got sick from eating the egg salad.

m.    Tom’s sister is a lawyer.

n.      Alex tried all his tricks but nothing worked.

o.      The cat on the couch thinks you are crazy.

p.      You have an extremely efficient secretary.

q.      The fact that you can whistle better doesn’t impress me.

r.        I strongly refuse to be involved in this.

s.       No one except Larry can come up with such strange excuses.

t.        Drinking and driving should not be mixed.

u.      The lifeguard found my cousin from Alabama’s ring in the pool.

v.      He joined us silently but unwillingly.

2.      Draw tree diagrams the following sentence.

a.       My father is an artist.

b.      The relatives of my husband live in Chicago.

c.       Robin drove her car into a tree.

d.      Chefs from many countries competed in a difficult contest.

e.       The teacher threw a book out the window.

f.        That dentist charged too much money for the dentures.

g.      The walk through the park was very pleasant.

h.      The birds sang.

i.        Tonika’s favorite show is about a rich family irom California.

j.        Some people like cats and dogs, but many people hate snakes.