Sentence Structure Constituents

Sentence Structure Constituents

1. the study of syntax.

   • the parts themselves consist of parts, which may in turn consist of further parts. When this is so we may speak of a hierarchy of parts and of hierarchical structure.
     • We can use diagrams to show how things are analysed into their constituent parts.
       • tree diagrams

2. specifying the function of constituents is an important part of structural analysis.

3. constituents,

   • we can allow that sentences actually consist of words
     • while sentences certainly contain words, they don’t consist of words. They consist of phrases

4. Establishing constituents

   • Sequences of words that can function as constituents in the structure of sentences are called phrases. Tree diagrams represent structure by marking which sequences of words in a sentence are its constituent phrases. So syntactic tree diagrams are, more specifically, called phrase markers
     • If a sequence of words can be omitted from a sentence leaving another good sentence, that’s a good indication that the sequence is a phrase functioning as a constituent in the structure of the sentence. However, not all phrases are omissible
       • if you can replace a sequence of words in a sentence with a single word without changing the overall structure of the sentence, then that sequence functions as a constituent of the sentence and is therefore a phrase

5. Phrase and Constituent

   • Your understanding of particular word-sequences is matter of how you structure them in your mind. T
     • In a phrase marker, a sequence of elements is represented as a constituent if there is a node that dominates all those elements and no others

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