PHARASE STRUCTURE RULES

Presented
by
YULIYANTO SABAT, S.Pd., M.Pd Tef
 What is Phrase Structure Rules?
 Phrase Structure Rules are the rules that determine the
basic constituent structure of a sentence (Soekemi, 1995: 59).
 Constituent is any word or group of words that occur at the
end of vertical line (Boey, 1975: 45).
 Example (all the words in circle are called constituents):
The hunter shot the tiger.

The hunter shot

the tiger
 Phrase Structure Rules

Two basic units of the

English sentence
(Soekemi, 1995:59)

NOUN VERB PHRASE

PHRASE (NP) (VP)
THREE BASIC RULES IN PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES
(SOEKEMI, 1995:59)

1) S NP+VP
2) NP Det + N
3) VP V+NP

Note:
a) S= Sentence d) Det= Determiner
b) NP= Noun Phrase e) V= Verb
c) VP= Verb Phrase f) N= Noun
 SYMBOLS USED IN SYNTACTIC DESCRIPTION
(Yule, 2000:90)

1) NP (Noun Phrase)
a) NP Art + N
e.g., The dog, a book, an apple, etc.
b) NP Art + (Adj) + N
e.g., The small dog, a thick book, a sweet
apple, etc.
c) NP Pro (pronoun)
e.g., He, She, It, they, etc.
d) NP PN (proper noun)
e.g., Cathy, George, Sabat, etc.
 VERB PHRASE
2) VP (Verb Phrase)
VP V+NP+(PP/prepositional phrase) + (Adv)
E.g., The small boy saw George with a crazy dog
recently.

3) PP/Prepositional Phrase
PP Prep + NP

(Yule, 2000:91-93)
 Conclusion
There are two basic rules in Phrase Structure
Rules in the English sentence:
1) A sentence rewrite s as a noun phrase and
verb phrase.
2) A noun phrase rewrites as either an article,
an optional adjectives and a noun or
pronoun or a proper noun.

(Yule, 2000: 92)

The conclusions can be symbolized as:

a) S NP+ VP

b) NP {Art + (Adj) + N, Pro,

PN}

c) VP V+NP +(PP) + (Adj)

d) PP prep + NP
ANY QUESTION??
LET'S PRACTICE!!!
By using a tree diagram, try to visualize how
the phrase structure rules form the following
sentences!
1. The girl followed the boy.
2. A boy helped the dog
3. You saw it yesterday.
4. Marry helped George recently.
5. George saw a dog.
 Let's prctice!!!
6. A small dog followed Marry.
7. The child needs some money
8. The boy read the magazine yesterday.
9. The cat caught the mouse.
10. The small boy saw Marry with a crazy dog
recently.
11. The handsome boy walked with a beautiful girl
yesterday.
12. The smart student answered the question easily.
THANK YOU…….