More on Trees and Phrase Structure

PS Syntax, Universität Marburg, WS 2002/03

In this small additional paper I would like two discuss two points that are not discussed
extensively by Aarts (2001), viz. phrase structure rules and some guidelines how to draw
syntactic trees. These guidelines will hopefully help you when it’s your turn to draw tree
diagrams yourself. I will start with phrase structure rules and then proceed to show you how
they can help you draw a tree diagram before coming to a step-by-step guide to drawing
phrase structure trees.

Phrase Structure Rules

In Aarts, chapter 2, it is discussed how words combine into phrases and what elements can
occur in a phrase. For example, it is said that a noun phrase (NP) obligatorily consists of a
head, the noun, and additional optional elements, namely a determiner, an adjective phrase
(AP) and a prepositional phrase (PP). Such a statement can be reformulated as a phrase
structure rule (or PSR for short). Phrase structure rules specify which elements can occur in a
phrase, and they also specify in which order these elements (or constituents) may occur. Have
a look at a PSR for noun phrases:

(1) NP → (D) (AP) N (PP)

What does the rule tell us? First, to the left of the arrow you find the name of the phrase that is
described, here an NP. The arrow itself means something like ‘consists of’ or ‘can be
rewritten as’ (hence PSRs are also called rewrite rules). After the arrow, you will find the
constituents the phrase may consist of. Optional constituents are in parentheses, obligatory
ones are without parentheses. Thus, this rule tells us that an NP consists of an optional
determiner, an optional AP, an obligatory noun (the head of the phrase) and an optional
prepositional phrase. This PSR can generate a fair number of NPs, for example

(2a) Somebody
(2b) The man
(2c) The tall man
(2d) The very tall man in the raincoat

Can you see how all the sentences in (2) can be generated from the PSR in (1)? (2a) consists
of only a noun. (2b) consists of a determiner plus a noun, (2c) of a determiner plus an
adjective – which stands for an entire adjective phrase (AP) – and a noun, and (2d) consists of
a determiner (the), an AP (very tall), a noun (man) and a PP (in the raincoat). The
generalizations about phrases and what they may contain, which we found in chapter 2, can
all be rephrased as PSRs. Consider the PSR in (3).

(3) S → (COMP) NP (AUX) VP

(3) tells us that a sentence (S in short) contains a noun phrase and a verb phrase, plus an
optional auxiliary, which may be placed between the two, and an optional complementizer
which precedes the other constituents. In (4-5), PSRs are given for two other types of phrases
that we have encountered so far, APs and PPs. APs consist minimally of an adjective, which
may be preceded by an adverb and followed by a PP (4), while PPs consist of a preposition
and a noun phrase.

(4) AP → (Adv) A (PP)

(5) PP → P NP

Verb phrases are little bit more complex because they allow a fairly wide range of phrases
that can modify a verb. First, consider a PSR for intransitive verbs.

(6) VP → V (PP)

This rule states that a verb phrase consists of a verb and an optional PP. This is of course only
true for intransitive verbs, which do not take an object, but this rule can already generate VPs
such as the following.

(7) John [slept]

John [slept in the garden shed]

For transitive and ditransitive verbs, the rule has to be modified to allow for NPs as well. (8)
gives the PSR for transitive verbs, (9) the PSR for ditransitive verbs.

(8) VP → V NP (PP)
(9) VP → V NP NP (PP) or VP → V NP to-PP (PP)

Things are further complicated by the fact that objects may also be entire clauses as in the
example I know that John is a fool. Hence, we must also allow for an alternative PSR, in
which NP is replaced by S.

(10) VP → V S

Space does not permit to give a detailed account of all possible PSRs in English or an account
of all possible English sentences, but you should be able to see now what the principle of
PSRs is and how they work. They can help you when you draw a syntactic tree because they
tell you what the possible constituents of a phrase are. When you do not know how to
combine your phrases into larger units, a look at the PSRs given above can help you because
they tell you what is allowed and what is not allowed. In addition, they can be
straightforwardly translated into trees: On the left-hand side, you find the mother node, on the
right-hand side, you find all the possible daughters.

Tree Diagrams

So how do you best draw a tree? Of course, this is to a large extent a matter of taste, and
everybody will eventually find the strategy that suits them best. However, I think that there
are some general guiding principles that can be followed, and I will also provide one method
which I think is easiest, particularly for novices to the tree drawing trade.

First note that there are in principle two general methods of drawing a syntax tree; it can be
drawn top-down or bottom-up. Top-down means that you start with the topmost node, the S
node and then work your way down the tree until you arrive at the terminal nodes. If you draw
a tree bottom-up, this means that you start off with the terminal nodes and then go up until
you arrive at the S node. The method I am proposing is largely bottom-up, although it
combines both methods. Let us start by considering a sample sentence of which we want to
draw a syntactic tree.

(11) Some people in this class draw extremely funny trees.

The very first step to take is to identify word classes. So, after step 1 your tree should look
like this:

(12)
D N P D N V Adv A N
| | | | | | | | |
Some people in this class draw extremely funny trees

Next you should identify the heads of phrases. Nouns, verbs, prepositions and adjectives all
expand into phrases. Hence, your final tree should contain two NPs, 1 VP, 1 AP and 1 PP.
Keep that in mind. In addition, you should already look ahead a little bit to see which
elements belong most closely together. You should easily find some relations. extremely
modifies funny; both together form an AP. This AP in turn modifies a noun, trees. Keep an
eye on the PSRs to see how words combine into phrases. This class is an NP, which itself is
part of a larger PP (in this class). An intermediate tress could thus look like this:

(13) PP NP

NP AP

D N P D N V Adv A N
| | | | | | | | |
Some people in this class draw extremely funny trees

The question is now how these phrases combine with the rest of the tree. At this point, it is
probably useful to insert the top node already (the S node) and apply the relevant phrase
structure rule: S → NP VP

(14) S

NP VP

PP NP

NP AP

D N P D N V Adv A N
| | | | | | | | |
Some people in this class draw extremely funny trees

The last thing you have to do then is to join the upper part of the tree with the lower part. The
first NP is the subject NP, which obviously is Some people in this class. As the PSR for NPs
states that NPs can consist of a determiner, a noun and a PP, you shouldn’t have any
problems. Just draw the relevant association lines, as in (15).
(15) S

NP VP

PP NP

NP AP

D N P D N V Adv A N
| | | | | | | | |
Some people in this class draw extremely funny trees

Finally, you want to join the VP to the lower part of the tree. Again, keep in mind the PSR for
transitive verbs: VP → V NP – which fits pretty well with what we have got already. So draw
the lines that will adjoin the V and the NP to the VP:

(16) S

NP VP

PP NP

NP AP

D N P D N V Adv A N
| | | | | | | | |
Some people in this class draw extremely funny trees

To sum up:

1. Identify the word classes.

2. Identify the heads and elements that belong together.
3. Expand the top node (S node).
4. Join the upper and lower subtrees.

When following these steps, also bear in mind the general principles of tree diagram design.
First, make sure that the structure you are building is in line with the phrase structure rules
discussed above. Second, make sure that each and every head expands into a phrase. Thus,
every N has a corresponding NP; every P has a PP; every A has an AP, and so on. Third, lines
must not cross. Never are you allowed to cross two branches. This means that elements that
form a phrase also have to be directly next to each other (adjacent).

If you have any further questions, consult the literature. A very good introduction to the tree
drawing business is found in Carnie (2002), chapter 2 and 3.