Grammatical Theories .....

GRAMMATICAL THEORIES
OUTLINE:
Background to systemic Grammar
Orientation of Scale & Category Grammar
Categories (1) Unit (2) Structure (3) Class (4) System
Scale (1) Rank (2) Exponence (3) Delicacy
The transition from scale & category grammar to systemic functional
grammar.
- The meta functions of the clause
- The disappearance of the sentence as a grammatical unit
STRUCTURAL GRAMMAR
- IMMEDIATE CONSTITUENT ANALYSIS
- Advantages of Immediate Constituent Analysis
- Limitations of Immediate Constituent Analysis
TRANSFORMATIONAL GENERATIVE GRAMMAR

- Properties of Transformational Generative Grammar
- PHRASE STRUCTURE RULE
- Semanticity and Acceptability of a Sentence
- X-BAR THEORY
- SOME DEMERITS OF PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES
RULE ORDERING: (CONSTRAINTS AND DELETION)

- WORD ORDER RULE
- PHRASE ORDER
DELETION
- NOUN PHRASE DELETION
- VERB PHRASE DELETION
TRANSFORMATIONAL RULE
- Advantages of the Inversion Transformation rule
- WH-MOVEMENT
- Features of Wh-movement
- WH-QUESTIONS
WH- FRONTING IN RELATIVE CLAUSES
- Restrictive Relative Clause
- Non-restrictive Relative Clause
- Appositive Relative Clause
WH-FRONTING IN EXCLAMATIVES
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TARGETS FOR WH-MOVEMENT
THE LANDING-SITE FOR MOVED WH-PHRASES
GOVERNMENT AND BINDING THEORY
- BINDING THEORY
- PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT AND BINDING THEORY
CONCLUSION
WORKS CITED
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BACKGROUND TO SYSTEMIC GRAMMAR
Systemic Grammar is associated particularly with the works of the British
Linguist M. A. K. Halliday. However, Halliday’s work itself is the most
important development of the ideas within the so called London School of
Linguistics whose founding father was J. R Firth (1890 – 1960). It is then to
Firth that we must turn for an initial explanation of Halliday’s orientation. Firth
was trained as a historian but had always maintained a lively interest in
language which mature when in the 1st world war he gained first hand
experience of languages spoken in Africa, India & Afganistan. One of the
main influences on Firth during the 1930s was his association with Bronislaw
Malinowski who was Professor of Anthropology at the London School of
Economics. His works had convinced Firth that the language of a community
could not be fully understood in isolation from its social context of use and
that the meaning of an utterance lay essentially in the use of which it was put.
The notion of meaning as function in context including the social context was
to become central to Firth’s view of language. It is thus possible to detect an
area of mutual interest for Bloomfield and Firth. Both viewed meaning in
terms of the situation in which language is produced. They differed in the
consequences they drew out from the view. For Bloomfield it meant the
rejection of the study of meaning as unscientific but for Firth it led to a
position in which meaning was the pillar of linguistic theory. Firth also
expressed opposition to Saussure’s brand of structuralism which dominated
European linguistics at the time. Basically, Firth regarded Saussure’s
approach as too monolytic and Firth preferred a model in which the concept
of one integrated super system for a language was replaced by a large
number of individual system set up for different environments.
Firth’s linguistics resembles Saussure’s in that it was built around the

concept of syntagmatic (axis of succession) & paradigmatic (axis of selection)
patterning. Firth’s view of language, in summary, was one in which meaning
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viewed as the function of a linguistic item in its context of use was paramount
and in which one very important type of context was the social context in
which an utterance is produced. Linguistic patterning was described in terms
of syntagmatic & paradigmatic relations. It was this view of language which
Halliday inherited – that in language production – meaning in language can’t
be divorced from social context.
Born in 1925, Halliday took his first (1st) degree in Chinese studies at
the University of London where he came under Firth’s influence. He later did
graduate work in Peking and Cambridge and through his studies on Chinese
& English, began to develop Firth’s Linguistic Model. Just as Firth’s
Sociological orientation derived from Malinowski contrasted with Bloomfield’s
psychological bias, Halliday’s work can be contrasted with Chomsky’s at
similar dimension.
Halliday’s primary interest is in language as a central attribute as a

“social man” and his main aim is to account for the ways in which speakers
and writers interact with their hearers & readers in social situations. He has
little interest with “what goes on inside people’s head” but Halliday views the
psychological orientation of much recent linguistics as complimentary to his
own. This view point has a number of important consequences. For instance,
Halliday sees no need for a sharp division between ‘competence’ and
‘performance’ and ‘langwe’ and ‘parole’ and he is willing to tolerate a much
lower degree of idealization of the data than is apparent in so many other
models.
An essential aspect of language for Halliday as for Firth is its

meaningfulness. And this permeates his linguistic models leading to rather
fluid boundaries between levels of language.
Halliday has also inherited Firth’s concern with the practical applications
of linguistic theory. Indeed, Halliday’s main interest now appears to be the
way in which linguistics can contribute to such applied linguistic fields as
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stylistics, text linguistics, discourse analysis and language in education.
Although, standing in a clear line of progression from Firth, M.A.K. Halliday
has also recognized the influence on his own works of other schools of
linguistics in particular, he has drawn on ideas from Prague School of
Linguistics whose chief exponent is S.C. Dik, Hyelmslev’sGilollesatics and
from Whorf’s view on linguistic relativity.
Since TGG & Systemic Grammar are the two most important competing
theories of linguistics nowadays, we can summarize the difference between
them as follows:
S/N TGG SYSTEMIC

1. Has a psychological orientation i.e. Has a sociological orientation i.e.
language is regarded as a faculty of language is regarded as a faculty of
the individual speaker/hearer individuals in a context of situation
2. It is sentence-centred i.e. does not It has text or discourse orientation
attempt to go beyond the sentence hence text-linguistics and discourse
level analysis.
3. It deals with language universals It deals with linguistic relativity i.e. all
languages are different and every
i.e. all languages have some
language must be taken (analysed)
common properties on its own terms.
4. It is model centred i.e. it tends to It is data centred i.e. analysed
create models of languages language in context of situation
hence journalese,officialees, etc
5. It is theoretical i.e. full of theory and It is practical application of linguistic
abstracted theory hence things like
psycholinguistics, stylistics, etc
6. It deals with competence data i.e. It deals with performance data i.e
what the native speaker knows actual language use.
unconsciously about his language
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Systemic grammar can be traced through two principal stages of
development. The early form of the theory was known as Scale and Category
Grammar. Although, Halliday’s formulation of Scale & Category holds much
to the influence of Firth’s teaching, it does represent a substantial progression
from Firth’s own thinking. Scale & Category grammar is set against the
background that language occurs in a situational context. In common with
attention in the first half of the 1960s, Scale and Category Grammar
concentrated on syntax, but whereas TGG is concerned with the generation
of underlyed Deep Structure and their transformation into well-formed surface
structures, Scale and Category grammar provides a framework for the
analysis and description of any stretch of spoken or written language that has
actually occurred.
ORIENTATION OF SCALE & CATEGORY GRAMMAR
Grammatical form in scale and category grammar is concerned with the

nature of elements of structure and the relationship which may be established
between them to facilitate the determination of these elements and
relationships, Scale and Category grammar postulates four theoretical
categories, viz:
1. Unit 2. Structure 3. Class 4. System

These are three scales, viz:
1. Rank 2, Exponence 3. Delicacy
Unit: This accounts for the stretches of language of various lengths and
composition which themselves carry grammatical patterns or which operate in
grammatical patterns. In the early stages of the theory, five sizes of the
grammatical unit were proposed for the description of English. These five
sizes of grammatical units are:
1. Sentence - 2. Clause - 3. Group - 4. Word 5. Morpheme
i. Sentence boundary /// ///

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ii. Clause boundary // //
iii. Group boundary / /
As applied by the above, Scale and Category grammar regards the sentence
as the largest grammatical unit and morpheme as the smallest.
2. Structure: This accounts for the composition of a unit in terms of

functional elements for the description of the English sentence structure. Two
basic elements are recognized. They are:
(a) Free/alpha α
(b) Bound/beta β
The value of these terms is essentially equivalent to main and subordinate

clauses in traditional grammar terminologies. In other words, main clauses
are classified as free/alpha e.g. The boy killed the snake.
Adverbial and non-defining relative subordinate clauses are classified as

bound/beta clause e.g. John said (that he had lost his watch). However,
whereas the traditional terms “main and subordinate” and the scale and
category labels “alpha & beta” are applied according to their primary and
dependency functions within a sentence, the term “free” is subject to different
constraints. An element of sentence structure which is free ought to be
capable of functioning as a simple unit of sentence rank. Examples such as
John has lost his watch fulfils the requirement. But John said does not
function as a free unit though it is alpha because it needs to be bound to
actually make a sensible complete sentence.
The description of clause structure makes use of four primary elements

known as:
1. Subject (S)
2. Predicator (P)
3. Complement (C)
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4. Adjunct (A)
The subject is associated with the NG, the (P) with the VG, the (C) with the
NG and the (A) with the Adverbial Group or Preposition Phrase.
S P C A A
Bola ate her food silently in the room
Group structure
The structure of group rank unit depends on the type of class of unit. The
general nature of group structure may however be illustrated in a preliminary
way using the terms ‘Modifier’ (M) ‘Head’ (H) and ‘Qualifier’ (Q).
The H element is the main or focal element of the group in which all other
elements depend syntactically. Elements of the group which precede the H
may then be classed as Ms and those which follow the H as gs. Ms &gs are
thus identified by position in relation to the H element.
The three terms mhq can be applied more readily to the analysis of nominal,
adjectival and adverbial groups. Examples:
NOMINAL GROUP
m m h
Three blind mice
m h q
His most amazing feat of endurance
m h q
The achievement that John values most
Adjectival Group
m h q
Very warm indeed
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m h
Quite amazingly
3. CLASS:
Members of a unit are grouped and assigned to a particular class.

Firstly, according to their similarities and differences of structure, secondly,
according to their function in the next largest unit and thirdly, according to
how they combine with other units of the same rank.
Since in scale and category grammar, sentences do not operate in a

larger grammatical unit, the 2nd criterion does not apply to them. In terms of
their formal structure however, sentences are traditionally classified as
simple, complex or compound. A simple sentence consists of a single free
clause e.g. John has gone to Jos. A complex sentence comprises a free
clause together with one or more bounded clauses e.g. If John comes, tell
him to wait. A compound is composed of two or more free clauses e.g. Jack
fell down and broke his crown and Gill came tumbling after.
These three terms above however do not satisfactorily handle

sentences which are compound and yet contain one or more bound clauses.
To cope with this type of structure, a further term “compound complex”
sentence may be added. Sentences are also traditionally classified according
to their contextual function using the basic label: statement, question,
command/request and exclamation.
According to whether they contain a predicator (P) or not, free clauses

are assigned to the classes major or minor. E.g of major is: John loves cars.
E.g. of minor are: New cars for sale. Not today, thank you. Units of group rank
are classified as nominal adjectival, verbal, adverbial and prepositional.
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4. System:
System accounts for the range of choices or classes which are

available within a unit and any given range of possible options is known as a
set of “terms”. In other words, system can be defined as a paradigmatic set of
choices available in a certain environment. For example, in the environment
of an English clause, we have a choice between a [major] clause which
includes a ‘P’ a (minor) which does not include such an element. An example
of major clause is John smokes where smokes has the function of a ‘P’
element. Example of minor clause is no smoking where there is no P element
in the clause, we could represent these choice as a system as in the following
figure:
Choices
English clause Major e.g. John smokes
Minor e.g. No smoking
This figure represents the first choice in a bigger and more delicate set of
system choices applicable to the English clause. That is to say that there are
other sets of choices which are related to the choice between major and
minor. Whether a clause is indicative or imperative. If indicative, that whether
it is declarative or interrogative, if interrogative then whether it is ‘wh-
interrogative’ or ‘polar’, etc.
We find that a scale of delicacy operates in this kind of distinction. It brings us

to ever more delicate system choices characterizing the English clause. All
these more delicate sets of system choices cluster into a system network as
represented in the following figure. Declarative (John smokes)
Wh (who smoke)
English clause Major indicative Interrogative
Polar (does John smoke?)
Imperative (Don’t smoke)
Minor
*This figure is known as system network in systemic functional grammar.
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Scales
1. Rank: The grammatical units are related to each other hierarchically

through the scale of rank as illustrated in the following figure:
Unit
Sentence
Clause
Group
Word
Morpheme
Rank scale
In accordance with this scale, the units are arranged from the largest
which is the ‘sentence’ down to the smallest ‘the morpheme’. Each unit
except the sentence is defined according to its function in the structure of the
unit next above and conversely, each unit except the morpheme is composed
of one or more units of the rank below. So a word consists of one or more
morphemes e.g. climbers (climb, er, s). A unit of group rank consists of one or
more words etc.
The grammar requires that all utterances be described in terms of units

at each rank e.g.
NG VG PP
John is playing with his toys
This is a sentence consisting of a clause, containing three groups, six

words and eight morphemes.
2. Exponence (similar to phrase structure rule in TG)
It is described as relating the categories toeach other and to the data. By

proceeding down this scale, changing rank as necessary, the description
accounts grammatically and then lexically for the formal nature of a unit of
utterance. This process of grammar description involves relating the
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functional structure of a unit to the formal exponence. In terms of this scale,
the structure of a sentence consists of a number of elements denoted by the
Greek letters α (alpha) and β (beta). Each of these elements is expounded by
a unit of clause rank. The structure of a clause is described in terms of
elements S, P, C, A which are expounded by units of the group rank. At the
group rank, the class of unit which may be nominal, adjectival, verbal,
adverbial or prepositional is normally stated. Each group has a structure
consisting, for example, of the elements mhq which are expounded by units
of word rank. Again, the class of words is usually given or stated.
Let us attempt to describe this clause according to the scale of exponence.
John likes cars.
Where
Has the structure of

Is expounded by
H s H α (alpha clause)
Cl Clause
Clause SPC
S nominal group
NG h (headword only)
H Word: Proper noun
Noun John
P Verbal group
VG H (head word only)
H Word: verb (3rd person sing. Present tense)
Verb likes
C Nominal group
NG h (head word)
H Word: noun (plural)
Noun cars
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3. Delicacy: It determines the degree of detail in the analysis. Units of
clause rank are classified at the primary degree of delicacy into
free/alpha and bound/beta clauses.
At the secondary degree of delicacy, they must be analysed in terms of

an extended system of Greek letters marking the degree of grammatical
subordination or distance from the alpha clause. At this degree, use the
following:
= Alpha y = gamma = epsilon
= Beta s = delta
[ ] - Rankshifted phrase or group

[[ ]] - Rankshifted clause
||| John loves Mary || but Mary does not love John |||
Primary free free
Secondary α α
Free bound bound bound

|||John said|| that he couldn’t go|| if payment was required|| before he got
his salary|||.
Primary
Secondary α β Y S
e.g. NG in English can also be analysed same way
The first real union bid [for power]
Primary m m m m h q q
Secondary det adj adj noun noun preposition phrase or group

P C
The position [[she has attained]] [in the organization] is enviable
Primary m h q q
Secondary dot noun relative clause prep. Phrase or group
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SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR; A BACKGROUND
During the later half of the 1960s, Halliday’’s work became increasingly
influenced by ideas on the functional nature of language as held for example
by Malinowski and a multifunctional semantic dimension was not merely
added to systemic linguistics but became central to the framework. With the
inclusion of the semantic dimension, syntactic structure no longer held the
same focus of attention nor did the grammar seek to analyse stretches of
actual texts.
At the time of this orientation, the theory became known as systemic
functional grammar. In its enhanced form, the grammar began to account for
the nature of the linguistic system available to the native speaker of the
language and for the selection of options which a person makes when using
language. These options are selected not from the syntax but from the
semantics of the grammar and thus represents the choices of meaning which
the speaker or writer is expressing.
The Metafunctions or Metafunctional Nature of the clause

One of the most distinctive properties of SG is that it provides for the analysis
of a clause or three separate dimensions. The first is the ideational structure
of meaning. In other words, clause as representation – some refer to it as
Transitivity System.
The second is the interpersonal structure/meaning or clause as exchange.
The last is the textual structure/meaning or clause as message. Halliday does
not speak of them as “dimensions” but as “metafunctions” or aspects or kinds
of meaning.
Ideational meaning is the representation of experience.
Interpersonal meaning is meaning as a form of action.
Textual meaning is relevant to the context.
An element of the clause structure may then be assigned a function on each
dimension.
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Ideationally
The lion had caught the tourist near the park
Actor process goal circumstantial element

(material) (of the action)
Interpersonal meaning = Interpersonal
Mood Residue
Subject Finite Predicator Adjunct
Complement
Mood Residue
The lion had caught the touristnear the park
S F P C A
Textual = Theme + Rheme
Theme = the lion
Rheme = had caught the tourist
The lion had caught the tourist near the park

Theme Rheme
Ideational Meaning or Clause as representation
Here, there are three things you look for:
1. Participants in the process
2. Process types
3. Circumstantial elements
There are six process types in English
1. Material process
2. Mental process
3. Relational process
4. Behavioural process
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5. Verbal process
6. Existential process
The relational process again has three options viz:
(a) Attributive
(b) Identifying
(c) Possessive
The process type tells you what type of participant are involved.
The Material Processes

These are processes of “doing” something. They express the notion that
some entity “does” something which may be done to some other entity. The
participants are the actors and the goal. Every material process has an actor
and some processes but not all also have a second participant which is called
a goal.
Jide kicked the ball
Actor M. Process Goal
The lion sprang

Actor M. Process
If material processes are processes of doing, we can ask about such
processes or “probe” them in this way e.g. based on earlier clause, we can
ask:
What did Jide do?
M. Process are not necessarily concrete or physical events. They may be
abstract doings or happenings e.g.
The chairman resigned
Actor M. Process
The chairman dissolved the Committee

Actor M.P Goal
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The boy swam
Actor M. P
The boy was kicked
Goal M. Processes
The two schools combined
Actor M. Process
Dr., Bamiro teaches English
Actor M. Process Goal
Mental Process
The two(2) kinds of participants here are ‘the senser’ and ‘phenomenon’.
There are clauses which are unlike material process clauses and require a
different functional interpretation. Clauses of ‘feelings’, ‘thinking’ and
‘perceiving’ can be grouped together under the general heading of mental
process. Obviously, clauses expressing material or mental processes are
different in meaning. For the two participants in a mental process, we use the
terms ‘senser’ and ‘phenomenon’.
The senser is the conscious participant that is thinking, feeling or seeing. The
phenomenon is that which is sensed i.e. felt, thought or seen.
The senser is the conscious participant that is thinking, feeling or seeing. The
phenomenon is that which is sensed i.e. felt, thought or seen.
Within the overall category of mental process, feeling, thinking and seeing
then constitute the principal sub-types. We shall label them in more general
term as:
1. Perception – like seeing, hearing etc
2. Affection – like liking, fearing, etc
3. Cognition – like thinking, knowing, understanding
It worries me
Phenomenon Mental Process Senser
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I don’t like it
Senser Mental Process Phenomenon
Youneedn’t be scared
Senser Mental Process
The lecturer taught physics /but/ the students did not understandhim
Actor M.P goal senser Mental Process
Phenomenon
RELATIONAL PROCESS
If material processes are those of doing and mental processes those of
sensing, the other main process relational processes are those of being, for
example ‘Sarah is wise’, ‘Tom is the leader’.
The central meaning of clauses of this type is that: something is – with ‘is’
being the central verb.
English grammar accommodates a number of distinct ways of being
expressed as different types of relational process in a clause. It can be
summarized as follows:
1. Intensive “x is A”eg John is wise.
2. Circumstantial: “x is at A’e.g. the ball is in the room.
3. Possessive: “x has A” e.g. John has a ball.
Each of these comes in two modes viz
1. Attributive: “A is the identity of x”
All of the above give the main types of relational process tabulated below:
Attributive Identifying
1. Intensive: Sarah is wise: Tom is the leader
2. Circumstantial: “x is at A”e.g. the ball is in the room.
3. Possessive: “x has A” e.g. John has a ball.
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Each of these comes in two modes viz:
1. Attributive: “A is an attribute of x”
2. Identifying: “A is the identity of x”
All of the above give the main types of relational process tabulated below:
Attributive Identifying
1. Intensive: Sarah is wise: Tom is the leader
2. circumstantial: the fair is: Tomorrow is the 10th on Tuesday
3. Possessive: Peter has a piano: The piano is Peter’s.
NB: In identifying you can reverse the clause and it is still grammatical.
In the attributive mode, an attribute is ascribed to some entity either as a
quality (intensive), circumstance of time, place etc (i.e. circumstantial) or as a
possession (possessive).
Structurally, this defines the two elements or participants in an attributive

relational process clause. The participants are carrier and attribute e.g in
Sarah is wise
Carrier R.P attribute
The queen was in the parlour

In the identifying mode, one entity is used to identify another. These are two
participants in identifying relational process clause, they are Identified and
Identifier e.g.
John is the leader

Identified R.P Identifier
Tomorrow is the 10th

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The Parrot is a talkative bird
King Lions was the King of France

My name is Simon
BEHAVIOURAL PROCESSES
Are processes of physiological and psychological behaviour like breathing,
dreaming, smiling, coughing etc. Grammatically, they are intermediate
between material and mental processes. The behaviour (the only participant)
is typically a conscious being like the senser but the process functions more
like one of doing. The usual unmarked present tense for behavioural process
in contemporary English is the present in present (present continuous or
progressive) e.g. why do you laugh where laugh is the behavioural process –
why are you laughing – where laughing is the behavioural process.
The majority of the behavioural process clauses have one participant only e.g
Musa neither laughs nor smiles – where Musa is the behaver, the (VG) is the
behavioural process.
The widow sighed deeply
Behaviour b.p circumstantial element
I weep for you
Behaver b.p circumstantial or beneficial or recipient.
The Verbal Process

There are processes of saying but saying has to be interpreted in a rather
broad sense. It covers any kind of symbolic exchange of meaning e.g ‘the
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notice tells you to keep quiet’.
V.P
V. Process
The main participant in a V. Process clause is the ‘sayer’. Two other functions
regularly in a verbal process are; the receiver: the one to whom the
verbalization is addressed and the other is the name for the verbalization
itself which is tagged the verbiage e.g.
John told a pack of lies
Sayer V.P Verbiage
There is however one other type of V.Process in which the sayer is in a sense
accounting verbally on another direct participant with verbs such as ‘praise’,
‘insult’, ‘slander’, ‘abuse’, ‘flatter’, etc. These other participants will be refered
to as the target e..g
He is always abusing her
Sayer V. Process Target/receiver
The Press often flatters the President

Sayer V.Process Target/Receiver
The traffic light says stop

Sayer V.P Verbiage
Existential Process
This represents that something exists or happens e.g. There was a little dog.
The signal for this is the empty subject THERE – which indicates something
exists or happens.
There was a little dog
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E.P Existent
These clauses typically have the verb BE or some other verb expressing
existence such as exist or arise followed by a nominal group functioning as
existent.
There was a battle
E.P existent
There followed an angry debate
E.P existent
There was an old woman rolled up in a blanket

E.P existent Material circumstantial
Process element
There is a patient to see you

E.P existent Mental Process phenomenon
There is someone waiting at the door
EP existent circumstantial element
BENEFICIARY
It is the recipient and often equivalent to the direct object in traditional
grammar. Again the two (2) nominal groups can be reversed e.g.
I gave my love a red rose
Beneficiary
I gave a red rose to my love
Beneficiary
SUMMARY
Process Type Category Participant
1. Material doing actor-goal
2. Mental Sensing senser-phenomenon
3. Relational being
4a. Attribution Attributive Career-attribute
(b) Identification Identifying Identified-Identifier
5. Behaviour Behaver
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Verbal Saying Sayer-target/receiver or
Verbiage
Existential Existing Exist
Clause as Exchange = Interpersonal
Mood Residue
Adjunct
Subject Finite Predicator Complement
Time Modality
Subject
The subject supplies what it takes to form a proposition namely, something by
reference to which the proposition can be affirmed or denied e.g.
John has given away that bicycle! so, the subject John specifies the entry in
respect of which the assertion is claimed to have validity. It is John in other
words, in whom is vested the success or failure of the proposition. He is the
one that is, so to speak, being held responsible for the functioning of the
clause as an interactive event.
Finite
The finite element as its name implies has the function of making the
proposition or information. Finite, that is to say, circumscribes the proposition
down to earth so that it is something that can be argued about. A good way
to make something arguable is to give it a point of reference in the here and
now and this is what the finite does. It relates the proposition to its context in
the speech event and this can be done in one of two ways.
One, is by reference to the time of speaking, hence the notion of time and
tense. The other is by reference to the judgement of the speaker. (An oldman
was crossing the road)
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I
time reference
F,
It can’t be true
I
Inability (speaker’s judgement)
In grammatical terms the first was is ‘primary tense’& the second can’t is
‘modality’.
‘Primary tense’ means past, present or future of the moment of speaking. it is

time relative to “now.” A proposition may become arguable by having its
reference is to the speech event specified in terms of past, present or future.
Modality means the speaker’s judgement of the probabilities or the obligation

involved in what he is saying. A proposition may become arguable by being
presented as likely or unlikely desirable or undesirable. In other words, its
reference specified in modal terms.
Finiteness is thus expressed by means of a verbal operator which is either

temporal or modal. These verbal operators are listed in the following table:
Temporal Operators
Past Present Future

Did, was, had, used to Does, is, has, Will, shall, would,
should
Modal Operators: can, may, could, might, will, should, must, ought to, need,
has to, had to.
Mood
S F P C A
John/ has/been given /that bicycle/ by Joy//
F S
Hasn’t he?
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Tag questions like Hasn’t he? above are known as mood tag in systemic
grammar.
Mood Residue
S F P C F S
Tom has //given/ John that bicycle// Hasn’t he?
Mood
S F P C A F S
That bicycle /has/ been given/ John/ by Tom//Hasn’t it?
Predicator
The predicator is present in all non-elliptical major clauses. Apart from certain
clauses with verbs such as BE & HAVE, it is realized by a verbal group minus
the temporal or modal operator which as we have seen functions as finite in
the mood structure.
F P
The sun was shinning yesterday
F P
The men have been working
F P
The principal may be going to be replaced.
The function of the P is threefold:
1. It specifies time reference other than reference to the time of the

speech event. In other words, it specifies secondary tense – past,
present or future, relative to the primary.
2. It specifies the voice – whether active or passive
25
3. It specifies the processes – material, mental, relational etc. It specifies
the process that is predicated by the subject.
F P
has been trying to be seen
In terms of the third function, the above VG expresses:
1. A complex secondary tense (been + ing)
2. A conative face (try + to)
3. A passive voice (be + -ed)
4. A mental process (seeing)
Complement
A complement is an element within the residue that has the potential of being
subject but not. It is realized typically by a Nominal Group (NG).
Finite is embedded
Mood Residue
John gave Tom that bicycle
Adjunct
It is an element that has not got the potential of being subject. It is typically
realized by an adverbial group or a preposition phrase e.g.
A1 A2
Tom was given that bicycle yesterday by John
Wh – interrogative
The wh – element is a distinct element in the interpersonal structure of the
clause. It’s function is to specify the entity that the questioner wishes to have
supplied. The wh – element is always conflated (married) with one or another
of the three functions:
Subject, Complement or Adjunct
26
It is conflated with the S, it is part of the mood element and the other within
the mood element must therefore be subject finite as shown below:
Who killed CORK Robin
Mood
Subject Finite
Who -ed
If on the other hand, the wh-element is conflated with a complement or
adjunct, it is part of the residue. And in that case, we have finite preceeding
subject as in the following example:
Whose little boy are you?
Complement Finite Subject
Mood
Where have all the flowers gone?
Adjunct finite subject predicator
Here, the subject has intruded into the VG which then will be known as
phrased or discontinuous VG.
Imperatives
Imperative clauses may have a mood element consisting of finite and subject
or one consisting of finite and subject or one consisting of finite only or
subject only or no mood element at all. Whether or not there is a mood
element and whatever its structure, an imperative clause may also have a
mood tag e.g
Come into my parlour, will you?
Pred adjunct finite subject
Residue Mood tag
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Do take care, won’t you?
Finite predicator complement
Mood
Let’s go home, shall we?
Subject Predicator Adjunct
Mood Residue
Don’t you believe it?

Finite Subject Predicator Complement
Mood
CLAUSE AS MESSAGE
In English as in many other languages, the clause is organized as a message
by having a special status assigned to one part of it. One element of the
clause is known as the theme. This then combines with the remainder so that
the two (2) parts together constitute a message. In English, the theme is
indicated by position in the clause. In speaking or writing English, we signal
that an item has thematic status by quoting it first, no other signal is
necessary. We shall use the term THEME as the label for this function. The
theme is the element which serves as point of departure of the message, it is
that with which the clause is concerned. The remainder of the message, the
part in which the theme is developed is called the RHEME as a message
structure therefore, a clause consists of a Theme accompanied by a Rheme
and the structure is expressed by this order. Whatever is chosen as the
theme is put first. The configuration is:
Theme Rheme
The man has given the boy that ball
The boy has been given that ball by the man.
Theme Rheme
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As a general guide, the theme can be identified as that element which comes
in first position in the clause. The theme is the starting point for the message.
It is what the clause is going to be about so part of the meaning of any clause
lies in which element is chosen as its theme. E.g.
One kobo is the smallest Nigerian coin
Theme
The smallest Nigerian coin is one kobo
(theme)
The theme is not necessarily a Nominal Group as in the preceeding
examples. It may also be an adverbial group or a prepositional phrase as in
the following examples;
Theme
Once I was a teacher (the theme is marked)
Very carefully she put him back on his feet again (the theme is marked)
Theme
On Friday night I will go to Bwari.

All the examples given so far are simple themes of just one constituent i.e.
Nominal Group (NG) – One Kobo
Adverbial Group (AG) – Once
Preopositional/phrase – On Friday night

However, simple themes can be of more than one constituent. E.g.
The Kingof the city is coming to town
NG + Prep. Phrase
The man in the wilderness planted those trees
NG + Prep. Phrase
With sobs and tears we sorted out those of the largest size.
A common variant of this elementary pattern is that in which the theme
consists of two (2) or more elements forming a single complex element. Any
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element of clause structure may be represented by two (2) or more groups or
phrases forming a complex one (group complex or phrase complex). Such a
complex functions as a theme in the normal way.
E.g. The boy and the girl were going down the road.
Theme
Tom, the Carpenter’s son stole a book

(NG, Complex) i.e. Systemic analysis)
(NG, i.e. scale and category linguistics)
From house to house/I searched in vain
Theme (marked)
DECLARATIVE, INTERROGATIVE & IMPERATIVE CLAUSES

In declarative clauses, the typical pattern is one in which theme is conficted
with subject that is the natural pattern e.g.
The boy has lost his ball
Theme and subject
The man has given the boy that ball

Theme and subject
The boy has been given that ball by the man

Theme and subject
We shall refer to the marking of theme on to subject as the unmarked theme
of the declarative clause. A theme that is something other than the subject in
a declarative clause, we shall refer to it as a marked theme.
The most usual form of marked theme is an adverbial group e.g. Today he
came to the lecturer (Marked theme).
Suddenly he fell down
(Marked theme)
At night, he came to the dinner
30
(Marked (theme, i.e. Prep phrase)
In the corner he sat down to read
(Marked theme)
Least likely to be thematic is a complement which is a Nominal Group that is
not functioning as subject. Something that could have been a subject but it is
not. Consequently, the “Most marked” type of theme in a declarative clause is
a complement e.g.
Nature I loved
(marked theme)
This responsibility we fully accepted
(marked theme)
Me, they blamed for it (marked theme)
(marked theme)
You it is that will do it.
(marked theme)
Two things we used to comment on.
(Marked theme)
Smoking, I could do without

(Marked theme)
Sometimes even the complement from within a prepositional phrase functions
as theme.
In God we trust
(Marked Theme) Rheme

(Ideationally) In God we trust
C.E Sewer Mental Phrase
Themes In Interrogative Clauses

There are two main types of questions:
31
1. Where what the speaker wants to know in the polarity. Yes/no question:
Is John there?
Can you play football?
2. Where what the speaker wants to know in the identity of some elements
in the content, the so-called wh-question e.g.
Who will fetch the water?
Where have all the roses gone?
In both types, the word indicating what the speaker wants to know comes
first. In a Yes/No question which is the question about polarity; the element
that embodies the expression of polarity is the Finite verb. It is the finite verb
in English that expresses positive or negative e.g.
Is vs Isn’t, do vs don’t, can vs, can’t. So in a Yes/No question, the finite verb
is put first before the subject. In a what question which is a search for a
missing piece of information, the element that functions as theme is the
element that requests for this information, namely the wh-element. It is the
wh-element that expresses the nature of the missing piece words like: who,
what, when, how, etc. So, in a wh-interrogative, the wh-element is put first.
No matter what other function it has in the mood structure of the clause
whether as Subject, Adjunct or Complement, consequently, in a wh-
interrogative, the theme is constituted mainly by the wh-element i.e. the group
or phrase in which the wh occurs e.g. who killed the plan?
Theme Rheme
Whose little boy are you?
Theme Rheme
With, what shall I mend it?

Theme Rheme
Where have all the flowers gone?

Theme Rheme
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How many miles to Lagos?
Theme Rheme
In a Yes/No question, the theme includes the Finite verb but it extends over
the subject as well. Finite verb + subject forms a two (2) part Theme e.g.
Can you find the pen?
Theme(1) Theme(2)
Is anybody at home
Theme(1) Theme(2)
Should old friends be forgotten?

Theme(1) Theme (2)
But Marked Themes do sometimes occur in questions as in the following
examples:
After dinner will you tell me a story?
(Marked theme) Rheme
In your house who does the cooking?

(Marked theme) Rheme
THEME IN IMPERATIVE CLAUSES

The basic message of an imperative clause is, ‘I want you to do something or
I want us (you and me to do something)’? Hence, the unmarked theme is You
or Let’s (Jussive imperative). You keep quiet.
(Umarked theme)
Let’s do it.
(unmarked theme)
Another form of the imperative has the finite verb Do. The function of this is
to mark the clause explicitly as positive not negative in Do keep quiet.
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Do Let’s go home
Rheme
In both forms, the unmarked theme is Do and the rest is the Rheme. In a
negative imperative where the meaning is ‘I want you or us not to do
something’ The theme is typically Don’t E.g. ‘Don’t argue’, where the
unmarked theme is ‘Don’t’ and ‘argue’ is the Rheme.
Keep quiet
Rheme
Eclipse or The Disappearance of the Sentence as a Grammatical Unit

This can perhaps be explained by the increased interest in the nature and
structure of text or discourse as distinct from grammatical structure alone.
Clearly, grammatical units are crucial to the formation of a text but equally
essential to its nature in the use of various cohesive devices such as:
Reference, Substitution, Ellipsis, Conjunction and Lexical cohesion.
Reference occurs where items instead of being interpreted semantically in
their own right make reference to something else for their interpretation. In
English, personal pronouns, demonstratives and comparatives, locative and
temporal adverbs, fall under this category e.g. Dr. Jones went to New York in
a shower of rain. He was so thoroughly soaked that he never went there
again.
He – Jones
There – adverb of place (i.e. New York).
Substitution is a relation between linguistic items such as words or phrases.
Halliday & Hassan (1976) distinguished between three (3) sub-types of
substitution.
Nominal, verbal and clausal as exemplified in the following sentences:
My axe is too blunt, I must get a sharper one. – axe – one i.e. one – axe (Norminal)
I want rice, get me same.
Same – rice – (Nominal)
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You think John already knows (verbal)
I think everybody does. Does – knows
Has John left?

I think so.
So – John has left (clausal)
3. Ellipsis is closely related to substitution. Ellipsis can be interpreted as

that form of substitution in which the item is replaced by zero or nothing. As
with substitution, nominal, verbal and clausal sub types are recognized as
exemplified in the following sentences’; which lasts longer, the curved rods or
the straight rods?’
The straight are least likely to break.
Rod is ellipted (i.e. Nominal ellipsis)
Have you been reading?

Yes I have. (Predicator is ellipted).
Can you swim?

Yes. (i.e. clausal ellipsis) – Yes (I can swim).
Halliday and Hansan’s 4th type of cohesive device which is conjuction is
rather different from others in that conjunctive elements are cohesive not in
themselves but indirectly by virtue of their specific meanings. They are not
primarily devices to reaching out into the preceeding of following texts but
they express certain meanings which presuppose the presence of other
components in the discourse. Four (4) types of conjunctive relations are
discussed by Halliday & Hassan:
1. Additive conjunction: e.g. Jack fell down and broke his crown
2. Adversative E.g. I went to the market but I couldn’t buy anything.
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3. Causal: cause and effect kind of relationship e.g. The student failed last
session so he worked harder the next session.
4. Temporal i.e. Time sequence: e.g
He ate his lunch then cleaned the plates.
The final type of cohesion discussed by Halliday and Hassan which is lexical
cohesion is achieved by the relationship between identical lexical items or
items from the same lexical field. The five (5) types of lexical cohesion are
exemplified in the following sentences numbered 1 – 5:
1. There is a boy climbing that tree.
2. The boy is going to fall if he doesn’t take care.
3. There is a boy climbing that tree that child is going to fall if he doesn’t
take care.
4. There is a boy climbing that tree that idiot is going to fall if he doesn’t
take care.
5. Why does this little boy riggle all the time, girls don’t riggle.
In example 1, the same item boy is repeated. In 2 a near synonym lad is

used instead of boy. In 3 the item child is a superordinate of boy or boy is a
hyponym of child. Example 4 uses a general word idiot which can give a
cohesive link with any noun representing a human being. Example 5
illustrates the use of items boy and girl which regularly collocate.
Cohesion is seen by Halliday and Hasan as one of two (2) respects in which
a text displays coherence. Cohesion is coherence of the text as an entity in
itself but a text must also be coherent with respect to the context of situation
in which it is produced. Three (3) dimensions are proposed for analysing
context of situation and these are: Field, Tenor and Mode.
Field refers to the nature of the social action. What it is the participants are
about.
Tenor refers to the statuses and role relationships, i.e, who is taking part in
the interaction.
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Mode refers to the rhetorical channel and function of the discourse. In other
words, what part of the text is playing out.
The Emergence of the Clause Complex

In Systemic Functional Grammar, the term ‘sentence’ used in scale and
category grammar was replaced with the term ‘clause-complex’. A clause
complex thus becomes the only grammatical unit which is recognized above
the clause hence there is no need to bring in the term ‘sentence’ as a distinct
grammatical category. We may simply use the term ‘sentence’ to refer to the
orthographic or graphological unit that is enclosed between full-stops”. This
avoids ambiguity. A sentence is a constituent of writing while a clause-
complex is a constituent of grammar hence in the analysis of a written text,
each sentence can be treated as one clause – complex with the “simple
sentence or one clause complex as the limiting case’.
In the systemic functional orientation, it will be noticed that Halliday has only
four (4) grammatical units that are now recognized. These grammatical units
are: clause – Group – word – morpheme. The sentence has thus
disappeared as a grammatical unit and the term ‘clause – complex’ is
introduced to denote the largest grammatical structure.
37
Clause
Group Verbal Nominal Adverbial Prepositional
Word Verb Noun Adverb Preposition
Morpheme
Halliday also proposes two (2) dimensions in the interpretation and analysis
of the clause-complex.
One is the system of interdependency or tactic system (taxis), specifically
known as ‘parataxis and hypotaxis’ which are general to all clause –
complexes. The other is the ‘logical semantic relation’ of ‘expansion and
projection’ which is specifically an inter-clausal relation. The implication of
proposing a logical semantic system of expansion and projection is to add a
tertiary degree of delicacy to the analysis and description of the clause-
complex whereas scale and category grammar only proposed the primary
and secondary degrees of delicacy.
In parataxis, the clauses have equal status while in hypotaxis the clauses
have unequal status. Whereas in scale and category grammer the Greek
symbol α (alfa) was used to indicate paratactic structures, in systemic
functional grammar, the Arabic numerals like: 1, 2, 3, 4 are introduced to
represent paratactic structures at the secondary degree of delicacy. However,
the Greek letters: β, Y, E, S (Bea, Gamma, Epsilon and delta) are still
retained to describe hypotactic structures at the secondary degree of
delicacy.
At the tertiary degree of delicacy, there is a wide range of different logical-

semantic relations which may hold between a primary and a secondary
clause.
38
But it is possible to group this logical-semantic relations into a small number
of general types based on the two (2) fundamental relationships of :
1. Expansion and (2) Projection
Furthermore, within the general categories of expansion and projection, we

recognise first of all a small number of sub-types: Three (3) of Expansion and
two (2) of projection. The names of these with suggested notations are as
follows;
1. [ elaboration = (equals to]
Expansion [ extension + (is added to)
[enhancement x (is multiplied by)
2. Projection Locution
Idea
PARATACTICE ELABORATION
In paratactic elaboration, one clause elaborates on the meaning of another by
further specifying the clause or describing it. The secondary clause does not
introduce a new idea or element into the picture but rather provides a further
characterisation of one that is already there that is restating it, clarifying it,
refining it or adding a descriptive attribute or comment.
///John didn’t wait;// He ran away///

PRIMARY: Primary Secondary
Secondary; 1 = 2
TERTIARY: PARATACTIC ELABORATION
John could only look puzzled: He was thinking of the cake
Primary Secondary
Primary:
Secondary: I
Tertiary: PARATACTIC ELABORATION
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In written language, paratactic elaboration is usually signalled by a special
punctuation mark such as the colon, semi colon or dash. The variant of this is
hypotactic elaboration. The combination of elaboration with hypotaxis gives
the category of non-defining relative clause also called non-restictive relative
clause. Relative clauses are usually introduced by Binding Adjuncts such as
who, which, that, when and whose.
e.g./// John ran away,/// which surprised everyone///
PRIMARY Primary Secondary
SECONDARY α = β = Clause
TERTIARY HYPOTACTIC ELABORATION
We should not confuse a non-defining relative clause with a defining relative
clause. The main criterion used to distinguish between the two (2) of relative
clauses is that in written English, a non-defining relative clause is marked off
by a punctuation mark usually commas but sometimes with a dash.
On the other hand, a defining relative clause is not separated by punctuation
from its antecedent.
PARATACTICE EXTENSION
In paratactic extension, one clause extends the other by adding something
new to it. What is added may just be an addition or a replacement or an
alternative. The combination of extension with parataxis yield what is known
as coordination between clauses. It is typically expressed or signalled by the
conjunctions – and, nor, or, but, e.g., John ran away and Simon stayed
behind.
Primary clause: John ran away
Secondary: Simon stayed behind
Tertiary: Paratactic extension
They played the game well but they lost it.
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Primary Clause: Primary Secondary
Secondary /d/ α β
HYPOTACTIC EXTENSION
The combination of extension with hypotaxis also embraces addition,
replacement and alternation but with the extending clause being dependent.
The dependent clause may be finite or non-finite.
If finite, hypotactic clauses of addition are introduced by the conjunction
whereas and while e.g. John ran away whereas Simon stayed behind.
Primary; John ran away (primary clause)
Simon stayed behind (secondary clause)
Secondary:John ran away –α clause
Tertiary: hypotactic extension
The king and his chiefs were all talking at once while the subjects were silent.
Primary degree: The king and his chiefs were all talking at once (primary
clause).
The subjects were silent (secondary clause)
Secondary degree: α+β
Tertiary hypotactic extension
The non-finite form of hypotactic extension is often but not always introduced
by a preposition functioning conjunctively i.e. prepositions such as: besides,
instead of e.g.
Secondary clause: Besides missing the wedding, she had to spend the
whole week in hospital.
Primary degree: We need to go away at the weekend instead of staying at
home (secondary clause) – non-finite (dependent clause)
Secondary degree: α + β
Tertiary: hypotactic extension
PARATCTIC ENHANCEMENT
41
The notation is 1 x 2 i.e. the primary clause multiplied by the secondary
clause. In paratactic enhancement, one clause enhances the meaning of
another by qualifying it in one of a number of ways i.e. by reference to time,
place, manner, cause or condition. The combination of enhancement with
parataxis yields what is also a kind of coordination but with a circumstantial
feature incorporated into the clause-complex. It is typically expressed or
signalled firstly by a conjunction such as – then, so, for, yet, still.
Secondly, by a conjunction group with – ‘and’ as the preceeding conjunction

e.g ‘and’ ‘then’, and their, and thus, and so, and yet. Or thirdly by the
conjunction ‘and’ in combination with a conjunctive such as – and at that time,
and soon afterwards until then, ‘and in that case’, and in that way,’ etc. E.g.
John was scared so he ran away
Primary Primary Clause secondary clause
HYPOTACTIC ENHANCEMENT: α + β
The combination of enhancement with hypotaxis gave what is known in
Traditional grammar as “Adverbial clauses”. Hypotactic enhancement may
refer to clause of time, place, manner, cause, condition and concession.
There may be finite or non-finite. E.g.
John ran away because he was scared
Primary degree Primary d HYP. ENH. Secondary clause
Secondary degree α β
After Jane had left John came

Primary degree secondary clause Primary clause
Secondary x β α
Tertiary hypotactic enhancement
(None finite) To pass this course simply study hard
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Primary: Secondary clause Primary clause
Secondary x β α
Tertiary: hypotactic enhancement
PROJECTION
The first sub-type is paractactic locution (to say something). The notion is 1
“2”. The simplest form of paractactic locution is direct or quoted speech. The
projecting clause is a verbal process, one of saying and the projected clause
represents that which is said in written English.
The projection is signalled by quotation marks or inverted commas. Verbs
used in quoting clauses include – say, tell, remark, observed, point out,
announce, ask, demand, enquire, query, reply.
e.g. John said: “I am running away”
projecting clause Projected clause
Primary degree Primary clause Secondary clause
Secondary degree 1 2
Tertiary: Paratactic locution
= “Ceasar was ambitious” says Brutus.
Hypotactic Locution: says Brutus.
Hypotactic locution is equivalent to the “reported speech” or “indirect speech’
of traditional grammar whereas in paratactic locution, the projected element
has independent status. Hypotactic locution presents the projected element
as dependent. However in most cases, verbs used in reporting statements
and questions are largely the same as those used in quoting. Also, it is
possible to convert a paratactic locution into a hypotactic one as the following
examples will demonstrate.
John said, I am running away
Jon said (that) he was running away
PR PR SEC
43
SEC α “β
Brutus said (that) Ceasear was ambitious
PR PR SEC
SEC α “β
Paratactic Idea ( This deals with a mental event): 1^2. Paratactic idea is a
mental event. Paratactic ideas are more restricted and only certain mental
process verbs that are regularly used in this way. Mental processes such as
‘think’, ‘wonder’, ‘reflect’, ‘surmise’ (guess). To represent a paratactic idea, we
use a mental process, e.g.
John thought to himself, “I will run away”
M.P
PR PR SEC
SEC 1 2
Tertiary Paratactic Idea
“I thought: “I just disappear”
PR PR SEC
“
SEC 1 2
“I will punish the criminal”, mused the king.
PR PR SEC
“
SEC 1 2
Hypotactic Idea; α “β
Like paratactic idea, hypotactic idea is also a mental event to represent

hypotacticdiea. We use a mental process verb + a report of the mental act.
In hypotactic idea, the two (2) clauses have unequal status e.g.
John thought he will run away
PR PR SEC
SEC α “β
Tertiary hypothctic idea
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Mary thought she would go back there the next day
PR PR SEC
SEC α “β
INTRODUCTION
Grammar is a description of the structure of language and the way in which
linguistic units such as words and phrases are combined to produce sentences in a
language. It takes into account the meaning and functions of those structures in the
overall system of language. It refers to that branch of the description of languages
which accounts for the way in which words are combined to form sentences.
Grammar is traditionally divided into two, namely; Morphology and Syntax.
Morphology studies the internal structure of the form of words. It deals with
the study of morphemes, which is the smallest grammatical unit as well as the
smallest element of meaning and how these morphemes are joined together. Syntax
on the other hand, concerns itself with the way in which words are put together i.e.
the study of sentence structures.
Grammatical theory is a system of rule which governs the production and use
of utterances in a given language. These rules cover areas such as phonology,
morphology and syntax. Various grammatical theories have been propounded by
scholars of language at different times, since the inception of linguistic studies in
Greece. Some of the earliest theories of grammar include; Traditional grammar,
Transformational grammar/ Transformational generative grammar, structural
grammar and systemic grammar. Overtime, other notable theories have come to be,
45
some of which have their footings in the four orthodox theories listed above. Two of
these theories will be discussed in this study.
STRUCTURAL GRAMMAR
The structural linguists began to study language in terms of observation and
verifiable data. They described it according to the way it was being used and with
these, they emphasized on the following points.
1. Spoken language is primary and writing is secondary. Writing, to the structural
linguist is only a means of representing speech in another medium.
2. The synchronic study of language should take precedence over its diachronic
study.
3. Language is a system of systems; it has a structure of its own. Language is
regarded by the structural linguists as a system of relations. The elements of
this system (sounds, words) have no validity independent of the relation of
equivalence contrast.
Structural grammar attempted to discuss language in terms of its structure as it is
used, and tried to look for regulations and patterns or rules in language structure.
Bloomfield envisaged that language structure was associated with phonemes and
morphemes as a unit of grammar.
In order to study the structure of a sentence, a linguist must be aware of the string of
phonemes or morphemes that make up the sentence. The structural linguists thought
of dividing a sentence into its immediate constituents. The principle involved was
46
that of cutting a sentence into two, and further cutting till the smallest unit, the
morpheme was arrived at.
IMMEDIATE CONSTITUENT ANALYSIS
Immediate Constituent Analysis (ICA), is a method of sentence analysis founded by
Leonard Bloomfield and further developed by Rulon Wells. The practice of
Immediate Constituent Analysis (ICA) widespread. It also gives illustration of how
sentences are analyzed and divided into constituents, that is, in large constructions.
Daily usage of a language leads people to understand more about how the language is
produced. The different interpretations of a language lead to different understandings
of the people who use it or even listen to it.
Analyzing a human language is very important to minimize the miscalculation
of the aspects inside the language. Immediate Constituent Analysis of a sentence can
be represented as a labeled bracketing of the sentence in which matched brackets
enclose a constituent subpart of the sentence and label on these brackets specify the
grammatical category of the constituent.
The Immediate Constituent Analysis process reached a full-blown strategy for
analyzing sentence structures in the early works of Noam Chomsky. Most of the
structures employed to represent the syntactic structure of sentences are parts of
some form of Immediate Constituent Analysis.
Immediate Constituent Analysis ignored meaning and emphasized that
language should be studied in a mechanical way, and a linguist should therefore
47
discover the various constituents of language as elements in the larger construction,
which is called a sentence.
Immediate Constituent Analysis is an implicit assumption that linguistic structure,

especially syntactic structures are layered structures amenable to analysis by
progressive dichotomous cutting.
Furthermore, Immediate Constituent Analysis is that system of grammatical
analysis that breaksup sentences into sequential layers, or constituents until in the
final layer, and every constituent consists of only a word or meaningful part of a
word. Immediate constituent Analysis is one of the easiest methods of analyzing a
sentence linguistically. This process is about the ultimate constituent of a sentence
and their relationship with one another.
This method was first introduced by Bloomfield in 1939. He illustrated that a
sentence can be split into two immediate constituent which may be analyzed for
further constituents. In other words, the techniques employed in this approach is
designed to show how small constituents (or components) in sentences go together to
form larger constituents. In the following sentence, we identify eight constituents (at
the word level):
‘Her father brought a short gun to the wedding’.
How do these eight constituents go together to form constituents at the phrase level?
Does it seem appropriate to put the words together as follows?
Wedding a father brought shotgun to the
We do not normally think of these combinations in English. We are likely to say that
it’s a phrase-like constituent.
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Here are combinations of the following types: Her father, a shotgun, the wedding,
which are noun phrases; to the wedding, which is a prepositional phrase; brought a
shotgun, which is a verb phrase.
Analysis of the constituent structure of the sentence can be represented in different

types of diagrams thus: the family tree diagrams are labeled and bracketed sentences
as an alternative type of diagram designed to show how the constituents of a sentence
structure can be marked off via labeled bracket terms: Ultimate, immediate, and
larger construction, linear structure.
The concept of constitute and constituent: The important thing to note here is the
fact that constitute, and constituent are relative terms. For example, “poor John” is a
constituent when viewed in relation to “poor” and “John”, but it is a constitute when
viewed in relation to the sentence as a whole.
Morphemes as Ultimate Constituents: The proponents of IC analysis also

emphasized that the ultimate constituents of a sentence are morphemes and not
words. Hockett (1958). Morpheme rather than words are the elementary building
blocks of language in its grammatical aspect.' That the ultimate constituents of
sentence are morphemes and not words is one of the basic assumptions of
grammatical analysis these days but during the early days of linguistics, it was useful
to emphasize such things.
Immediate Constituent Analysis of Sentences:
A single sentence is made up of an NP (subject) and a predicate phrase. This

predicate phrase which is apart from a compulsory verbal group may optionally have
one or more noun phrase(s), preposition phrase(s) and adverbial and adjective
phrases.
How Immediate Constituent Analysis is analyzed
A sentence is divided into major parts or immediate constituents. These constituents

are divided into further immediate constituents until each constituent consists of only
one meaningful part of a word. All these are presented in diagrams usually in tree
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form or labeled brackets that reveals the hierarchical immediate constituent structure.
Here are some examples:
“The dog followed the boy”.
The sentence is divided into major parts or immediate constituents.
The dog followed the boy
Subject Predicate
NP VP NP
Det N V Det N
[The][dog] [followed] [the] [ boy]
With this procedure the different constituents of the sentence are shown at the word
level [The], at the phrase level [the dog], and at the sentence level [The dog followed
the boy].
We can of course label each constituent with grammatical terms such as Det
(=Determiner), VP (=Verb phrase), NP (=Noun phrase), v (=verb), VP (=Verb
phrase) and S (= Sentence).
In the above diagram, these labels are placed beside or on top of each bracket which
marks the beginning of a constituent. The result is a labelled and bracket analysis of
the constituent structure of the sentence.
Subject Predicate
NP VP
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Det N V NP
Det N
The dog followed the boy
The procedure of a family tree divided into different constituents of a sentence can be
shown as follows:
S = NP + VP
NP = Det + N
VP = V+NP
NP = Det + N
The result is a family tree diagram analysis of the constituent structure of the
sentence
E.g. 2. Her father brought a short gun to the wedding.
the sentence is divided into major parts or immediate constituents
S P
Her father brought a short gun to the wedding
S
NP VP NP PP
Det N V Det N Prep Det N

[Her][father] [brought] [a][shotgun] [to] [the ] [wedding]
level [Her], at the phrase level [Her father] and at the sentence level [Her father
brought a short gun to the wedding]. Each constituent is labeled with a grammatical
term such as Det (=Determiner), VP (=Verb phrase), NP (=Noun phrase), v (=verb),
VP (=Verb phrase), Aux (=Auxiliary), Adj (=Adjective), PP (=Prepositional phrase)

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and S(= Sentence). In the above diagram, these labels are placed beside each bracket,
which marks the beginning of a constituent. The result is a label and bracket analysis
of the constituent structure of the sentence.
Example 3
Ade washed the plate.
This sentence is divided into two immediate constituents:
Ade/ washed the plate.
Subject Predicate
1a Ade – is subject
1b. washed the plate- predicate
The constituents are further divided into the immediate components. Ade/ washed/
the/ plate.
S S=NP+VP
NP=N
VP=V+NP
NP+DET+N
N VP
Ade
V NP
washed
Det N
the plate
sentence.
OR
NP VP NP
Det
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N V Det N
[Ade] [washed] [the][ plate]
level [Ade], at the phrase level [Ade washed], and at the sentence level [Ade washed
the plate].
Same result is obtained using a label and bracketed as well as tree diagram analysis of
the constituent structure of the sentence.
In the sentence “The old man ran away,” the first division into immediate
constituents would be between “the old man” and “ran away.”
The immediate constituents of “the old man” and ran away are “the” and “old’’ and
‘man’ and ‘ran’ and ‘away’.
Tree diagram S
NP VP
Det Adj N V Adv
The old Man ran away

S = NP+VP
NP = Det + Adj + N
VP = V+NP
sentence.
Each individual word is a constituent by definition. This is a significant aspect of IC
analysis. A word as the smallest constituent is the final process of IC-analysis.
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2.1.1 Advantages of Immediate Constituent Analysis
A. Identification of the layers of relationship in a construction: IC analysis discovers
the layers of relationship in a construction. English syntax is based on this ability of
structures to function within larger structures, which are, in turn, serving other
functions in still larger, more complex structures (sentences). Composing a more
complex sentence such as:
“The pretty girl put on her red and blue coat kissed her mother and left”.
Demonstrates the nature of relationship that must be negotiated if a hearer or a reader
is to understand such a sentence. Actually, anyone who is capable of understanding
the meaning of the sentence obviously has the mental capacity to keep all those
relationships afloat as he hears or reads the sentence.
B. Fixity of word order: In IC analysis the word order is not disturbed in any way.
This advantage is best demonstrated by sorting the relationship found in the
following sentences which are composed of the same words but which are different in
word order:
1. The boy played marbles on his knees.
2. The boy on his knees played marbles.
3. On his knees the boy played marbles.
These sentences may be said to be stylistically different. In the first, the prepositional
phrase "on his knees" modifies the verb phrase; in the second, it (prep phrase)
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modifies the noun phrase; in the third, it (prep phrase) modifies the entire sentence.
Yet in the word order within the structure "on his knees" does not change.
Limitations of Immediate Constituent Analysis
 Immediate Constituent Analysis does not give room for comparison. For
example:
“She is taller than her sister”.
In this sentence, the sequence – er than is not covered by IC analysis as they
do not form proper grammatical forms. Hence it is not possible to analyse such
structures.
 IC analysis is not below the words: In IC analysis it is tacitly assumed that
there will be no division into pieces. Smaller than words (morphemes) until all
the words have been divided.
 ICA cannot handle ambiguity. For example, “Time flies”. This sentence has
two meanings; (1) Time is flying. (2) The time flies (Time as verb). In such a
case, only proper labeling can solve the problem of such limitation.
 ICA cannot handle unstated elements in a sentence. For example, ‘Hit the
ball’. The omission of ‘you’ in this sentence makes it impossible for ICA to
handle.
 Unbalanced Bracketing: IC analysis does not refer to our grammatical
knowledge. So, it does not take us very far and without the help of labeled
bracketing. We cannot point out the source of ambiguity in many sentences.
The labeled bracketing can be used to differentiate the two possibilities in an
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example that is often against IC analysis.
Flying planes can be dangerous. Here, in one case ‘flying’ is the head of the
noun phrase while on the other hand is ‘planes’.
TRANSFORMATIONAL GENERATIVE GRAMMAR
According to Abochol (78), Transformational Generative Grammar (TGG) is an
approach by the construction of mathematical models either of aspects of languages
or of languages themselves. TGG is generally conceived as a formal grammar; a
grammar which defines a set of rules on the infinite set of sentences that constitute a
language. TGG contains explicit rules specifying the well-formed sentences of a
language; hence, it specifies the well-formed sentences of English. It has been able to
provide an approach for explaining or analysing language structures in terms of
phrase structure rules, transformational rules and morpho-phonemic rule.
Transformational Generative Grammar or Transformational Grammar is
regarded as one of the most influential theories, the central focus in this approach is
Noam Chomsky. It is a theory of grammar that accounts for the constructions of a
language by linguistic and phrase structures.
According to the transformational grammarians, an adequate grammar should
generate grammatical rules, make them as explicit as possible thus, displaying the
mechanism of language use. It explains how the competence of a native speaker of
language can enable him to produce an infinite number of sentences from a finite set.
For example, ‘I ate the food’. The number of words that make up the sentence can be
counted (in its finite form). To Chomsky, his grammar is generative because it can
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generate or create an infinite number of sentences; it is called transformational since a
basic simple sentence like ‘I ate the food’ can be transformed into:
 The food was eaten by me (passive)
 Did I eat the food (question)
 I did not eat the food (negative)
 I ate the food, didn’t I? (tag question)
What has happened is that a simple sentence has been transformed by adding,
deleting, and moving words. These changes also take place through specific rules and
we call these rules transformational rules. Thus, grammar generates and transforms
sentences.
PROPERTIES OF TGG
1. It generates only well-formed sentences of a language. The rules guiding TGG
are defined by the form of language which native speakers consider correct or
well-formed.
2. The grammar is made up of recursive rules; that is the capacity of a rule to be
applied again in order to generate an infinite set of results. For example,
This is the man (finite form)

+
Who rode the bicycle
+
That was commissioned by the commissioner
+
Last year
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TGG saw grammar as a generative phenomenon, one capable of infinite number of
possibilities. Although the possibilities of an infinite number of possibilities was
proven, lexical restrictions in syntax countered some sentences in their infinite nature.
PHRASE STRUCTURE RULE
Phrase structure rules are rewrite rules used to describe a given language's syntax
(organization of words in sentences) and are closely associated with the early stages
of transformational grammar, proposed by Noam Chomsky. They are used to break
down a natural language sentence into its constituent (a word, phrase, clause in larger
construction such as sentence) parts, also known as syntactic categories, including
both lexical categories (parts of speech) and phrasal categories. A grammar that uses
phrase structure rules is a type of phrase structure grammar. Phrase structure rules
provide information regarding the categorical, functional and relational properties of
constituents. These rules are generative: they present a picture of what goes on in the
mind of the speaker in producing or comprehending sentences in his language. The
speakers are not conscious of these rules; the rules are internalized.
According to Chomsky, Phrase Structure rules are forms of rewrite rules, as we
can see below:
Phrase structure rules are usually of the following form:
(i) S NP + AUX + VP
(ii) NP D+N
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(iii) AUX T (M) (have + -en) (be + -ing)
(iv) VP V + NP
(v) Det the, etc
(vi) N Man, ball
(vii) T Past (-ed) or non-past
(viii) V Kick, etc
N1 (AP) N1 (PP)
NOTE:
The AUX was not considered as a co-constituent of NP and VP in sentence analysis
in the earlier version of PS-Rules. Note also that T=Tense, M = Modal; -en is a past
participle bound morpheme, -ing is a present participle bound morpheme.
The PS – rules are interpreted as the symbol S (=sentence) consists of a NP
(noun phrase) followed by AUX (= auxiliary) which is in turn followed by a VP (verb
phrase). The second rule reads: A noun phrase consists of an optional Det
(determiner) followed by a N (noun) and so on. The third rule means that a N (noun)
can be preceded by an optional AP (adjective phrase) and followed by an optional PP
(prepositional phrase). The round brackets indicate optional constituents.
We can use the PS – Rules in the above to account for how this sentence is derived;
“The man kicked the ball”
The derivation is as follows:

a. NP + AUX + VP
b. D + N + AUX + VP
c. D + N + T + VP
d. D + N + T + V + NP
e. The + N + T + V + NP
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f. The + man + T + V + NP
g. The + man + -ed + V + NP
h. The + man + -ed + kick + NP
i. The + man + -ed + kick + Det + N
j. The + man + -ed + kick + the + N
k. The + man + -ed + kick + the + ball
It can be represented in a dendrogram (branched or tree diagram)
NP AUX VP
D N T V NP
D N
The man past kick the ball

-ed
Note: Aux. is embedded by the use of the -ed morpheme
It is also necessary to mention at this point that the bound morpheme -ed which
marks the past unites with the verb is an issue in TGG (Transformational Generative
Grammar). In transformational grammar, systems of phrase structure rules are
supplemented by transformation rules, which act on an existing syntactic structure to
produce a new one (performing such operations as negation, passivization, etc.).
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The sentence begins with the symbol S, and applying the phrase structure rules
following in sequence, finally applying replacement rules to substitute actual words
for the abstract symbols, it is possible to generate many proper sentences of English
(or whichever language the rules are specified for). If the rules are correct, then any
sentence produced in this way ought to be grammatically (syntactically) correct.
3.1.1 Semanticity and Acceptability of a Sentence

It is also to be expected that the rules will generate syntactically correct
but semantically nonsensical sentences, such as the following well-known example:
“Colourless green ideas sleep furiously”

This sentence was constructed by Noam Chomsky as an illustration that phrase
structure rules are capable of generating syntactically correct but semantically
incorrect sentences. Phrase structure rules break sentences down into their constituent
parts. These constituents are often represented as tree structures (dendrograms –
Branched diagram). The tree for Chomsky's sentence can be rendered as follows:
NP VP
A NP V Adv
Adj N
Colourless Green ideas sleep furiously
A constituent is any word or combination of words that is dominated by a
single node. Like this, each individual word is a constituent.
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Hence, the subject NP Colourless green ideas, the minor NP green ideas, and
the VP sleep furiously are constituents. Phrase structure rules and the tree structures
that are associated with them are a form of immediate constituent analysis.
X-BAR THEORY
X-bar theory is a generative theory of language conceived by Noam A. Chomsky. It
is a theory about the internal structure of syntactic (relating to syntax: organization of
words in sentences) constituents which was originally intended to place constraints
(limited factors) on the power of phrase structure rules. X-bar theory captures the
insight that all phrases share some essential structural properties. Some of the
properties are seen below, according to phrase structure:
NOUN PHRASE
NP Prop N
(Det) + (Adj) + N + (PP)
Pro
NP + S1
(Det) + (Adj) + N + (S1)
VERB PHRASE
VP V1
Vt + NP
Vt + NP + NP
V cop + Adv, Adj, NP
Vm + NP
V + S1
Vil + PP
Vtl + NP + PP
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ADJECTIVE PHRASE
Adj Int + PP
Adv S
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
PP P + NP
ADVERB PHRASE
Adv Adv
PP
In the light of the, X-bar theory (= X-bar syntax) is a linguistic postulate
according to which all phrases and sentences in languages are structured according to
a certain (syntactic) model; this model can be made explicit through a linguistic
analysis and consequently can be depicted graphically with the help of strictly
hierarchical (rigidly graded in order) diagrams.
In linguistics, X-bar theory is a theory of syntactic category formation. It
embodies two independent claims: one, that phrases may contain intermediate
constituents projected from a head X; and two, that this system of projected
constituent may be common to more than one category (e.g., N, V, A, P, etc.). The
letter X is used to signify an arbitrary lexical category (part of speech); when
analyzing a specific utterance, specific categories are assigned. Thus, the X may
become an N for noun, a V for verb, an A for adjective, or a P for preposition.
The X-bar theory was developed within the generative (transformational)
grammar. Its “generative”, all grammatically correct phrases or sentences are
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assumed to be structured according to certain principles (rules) and all languages are
assumed to have similar basic principles or rules.
Chomsky and Jackendoff, (40) are considered to be the founders of the X-bar
theory. We start to look at how our minds organize sentences. We will see that within
each sentence, our mental grammar group words together into phrases and phrases
into sentences. X-bar theory makes the claim that every single phrase in every single
sentence in the mental grammar of every single human language has the same core
organization. According to x-bar theory, every phrase has a head. The head is the
terminal node of the phrase. It’s the node that has no daughters. Whatever category,
the head determines the category of the phrase. So, if the head is a Noun, then our
phrase is a Noun Phrase, abbreviated NP. If the head is a verb (V) then the phrase is a
verb phrase (VP). And likewise, if the head is a preposition (P), then the phrase is a
preposition phrase (PP), and Adjective Phrases (AP) has Adjectives as their heads.
Furthermore, X-bar theory proposes that phrases can have more in them than
just a head. A phrase might optionally have another phrase inside it in a position that
is sister to the head and daughter to the bar level. If there’s a phrase in that position,
it’s called the complement. The most common kinds of head-complement
relationship we see are a verb taking an object or a preposition taking an object.
X-bar theory also proposes that a phrase can have a specifier. A specifier is a
phrase that is sister to the bar-level and daughter to the phrase level. The most
common job for specifiers is as the subjects of sentences. X-bar theory is widely
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regarded as a substantive theory of phrase structure properties in natural languages.
There are five major types of phrases. They are the Noun phrase (NP), Verb phrase
(VP), Adjective phrase (Adj. P), Adverb phrase (Adv. P) and Prepositional phrase
(PP).
Tree diagram representation of the X-bar: Noun phrase (NP), Verb phrase (VP),
Adjective phrase (Adj. P), Adverb phrase (Adv. P) and Prepositional phrase
(PP).
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
1. Until after the game. 3. Behind the table
PP PP
P PP P NP
Until P NP Behind
After D N D N
The Game The Table
2. From New York.

PP
P NP
From N
New York
NOUN PHRASE
1. This book on the table. 2. The red book
NP NP
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D NP D N
This N PP The Adj N
Book P NP Red Book
On D N
The Table
VERB PHRASE
1. VP 2. Drop the ripe mango
V NP VP
Spilled D N V NP
My Coffee Drop D NP
The Adj N
Ripe Mango
ADJECTIVAL PHRASE
1. Diligent worker 2. Angry with you
AdjP. AdjP
Adj NP Adj PP
Diligent N Angry P N (pro)
Worker. With You
SOME DEMERITS OF PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES
 Phrase structure rules prefer analysis of simple sentences.
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 Phrase structure rules cannot account for sentences that are ambiguous. An
ambiguous sentence is that which has more than one interpretation. Example;
He fought with us; the shooting of the thieves was terrifying, etc.
 There is no way phrase structure rules can be used to demonstrate the fact that
two or more sentences can be structurally related.
RULE ORDERING: (CONSTRAINTS AND DELETION)
According to Laurel (2000), language consists of signs occurring not in a random
collection, but in a system. A system consists of smaller units which stand in relation
to each other and perform particular functions. These smaller units are organized on
certain principles, or rules. For this reason, language is said to be rule-governed. The
rules of a language, or its underlying system, are inferable from the observable
patterns of the language.
For an effective use of grammar, it is important that users of English subscribe to
laid out rules. These rules keep us informed on how words should be formed, how
sentences should be ordered etc. in a way that can be deemed grammatical or fit.
The rules governing grammar are endless. Our day-to-day speech organisations
and deliveries are backed up by certain formats, some of which are obvious to us and
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others are inherently known. We will be exposed to the rules that guide our
unknowing and conscious use of rule in certain orders and how they help us create
succinct and clear expressions.
WORD ORDER RULE
The notion of constraints is generally used in modern linguistics (particularly in
syntax and phonology), for representing properties that an object must satisfy.
Fundamentally, syntax is about structure. The rules of syntax exist to make sentences
clear and consistent.
In linguistics, word order typology is the study of the order of the
syntactic constituents of a language, and how different languages employ different
orders. Correlations between orders found in different syntactic sub-domains are also
of interest. The primary word orders that are of interest are
 The constituent order of a clause, namely the relative order of subject, object,
and verb.
 The order of modifiers (adjectives, numerals, demonstratives, possessives, and
adjuncts) in a noun phrase;
 The order of adverbials.
English word order is strict and not very flexible. This means that the order of
words in an English sentence rarely changes: the subject almost always comes before
the predicate. The basic word order of an English sentence is Subject + Predicate.
The predicate is the part of the sentence that tells something about the subject. The
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predicate always includes the verb. So, Subject + Predicate word order can be broken
down into:
Subject + Verb
Or
Subject + Verb + Object
The subject is normally realized in simple sentences by nouns, noun phrases or
pronouns e.g. John, The girl, he (respectively) etc., while the predicator is realised in
sentences by verbs or verb phrases. For example, Jump, has cried (respectively).
The SV order flows in a pattern in which the verb expresses an action, while the
Subject denotes the person or things that perform the action, example: Girls dance.
In the case of the SVO pattern, the items used as the object (direct) are nouns,
noun phrases or pronouns. The noun or noun phrases, are items that receive the action
of the verb or are affected by the action of the verb. For example:
I (S) bought (P) a new dress (O)
Word order does not just cover the SP and the SPO pattern alone, but it cut
through so many other sub units (patterns). In the word order, there are instances
where there is an inclusion of the indirect object. Regardless of this, the sentence
stays true to the SVO word order. In such cases, we follow the SVOI or
the SVIO word order. A key point to remember is that if the indirect object is a noun
or a pronoun, we follow the SVIO order. On the other hand, if the indirect object is
preceded by a ‘to’, then we follow the SVOI word order. For example:
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S V I O
She | gave | her mother | the present. (SVIO)
S V O I
She | gave | the present | to her mother. (SVOI)
Another part of the word order has the inclusion of the Adverb. Adverbs are
words that describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Adverbs answer the questions:
When? Where? How? To what extent? Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other
adverbs, adding things like time, manner, degree, and often end in ‘ly’, like “slowly,”
“recently,” “nearly,” and so on. As a rule, an adverb (or any modifier) should be as
close as possible to the thing it is modifying. But adverbs are special because they
can usually be placed in more than one spot in the sentence and are still correct. They
can come in three possible places:
 Before the subject (Notably with short common adverbs) e.g. Today, I
marry this man.
 After the object (virtually any adverb or adverb phrase can be placed here)
e.g. I bought a dress on my way to school.
 In the middle of the verb group. (Notably with short common adverbs of
time or frequency) e.g. The man has already written his letter.
while examining the word order, it is important to know that in the English sentence
structure, the Subject and Predicate are two important items. Basically, if a sentence
is hard to understand, then it isn’t correct. Here are a few key things to remember:
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 The subject is what a sentence is about, so it should come first.
 A modifier (like an adverb) should generally go as close as possible to the
thing it is modifying.
 Indirect objects can change the word order from SVO to SVIO.
PHRASE ORDER
Speakers of any language have the ability to intuitively judge whether or not a
sentence is grammatical, or well-formed. For example, speakers of English
understand that one of the sentences below is acceptable, while the other is not, even
without necessarily understanding why.
(1a) I have a red purse.
(1b)* Bag for flight I see.
This ability to make these judgments is based on the constraints specific to a
language that governs how phrases may be constructed. We refer to these as phrase
structure rules (PSR). In other words, phrases that adhere to PSRs will be judged as
grammatical (1a), those that don’t will be judged as ungrammatical (1b).
This is a type of generative grammar in which constituent structures are
represented by phrase structure rules or rewrite rules. A phrase structure grammar
consists of a set of ordered rules known as rewrite rules, which are applied stepwise.
For the basic structure of a phrase the phrases consist minimally of a ‘Head’. This
means that in a one-word phrase like “man”, the Head is “man”.
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A phrase structure grammar consists of a set of ordered rules known
as rewrite rules, which are applied stepwise. A rewrite rule has a single symbol on
the left and one or more symbols on the right:
A→B+C
C→D
More than one symbol on the right constitutes a string. The arrow is read as 'is
rewritten as,' 'has as its constituents,' 'consists of,' or 'is expanded as.' The plus sign is
read as 'followed by,' but it is often omitted. The rule may also be depicted in the
form of a tree diagram.
The phrase structure rules also allow for choices. The optional choices are indicated
by parentheses:
A→ (B) C
This rule reads that A is expanded as optionally B and obligatorily C. In every rewrite
rule, at least one element must be obligatory. There may also be mutually exclusive
choices of elements in a string; these are indicated with curly braces:
A→ {B, C}
This rule states that if you choose B, you can't choose C, but you must choose one—
either B or C, but not both. Whether the mutually exclusive items are written on one
line separated by commas or on separate lines does not matter, as long as they occur
within braces.
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A→ ({B, C}) D
In every phrase structure rule, there must be an initial symbol, a first left-hand
symbol, such as above. Thereafter, every symbol appearing on the left has already
been introduced on the right-hand side. The symbols that occur on the right, but never
on the left are the terminal symbols; another way of defining them is that they occur
at the bottom of a tree diagram.
Phrase structure rules account for the linear order of elements in a sentence in deep
structure, as well as for the hierarchical arrangement of sentence structures. They can
also account for the infinite generating capacity of language. If a symbol introduces
itself, it is known as a recursive symbol, as A in the following rule:
A→B+C + (A)
Or if one of the symbols A introduces later, it is also recursive, as in the following:
A→B+C
B→ (A) +D’
In this session, tree diagram illustrations (covering the NP and the VP) will be given
to better aid understanding.
Tree Diagram
1. N P e.g. He
2. NP (D) + N e.g. The man
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NP
D N
The man
3. NP D + (Adj) + N e.g. The beautiful girl

NP
D N
The
Adj N
Beautiful girl
4. NP D + N + PP e.g. The boy in the backyard
NP
N PP
D N P NP
The boy
in D N
the backyard
5. NP (NP + RC) e.g. The old picture of Fred that I found in the drawer
NP
N RC
D NP that I found in the drawer

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The
Adj NP
Old N PP
Picture P N
Of Fred
VERB PHRASE
1. V V + (NP) + (NP) e.g. Give Tunde the ball
VP
V NP
Give N NP
Tunde
D N
The Ball
2. VP V (NP) (PP) e.g. Kill the snake in the bathroom

VP
V NP
Kill D NP
The
N PP
Snake
P NP
In
D N
The Bathroom
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3. VP V (NP) (PP) (C) e.g. Kill the snake in the bathroom with a stick
VP
V NP
Kill D NP
The
N PP
Snake
P NP
In
D N
The Bathroom. PP
P NP
With D N
A Stick
Note: Although examples have been given on NP and VP, there are other phrase
structure rules of English. Below are examples;
S NP
VP V
NP (D) (A) + N + {PP, S}
VP V (NP) (AP) {PP, S}
PP P + NP
AP (Adv) A {PP, S}
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V V (NP) {PP, S}
DELETION
NOUN PHRASE DELETION
In the noun phrase deletion, the noun in the sentence goes through the process of
deletion, for example:
 Amina can make dresses, and her sister can make dresses too
 Amina can make dresses and her sister can too
VERB PHRASE DELETION
Verb phrase deletion is the omission of a verb phrase that is identical to a verb phrase
in a nearby clause or sentence. For example:
 If I wanted to cook, I would cook.

 If I wanted to cook, I would.
From the examples above, it is clear that sentence 2 was derived from sentence 1 by a
deletion rule. The missing constituents in the above sentences have gone through
deletion.
With English grammar, Verb phrases (VP) ellipsis must be introduced by an auxiliary
verb (be, can, do, don't, could, have, may, might, shall, should, will, won't, would,
etc.) or by the infinitive particle to. For example:
77
Ade will not propose, but Shola will.
You must have been frightened; I was too.
VP ellipsis can be said to operate either forwards or backwards: it operates forwards
when the antecedent precedes the deletion and backwards when the antecedent
follows the deletion. It can also be said to operate either upwards or downwards (or
neither). It operates upwards when the antecedent appears in a clause that
is subordinate to the clause containing the antecedent e.g.
Those who claim to know how to cook, hardly do (forward to upward)
Those who claim to, hardly know how to cook (backward to downward).
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TRANSFORMATIONAL RULE
Transformational rule is a rule that transforms syntactic structures. It is a rule that
converts one phrase marker into another. Taken together, these rules, which form the
transformational component of the grammar, convert the deep structures of sentences
into their surface structures. Deletion, Insertion, and movement are instances of
transformational rules. Surface structure (S-structure) is derived from deep structure
(d-structure) by means of transformations, and Logical Form is derived from S-
structure in a similar way.
Phrase structure rules cannot account for all syntactic phenomena. In the case
of inversion in YES-NO questions, the expected answer is YES or NO
Examples: 1.Should John leave?
2. Can Mary do it?
The problem here is that the auxiliary is positioned to the left of the NP, in contrast to
the usual position in Phrase structure rule which would be:
1. John should leave.
2. Mary can do it.

The solution here is to add a transformational rule to the grammar by retaining the
original rule. This is because transformational syntactic rule can move an element
from one position to another. In case of YES-NO questions the transformational rule
that applies is known as 'Inversion'.
1. John should leave.
Inversion: Move Inflection to the left of the subject NP. It becomes
Should John leave?
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Advantages of the Inversion Transformation rule
1. We don’t have to work with two types of Aux verbs (one occurring at the
beginning of the sentence, the other in the usual position in VP).
2. The Inversion Transformation captures the fact that both sentences are
formed with the same set of Phrase Structure Rules thus, sharing the same
structure; they only differ in that the question structure undergoes transformation.
WH-MOVEMENT
Wh-movement (also referred to as “wh-fronting” and “wh-extraction”) is a syntactic
feature by which interrogative words appear at the beginning of an interrogative
sentence or clause. In linguistics, these interrogative words are often called wh-
words, as in English most of them with “wh”.
Wh-movement plays a key role in the syntax of so-called ‘wh-questions’; we
will look at the role played by ‘wh-movement’ in Relative Clauses, and in
Exclamatives. Finally, we will turn to consider in some detail to the question of the
targets of wh-questions and landing-site for moved wh-phrases.
Features of Wh-movement
1. The moved element must be a wh-phrase.
2. The landing site must be empty, so that the moved wh-word can anchor.
3. The landing site must be an argument position (i.e. a position where
substantive nominal can be found).
4. The new position for the moved wh-word should not be too far away from the
position from which it was extracted.

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5. It must leave a ghost copy, shadow, or trace of itself at the original position
from which it was moved.
6. The vacated position of the fronted wh-word must not be filled by a
substantive or overt constituent; else the derivation history of the construction
will not be properly accounted for.
WH-QUESTIONS
In English, wh-questions are questions that involve the use of an interrogative word
beginning with WH. Wh-questions, by contrast, are so-called because (in English)
they typically involve the use of an interrogative word beginning with wh- (e.g. why,
what, when, where, which – but note that how is also classified as a wh-word because
it exhibits the same syntactic behaviour as other members of this class). A who-
question asks for information about the identity of a particular person, a why-question
asks for the specification of a reason, a where-question asks for the specification of a
place, and so forth.
We shall group the wh -questions into the following heading:
1. Echo questions: are so called because they involve one person echoing the
speech of another. Structurally, the wh- word in echo questions take the medial or
final positions in an English sentence structure (unlike the non-echo questions). e.g
a. You are coming from where?
b. You are buying which car?
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Morphologically and Syntactically, echo questions seem to have more in
common with the sentence-types they are used to echo than with the corresponding
non-echo questions.
2. Non-echo questions: are questions which do not echo the speech of others, but
which can be used, for example, to initiate a conversation on some topic. So for
example, if a friend walks into a room, I can initiate conversation with non-echo
questions such as :
Where have you been?
Which car are you buying?
3. Direct questions: are the questions in which the interrogative structure is an
independent sentence as, for example, in:
When did you get back?
4. Indirect questions: are questions in which interrogative structure is a
dependent (i.e. embedded or subordinate) clause which is complement of a verb like
ask, wonder, etc., as with the italicised clause in:
He asked me: ‘who I had talked to’
Note in particular the contrast between the italicised indirect question (a) above, and
the corresponding italicised direct question in (b):
He asked me: ‘who did you talk to?’
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WH- FRONTING IN RELATIVE CLAUSES
A relative clause, according to Trask (238), is "a type of clause most often a
subordinate clause, which serves to modify a noun phrase. In English and many other
languages, a relative clause is usually a constituent of the noun phrase whose head it
modified."
There are three types of relative clauses, they are:
Restrictive Relative Clause:
A restrictive clause restricts or defines the meaning of a noun or noun phrase and
provides necessary information about the noun in the sentence. It is not separated
from the rest of the sentence by commas. Restrictive clauses are more common in
writing than non-restrictive clauses. A restrictive clause is also sometimes referred to
as an essential clause or phrase. For example:
1. I met the man [who lives next door] in town
2. The book [that you lent me] was interesting
The Noun Phrase (NP) such as [the man] and the relative clause [who lives next door]
restrict the class of men referred to the one who lives next door in (1). The NP [the
book] and the relative clause [that you gave me] restrict the book to the one that was
lent in (2).
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Non-restrictive Relative Clause
A non-restrictive clause adds additional information to a sentence. It is usually a
proper noun or a common noun that refers to a unique person, thing, or event. It uses
commas to show that the information is additional. The commas almost act like
parentheses within the sentence. If the information between the commas is omitted,
readers will still understand the overall meaning of the sentence. A non-restrictive
clause is also known as a non-essential clause or phrase. For example:
1. I want to thank my father, Mark Smith, for all of his love and support.
2. The hypothesis, which I tested throughout the research, was rejected.
The non-restrictive phrase [Mark Smith] can be omitted and the sentence will still
make sense in (1). The non-restrictive clause [which I tested throughout the research]
can also be omitted in (2) and the sentence will still make sense.
Appositive Relative Clause:
This type of relative clause generally serves as 'parenthetical comments' or
'afterthoughts' set off in a separate intonation group from the rest of the sentence,
( this being marked by a comma, or hyphen, or brackets in writing). Unlike
restrictives, they can be used to qualify unmodified Proper Nouns (i.e. Proper nouns
not introduced by a determiner like 'the'). For example:
1. Zainab - whom you saw in town- is a good friend of mine
2. Zainab - that you saw in town- is a good friend of mine

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3. Zainab - you saw in town yesterday - is a good friend of mine
Generally speaking, they cannot be extraposed (separated) from their antecedent. For
example:
1. Damian came to see me - who you met last week
2. Dajo is living at home - who is very nice
WH-FRONTING IN EXCLAMATIVES
It has been observed that the wh-exclamatives in English are also derived via wh-
movement. For example:
1 a. This soup tastes how delicious!
b. How delicious this soup tastes-!
2 a. He is what a nice man!
b. What a nice man he is-!
It can be argued that 'how delicious' and 'what a nice man' in (1b) and (2b)
respectively originate internally from the position marked by the gap (-), and then
later moved into the sentence initial position by wh-movement. The derivation of the
wh-exclamatives takes the same pattern as the derivation of the wh-question.
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TARGETS FOR WH-MOVEMENT
Having argued that the rule applies in a variety of wh-constructions (wh-
interrogatives, wh-relatives, wh-exclamatives, etc.), let’s look little more closely at
the operation of the rule. An obvious question to ask is: ‘what kind of constituents
can be the target for (i.e. undergo) wh-movement?’ The simple answer appears to be
that ‘wh-phrases’ undergo the rule: by wh-phrase, we mean simply ‘a phrase which
contains a ‘wh-word’ like who, what, when, why, where, which or how’ (although
‘how’ does not begin with the sequence wh-, it is classified as a wh-word by virtue of
the fact that it has the same syntactic properties as ‘true’ wh-words).
Thus, the obvious conclusion to draw is that wh-movement applies to phrases which
contain a wh-word : i.e. the target of the rule is a wh-XP constituent (where a wh-XP
is a phrase containing a wh-word). However, not all XP contitutents containing a wh-
word can undergo wh-movement. For example, wh-movement yields (at best)
marginal results in interrogatives with VPs.
THE LANDING-SITE FOR MOVED WH-PHRASES
It is now generally believed that a wh-word in sentence-initial position in English, at
least is not in its original position. What this means is that every wh-word in a
sentence-initial position but have originated internally within a sentence. Radford
(1988) argues that a wh-word which originates internally within a sentence must be
moved into the left position of the complementizer, which is symbolized here as ‘C’.
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Below is the configuration which he presents to illustrate the movement of a wh-word
and where it moves into:
[e] C
C S
Wh-x
In the diagram above, wh-x represent the wh-word, while [e] represents the empty
position where the wh-word moves into. The symbol C is the complementizer node
into which a pre-posed auxiliary verb moves for the derivation of a wh-question or
yes-no question. This movement involving the auxiliary verb has been referred to in
the earlier versions of TGG as Subject-Auxiliary Inversion.
Note: a complementizer is a word used to introduce a complement clause, in other
words they are conjunctions. It is a conjunction which marks a complement.
GOVERNMENT AND BINDING THEORY
It is usually said that the 19 th Century saw the age of rebirth of scientific study of
human language. Although, certain events made this possible, an event such as the
discovery of Sanskrit as a member of the Indo-European languages. Rather than use
the model of one language to describe other languages of the World by traditional
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grammarians; the 19th Century grammarians basically concentrated on the scientific
study and analyzing of human languages.
The word ‘linguistics’ was in use as early as 1837, Lyon (156), and ‘linguist’
as early as 1855. Neither the two terms were used with any great frequency until
1930, when the structuralists first became popular in the United States headed by
Leonard Bloomfield whose book was published in 1914. Thus, the scientific studies
approach led to the development of different techniques in which ‘Government and
Binding theory’ is not exclusive. Although, before the Government and Binding
theory emerged, different theories had been applied to analyze human languages.
Such techniques include but not restricted to the following; immediate constituent
analysis (IC), bounding techniques or theory, X-bar techniques and deep structure
analysis. The focus of this study is on Government and Binding theory and emphasis
will be on Binding Theory since Chomsky also gave more attention to binding
theory.
Before the advent of ‘Government and Binding theory’ came the minimalist
program (MP). This program is a version of principles and parameters (p and p)
syntax which was proposed by Chomsky in 1992. In P & P, emphasis has shifted
from rule system of the syntactic sub-components which were narrowed down to a
single rule known as move – α (alpha). In MP as in Government and Binding Theory
(GB) emphasis also appears to shift from rules that describe specific syntactic
constructions to more general and cross – linguistic principles that exist at the
interface level.
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In earlier versions of transformational generative grammar (TGG) the starting
point for the derivation of a sentence was well defined. For instance, in some earlier
framework, the starting point or derivation was the set or lexical items drawn from
the lexicon which gets inserted into the tree generated by the base rules to yield the
deep-structure. Chomsky (1995) and Morantz (1995) are rather of the opinion that
syntactic structures are built through generalized transformations. The derivation of a
sentence according to proponents of MP, takes place within the “working area”
within which the contents of the lexicon have been spilled. The spilled contents are
the lexical resources of the language that the computational system (syntax) will
operate upon for the derivation to take place.
Government and binding theories (GB), assume that a large portion of the
grammar of any particular language is common to all languages and is therefore part
of universal grammar. Also, GB is of the view that universal grammar can be broken
down into two components of levels of representation and a system of constraints.
Meanwhile, governing theory deals with an abstract syntactic relation applicable
among other things to the assignment of case which makes it unambiguous. The
application of government relation constraints, the occurrence and identity of traces
as the empty category principles requires them to be properly governed.
Examples;
 The villagers taught me to be brave.
 The villagers thought that I was brave.
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In the first sentence, ‘me’ is not a ‘normative case’ because it is the subject of a
sentence which is not tensed. But in the second sentence, ‘I’ is the normative case
because it is the subject of a tensed sentence, while binding theory deals chiefly with
the relationship between pronouns and the expressions with which they are co-
referential.
According to Chomsky pg (453), the combination of both theories known as
GB (Government & Binding) theory was the first based on principles and parameters
model of language. It also underlines the later development of the minimalist
program.
7.1 BINDING THEORY
The weakness of immediate constituent analysis led to the development of binding
theory.
According to Prasad (124), binding theory deals with the specific condition under
which NPs are interpreted as co-referential with other NPs in the same sentences. In
line with this definition or argument, one can deduce that, each of the NPs are having
relation to those terms that have common referents in the sentence. However, English
Language, which is our target language has only two referentially dependent forms
(exemplified in what follows by ‘him and himself’). The English reflexive pronouns
are subject to condition analogous to co-argument condition.
This simply means Reflexive Pronouns and their antecedent must be semantic
or syntactic co-arguments. Chomsky (1981) as stated by Alani (2000) further argued
that Ordinary Pronouns and their antecedents must not be co-arguments.

90
Examples
John/ admires/ himself
NP1 V NP2
This can be represented below as
IP
DP VP
1. D Pre DP
+s
John V RP
Admires Himself
(John admires Himself)
IP
DP VP
2. John T V
¿
V DP
Talk PP PP
About Himself
(John Talked About Himself )

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IP
DP VP
John I VP
Pre
+ed V DP
3. Buy D NP
Some N PP
Book P
D DP
for Himself
(John bought some books for himself)
IP
DP VP
D I DP
pre
+ed
4. Mary V DP
Buy NP DP
N NP
John N PP
Book P DP
About Himself
(Mary Brought John’s Books About Himself)
In line with the above example, the last string of the two examples shows projection
chain of “about” is closed off by a specifier of the object DP. This means that DP
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must contain an antecedent that agrees with himself in the relevant grammatical
features (number and gender).
PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT AND BINDING THEORY
1. The GB comprises of Deep and Surface structures (D and S), the
underlying structure is important thereby making the surface
structure useless.
2. In some previous theories, there are different rules of permutation i.e.
rules of changing e.g. WH movement, reflexivisation, passivisation,
e.t.c.
E.g. The boy killed the cat – active
The cat has been killed by the boy – passive
Government and Binding theory for all these rules with one single
movement which is α or move α.
3. In Government and Binding theory components of grammar are
replaced by phonetic form which means interpretation of grammar at
the sound level and logical form meaning interpretation of grammar
meaning level. In previous theories, the components of grammar
were the: phonetic, syntactic and semantic components.
4. The tense feature of inflection is spelt out on the verb by the rule of
affix-hopping which is featured as specifier of inflection bar spec -1.
Meaning that spec-1 is used to connect the affix to the verb. E.g. spec -1
are -en, -ed, -ing
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-ed - Passive form
-en - Perfective form
-ing - Progressive form
If the tense agreement is present then the inflection is positive but if the
tense agreement is not present the inflection is negative.
The old woman has kissed the baby
TP
NP J
D N1 J VP
The ads N tense V NP
Old Woman non-past have span V D N
Has (ed) Kiss The Baby
5. In old theories, sentences are expanded as S → NP + AUX + VP later
AUX lost the factor or analysis, and according to Chomsky there are
five types of auxiliary.
AUX
Tense Modal Progressive Passive Perfective

94
He introduces inflection in place of auxiliary when it was misbehaving
so any structure in Government and Binding theory is now analyzed as
inflection projection.
IP → NP + 1
e.g. The ugly woman kicked the boy in the classroom.
Before Noam Chomsky’s binding theory, there was Hallan’s theory of 1988 as
a result of its limitation leading to standard binding theory which was propounded by
Noam Chomsky in 1981. Chomsky’s binding theory contains three conditions or
principles. And these principles were developed on the basis of morphological
simpler data of the English Language.
The principles include the following:
 The principle which governs the distribution of reflexive and reciprocal pronouns.
 The principle of ordinary pronoun
 The principle of full noun phrase
According to Allani pg (25), he represents these principles are as follows:
PRINCIPLES OF BINDING THEORY
ANAPHORS PRONOMINAL REFERENTIAL

EXPRESSION
Adapted from Allani (2000)
According to him Anaphor refers to reflexive and reciprocal pronouns. This
usage is potentially attributed to Chomsky.
95
In line with the above, Prasad (2012) opines that anaphors are NPs which have
no independent reference. They are mostly reflexives or reciprocal pronouns whose
references are to be found in their antecedents in the same clause.
Examples; Reflexive
Opeyemi helped himself.
Zainab’s sister helped herself.
Ada killed the goat herself.
IP
DP I
1. D pre VP
+ed
V DP
Kill Herself
IP
DP I
2. Zynab I
pre VP
+ed
P NP V DP
-s Sister Help Herself
IP
DP I
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Ada I VP
pre
+ed
3. V DP
Kill NP DP
D N Herself
The Goat
The last string of this binding chain is closed by the object DP. Then the DP contains
antecedent that agrees with ‘herself’ in the relevant grammatical features.
Reciprocal Examples
Peter and Zainab support each other.
Principle (2)
Ordinary Pronouns or Pronominal
According to Prasad, these are dummy NPs which have no independent entities. The
personal pronoun can be the examples of pronominal. These are of two types.
 Those who take reference from NPs in a sentence.

 Those which drew their reference from context.
Examples:
 John thinks Zainab will help him.

 Toyin thinks he cannot be promoted into the next class.
IP
DP VP
1. John V DP
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Think NP VP
Zynab Aux VP
V DP
Help Him
Pronominal which derive their reference from the context.
Example
1. He is my father
She is my wife
He is My Teacher
All the above derive their reference from context.
PRINCIPLE 3
Full noun phrases or referential expressions
According to Chomsky, as cited by Allani (2000), Principle 3 is reminiscent of
principle 2 but differ from its anti-binding domain. This anti-binding condition is on
full noun phrases. Prasad (2012), explains that referential expression as those NPs
which specifies lexical content, such NPs are independent e.g. proper noun and
common noun.
Examples:
 If he calls, tell John I’ll be back in an hour.
 Mary treats Mary well.
98
 Ada killed Ada.
 Zainab teaches Zainab.
However, it will be appropriate to mention here that binding is concerned with only
those NPs which function as argument. Non-argument NPs, such as the expletive “it”
and existential ‘there, are beyond the scope of this theory thereby making it remains
one of the big weaknesses of this technique.
Government and Binding theory is a refined theory from the old theories
starting where some principles and rules are interchanged, reduced from certain
numbers. Ultimately, government and binding theory assumes that a portion of
grammar of any particular language is common to all languages. In line with this, one
can say that Noam Chomsky has successfully used his GB principle to account for
co-referential pronoun (reflexive, reciprocal), which is missing in his phrase structure
rule and re-write rule.
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CONCLUSION
The rules and guiding principles governing the use of the English language, one can
only adequately depend and draw from those that meet with certain needs and
situations. As we have already established from the beginning, it is safe and
grammatical for users of English to pay attention to how certain rules are either
observed or neglected in their speech or writing. Our journey into a world of
effortless use and construction of the English language, and what it entails starts
when attention is given to areas that sometimes might appear minute to us, but turn
out to be of great importance.
100
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http://www.glottopedia.org/index.php/Transformational_rule
105

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GRAMMATICAL THEORIES

- Limitations of Immediate Constituent Analysis

TRANSFORMATIONAL GENERATIVE GRAMMAR

RULE ORDERING: (CONSTRAINTS AND DELETION)

Firth’s linguistics resembles Saussure’s in that it was built around the

Halliday’s primary interest is in language as a central attribute as a

An essential aspect of language for Halliday as for Firth is its

S/N TGG SYSTEMIC

ORIENTATION OF SCALE & CATEGORY GRAMMAR

Grammatical form in scale and category grammar is concerned with the

1. Unit 2. Structure 3. Class 4. System

1. Rank 2, Exponence 3. Delicacy

1. Sentence - 2. Clause - 3. Group - 4. Word 5. Morpheme

i. Sentence boundary /// ///

iii. Group boundary / /

2. Structure: This accounts for the composition of a unit in terms of

The value of these terms is essentially equivalent to main and subordinate

Adverbial and non-defining relative subordinate clauses are classified as

The description of clause structure makes use of four primary elements

Members of a unit are grouped and assigned to a particular class.

Since in scale and category grammar, sentences do not operate in a

These three terms above however do not satisfactorily handle

According to whether they contain a predicator (P) or not, free clauses

System accounts for the range of choices or classes which are

Minor e.g. No smoking

We find that a scale of delicacy operates in this kind of distinction. It brings us

*This figure is known as system network in systemic functional grammar.

1. Rank: The grammatical units are related to each other hierarchically

The grammar requires that all utterances be described in terms of units

This is a sentence consisting of a clause, containing three groups, six

2. Exponence (similar to phrase structure rule in TG)

It is described as relating the categories toeach other and to the data. By

Let us attempt to describe this clause according to the scale of exponence.

John likes cars.

Has the structure of

At the secondary degree of delicacy, they must be analysed in terms of

= Alpha y = gamma = epsilon

[ ] - Rankshifted phrase or group

Primary free free

Free bound bound bound

e.g. NG in English can also be analysed same way

The first real union bid [for power]

Secondary det adj adj noun noun preposition phrase or group

The Metafunctions or Metafunctional Nature of the clause

Actor process goal circumstantial element

Interpersonal meaning = Interpersonal

The lion had caught the tourist near the park

The Material Processes

The lion sprang

The chairman dissolved the Committee

Structurally, this defines the two elements or participants in an attributive

The queen was in the parlour

John is the leader

Tomorrow is the 10th

King Lions was the King of France

The Verbal Process

The Press often flatters the President

The traffic light says stop

There was an old woman rolled up in a blanket

There is a patient to see you

Clause as Exchange = Interpersonal

‘Primary tense’ means past, present or future of the moment of speaking. it is

Modality means the speaker’s judgement of the probabilities or the obligation