TRANSFORMATIONAL

RULES/OPERATION
PREPARED BY : SUZIEYANA MOHAMAD
GROUP MEMBERS :
1.NIK NOOR WAHEEDA BT TUAN ABD WAHAB
2. NUR ‘ALIAH BT MAT LAZIM
TRANSFORMATIONAL RULES
 Method consists entirely in properly ordering and
arranging the things to which we should pay attention.
EX:
 a) The father wept silently

NP VP

Det- N V Adv

The father wept silently

• b) The father silently wept

NP VP

Det- N Adv V

The father silently wept

 Both mean the same thing despite the position of the
adverb. The phrase structures rules place the adverb at the
end of the VP thereby accounting for a).
 B) accounting for?

 If we suggest a phrase structure rule with two optional

adverbs like this,
 VP (Adv) V (NP)(PP)(Adv), we are faced with the
unacceptable possibility of generating ungrammatical
string such as
 The father cleverly wept bitterly
TRANSFORMATION RULE
 Solution to allow the phrase structure rules to generate
the adverb in VP final position to move the adverb in
front of the verb, thus deriving the structure that
represents (b) from the structure represent (a).
 The basic sentences of the language called deep
structures
 The structure of sentences that we speak called surface
structure
 If no transformations apply DS & SS are same
 If transformations apply DS is the end result after all
transformations have had their effect.
 The surface structure of (b) is the (b) tree because the adverb
moving transformation altered its deep structure.
 Transformation moves adverb, prepositional phrase when they
occur under VP
 Ex: the astronomer saw the quasar with the telescope with
the telescope, the astronomer saw the quasar
 Transformations act on structures, irrespective of the words
that they contain. They are structure dependent.
 The transformational rule just described moves any PP as long
as it is under the VP.
  with a telescope, the boy saw the man meaning “the boy
used a telescope to see the man”, the meaning corresponding to
the phrase structure in which the PP is immediately under the
VP.
 The structure corresponding to the other meaning “the boy saw
a man who had a telescope” has its PP in the NP. the
transformation does not apply to it because the structural
requirement are not met.
 Transformation deletes that when it precedes a sentence in
direct object position, but not in subject position:
 I know that you know  I know you know

 That you know bothers me  *You know bothers me

 Transformations also reveal speaker knowledge about the
systematic relationship between statements and question.
 The boy is sleeping
 The boy can sleep
 The boy will sleep

 Words like is, can and will are in a class of Auxiliary

Verb(Aux), which includes be and have as well as may, might,
would, could
 NP Aux VP

Det N
is V

 Now consider the interrogative sentences corresponding to

the declarative ones:
 Is the boy sleeping?

 Can the boy sleep?

 Will the boy sleep?

 The interrogatives are related to their declarative counterparts
in a simple way
 In the questions the Aux occurs at the beginning of the
sentence rather than after the subject NP
 This relationship can be accounted for by transformation that
moves that Aux to the front sentence
 A transformation derives the surface structure of the
corresponding interrogatives
 Consider now the following declarative/interrogative
sets of sentences:
The boy who is sleeping was dreaming.
Was the boy who is sleeping dreaming?
*Is the boy who is sleeping dreaming?
 The ungrammatical sentences show that in forming questions it
is the Auxiliary of the topmost S, this is, the one following the
entire first NP, that appear at the front of the sentences, not
simply the first Auxiliary in the sentence
 This illustrated in the following simplified phase structure trees
 S

NP Aux VP

The boy who is sleeping was dreaming

Aux NP VP

Was The boy who is sleeping dreaming

 Syntactic categories like Noun Phrase are basic
structures in language
 Transformations such as the one for forming questions
must refer to structure, and not to the linear order of
elements in order to produce the correct result
 More than one transformation may act on a deep
structure
DEEP STRUCTURE
(FROM PHASE STRUCTURE RULES):

NP Aux VP

V Adv

The father is
weeping
silently
ADVERB MOVING
TRANSFORMATION:

INTERMEDIATE UNDERLYING
STRUCTURE: S

NP Aux VP

Adv V

The father is weeping

silently
QUESTION
TRANSFORMATION:
S
SURFACE STRUCTURE:
Aux NP VP

Adv V

Is the father weeping

silently