Constituency Tests Flashcards
Why constituency tests
What are constituency tests
Constituent - a syntactic unit that combines with others in rule governed ways to create larger units
Ex: phrases, clauses, sentences
Constituents are marked with square brackets
Sentences are not random/arbitrary stings of constituents.
They are arranged in a hierarchical structure confirming rules.
In order to verify if the sequence of words that generate phrase are constituents as the above there are exist constituency tests
They are
Replace ment test - if any sequence of words can be replaces with another constituent
Ex my brother went to rome he went to rome
[my bother]
Movement test - if any sequence of words can be moved as a unit with in a sentence still being grammatical and changing the meaning
Ex my mother made this wall hanging
[This wall hanging, ]my mother made
Sentence fragment test- if any sequence of words that stand alone as an answer to a question
Ex: where did she go [to Spain]
Coordination test
If any sequence of words can be conjoined with a coordinator to another set of words in order to create a independent larger constituent
Ex [we went to the library] and [read books ]
