Phrase Structure Rules

Given the sentence, Mary had a little lamb from left to right, the sentence is indicated by the node S.

A right arrow, using the greater than symbol (>), is placed immediately after the S, to indicate that the elements that followed are constituents of the S.

Where S is Mary had a little lamb; Noun phrase (NP) is the subject Mary; Verb phrase (VP) is the predicate had a little lamb. This would be represented as: S > NP VP

Leave a space between each node.

Next, we break down each constituent further NP consists of a single noun (N) This would be represented in the next line as: NP > N

The noun in the subject is Mary This would be represented in the next line as: N > Mary

Next is a VP consisting of a verb (V) and another noun phrase (NP) This would be represented in the next line as: VP > V NP The verb (V) in the VP is had and would be represented as: V > had

The NP in the VP is a little lamb and consists of a determiner (DET) and a smaller NP. This would be represented in the next line as: NP > DET NP The DET in the sentence is a The DET would be represented in the next line as: DET > a

The smaller NP consists of the Adjective Phrase (AdjP) and noun (N) This would be represented in the next line as: NP > AdjP N The AdjP consists of a single adjective (ADJ) This would be represented in the next line as: AdjP > ADJ The ADJ is little This would be represented in the next line as: ADJ > little

Last, the noun is lamb and would be represented in the final line as: N > lamb