S ---》 NP VP
“A sentence is made of a Noun Phrase and a Verb Phrase”
Most English sentences are made of (at least) a Noun Phrase and a Verb Phrase. Other things can be added to the sentence.
英文句子（陳述句）的基本結構是：
名詞組 （NP, Noun Phrase) + 動詞組 （VP, Verb Phrase)
（有個別例外）
The following sentences come from the beginning of One Way Ticket (Oxford Graded Readers). Syntax trees show the sentence structure from top to bottom:
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| 1A "Bill laughed" only has two words, a noun and a verb, the smallest possible declarative sentence. |
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| 1B "The two children were hot and bored" has seven words, but the structure is the same: NP VP |
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| 1C "The man in the brown hat talked and talked" has even more words, but the structure doesn't change: NP VP |
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| 1D "The children ate their oranges and were quiet for a minut" is still NP VP, but the VP part is actually TWO VPs linked with "and" |
The NPs and VPs can be expanded to show the complete structure. The complete trees below use some short forms:
DT =
DeTerminer
CD = Cardinal Number
NN =
NouN
NNP = proper noun (name of a place, a person etc.) NNS = plural noun
NP = Noun Phrase
JJ =
adJective
ADJP = Adjective Phrase
VB =
VerB
VBD = past tense (-ed) verb
PP = Prepositional Phrase (介詞組)
IN = preposition（用最具代表性的介詞當縮略語）
CC = Coordinating Conjunction (並列連詞)
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| 2A The Noun Phrase (NP) only contains one NNP (proper noun), "Bill"; the Verb Phrase (VP) only contains one VBD (past tense verb), "laughed" |
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| 2B The verb phrase contains a past tense verb and an Adjective Phrase made of two adjectives |
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| 2C The NP contains a PP (like an adjective that comes AFTER the noun!), and the VP contains two more VPs (each VP contains just one past tense verb) |
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| 2D The first VP contains two more VPs ("ate their oranges" and "were quiet for a moment"), and the last VP contains an adjective and a PP "for a minute") |
