Syntax Trees--I Need My Monster

You can watch I Need My Monster and read an introduction to syntax trees here.

My name is Herbert and I will be your monster for the evening:

A compound sentence from I Need My Monster is here.

This blog post looks at more difficult sentences in the story:

#1A--"No other monster can scare me like you" is a short sentence with two parts, NP and VP.

Syntax Trees: Basic Structure of English Sentences

Updated 27 October, 2914

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:

1A "Bill laughed" only has two words, a noun and a verb, the smallest possible declarative sentence.

1B "The two children were hot and bored" has seven words, but the structure is the same: NP VP

1C "The man in the brown hat talked and talked" has even more words, but the structure doesn't change: NP VP

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)

How "REAL" Grammar Helps Writers 不要死背文法！

In conversation, people don't pay close attention to grammar, but writing is VERY different. Grammar is very important for writing, so writers need to learn a little about grammar.

Four important points:

1) Many English speakers (people in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand) don't like grammar and don't understand it. That is because many of their teachers didn't teach REAL English grammar. Grammar makes some people feel stupid ("I only speak English, but my teacher says my grammar is wrong. I must be stupid!")

2) Real English grammar (based on Modern English) is different from old-style school grammar (based on Ancient Latin). Latin grammar is difficult and it makes many people feel stupid. Real grammar DOESN'T make you feel stupid. A very good place to learn Modern English grammar is the free Internet Grammar of English, prepared by University College, London. This was published about 15 years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 You can also find the Internet Grammar of English in a Chinese version:

 

How to Apply for an Amazon Account

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Extensive Reading: Graded Readers (Cambridge, Macmillan, Oxford, Penguin)

Improving your English through extensive reading means reading everything and anything: choose interesting and easy books (only a few unfamiliar words per page; most of these words can be guessed from context or are not very important). Graded readers from major British publishers are an excellent choice. You can read these books in a library (many also have CDs or MP3 files), or buy them yourself.

One special thing about Cambridge English Readers is that many of their titles are stories about modern people. Some of these stories are quite interesting to read. The Big Picture, for example, is a book about an unlucky Japanese photographer: his camera almost kills him!

Macmillan Readers has quite a few well-written books. Even I, a native speaker of English, enjoy reading them for their simple style.
http://www.macmillanreaders.com/reader_level/starter

There are 649 titles in the Oxford Bookworms Library, many of which are classics (famous old books which are STILL interesting, even today)

Many Penguin Readers are based on famous movies. Watch the movie, then read the book, or read first, then watch. You will enjoy yourself better that way. Level Two includes several titles: here you read and listen to a small sample from Mr Bean (printed and audio).
http://www.penguinreaders.com/members/pr/students/sample-area.html

Prepositional Phrases with "OF" (Syntax Trees)

Used alone, prepositions don't have much meaning. Instead, prepositions make the meaning of other words clearer. How do they do this? Prepositions show relationships between words. Here are some examples of the preposition of and some of these relationships:

Possible Meaning	Example	Chinese
Amount? 分量	A cup of tea	一杯茶
Location? 位置	The United States of America	美利堅共和國
Belongs to? 隸屬	The Queen of England	英國女王
Said by? 某人說的	The Analects of Confucius	論語

Here is a list of common prepositions: about, above, across, after, against, along, amid, among, around, as, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond, but, by, down, during, for, from, in, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, past, save, since, through, to, toward, under, unlike, until, up, upon, via, with

Prepositional phrases (PP) are made of a preposition (Prep) followed by a noun phrase (NP). Tree diagrams are word pictures. They can help us understand the relationships between words in a sentence.

Tree Diagram for "A cup of tea" 
= [NP [NP A cup] [PP of tea]]

Storyline Review Crossword Puzzle

{Updated November 3, 2014}

If you have finished reading four Storyline stories (I Need My Monster, Guji Guji, Me and My Cat and Harry the Dirty Dog), you can test yourself by doing this crossword puzzle:

The picture above is just a picture.

Almost all of the words in this puzzle are easy vocabulary. The words come from these four stories. Some "short forms" are small tricks to give you extra help. For example, 3 Down = "American Meat Institute" = AMI. If you don't know "1 Across," try to find the answers for 2 Down, 3 Down and 4 Down. 1 Across is now much easier to guess.

Remember to use sentence patterns and meaning to help you guess. For example, 4 Down = "Ducks sleep at ~." At is a preposition, so "at ~" is a PP, and the last word must be a noun phrase or noun (NP).


Click below to try the complete puzzle (it's fun!