Analysing Sentences: An Introduction to English Syntax

Citation

Burton-Roberts, N. (2021). Analysing Sentences: An Introduction to English Syntax (5th ed.). Routledge.

Chapter Summary

The fifth edition, in Routledge's Learning about Language series, has about 290 pages: prefaces to all five editions, an introduction, eleven chapters and an index. The publisher describes it as an introduction to the practical analysis of English sentence structure built around constituency, category and function, with tree diagrams used throughout and many exercises both within and at the end of chapters. This edition was revised with new material, new example sentences and a more reader-friendly layout. A companion website offers extra exercises for students and, for instructors only, a complete set of answers to the online activities and the exercises in the book.

Chapters 1–3: Sentence Structure: Constituents; Sentence Structure: Functions; Sentence Structure: Categories

The book opens with three chapters on the three key ideas the publisher names: constituents (how words group into larger units within a sentence), functions (the roles those units play) and categories (the classes the units belong to). Everything later is built on these three notions and on the tree diagrams that represent them.

Chapters 4–6: The basic Verb Phrase; Adverbials and Other Matters; More on verbs: auxiliary VPs

The next group turns to the verb phrase. Chapter 4 sets out the basic verb phrase, Chapter 5 adds adverbials along with other points, and Chapter 6 returns to verbs to treat auxiliaries, analysed as auxiliary verb phrases.

Chapter 7: The structure of Noun Phrases

A single chapter on the internal structure of noun phrases, the other main phrase type in the sentence.

Chapters 8–10: Sentences within Sentences; Wh-Clauses; Non-finite Clauses

Three chapters deal with complex sentences: clauses contained inside other sentences, clauses introduced by wh-words, and clauses without a finite verb.

Chapter 11: Languages, Sentences, and Grammars

The final chapter steps back from practical analysis to set it in its theoretical context and, according to the publisher, includes an introduction to constituency in X-bar syntax.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–3: Sentence Structure

• Constituent: a word or group of words that forms a unit in the structure of a sentence.
• Function: the role a constituent plays in the sentence or phrase containing it.
• Category: the class to which a word or phrase belongs.
• Tree diagram: the representation of a sentence's constituent structure that the book uses throughout.

Chapters 4–7: Phrases

• Verb phrase: the phrase built around a verb, introduced first in its basic form.
• Adverbial: a constituent with an adverbial function, treated in its own chapter.
• Auxiliary verb phrase: the analysis of auxiliary verbs as heading their own verb phrases.
• Noun phrase: the phrase built around a noun, with its own internal structure.

Chapters 8–11: Clauses and Theory

• Embedded sentence: a sentence functioning inside a larger sentence.
• Wh-clause: a clause introduced by a wh-word.
• Non-finite clause: a clause whose verb is not finite.
• X-bar syntax: a theory of phrase structure introduced in the last chapter as the theoretical context for the book's analysis of constituency.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Practical, step-by-step method. The publisher presents the book as a practical introduction for readers coming to syntax for the first time, and the table of contents shows a cumulative order: constituents, functions and categories first, then phrases, then complex sentences. Each stage depends on the one before.
• Exercises throughout. The book has exercises inside chapters as well as at the end of them, which the publisher says makes it suitable for self-directed study as well as for courses. The companion website adds further exercises.
• Long-tested and revised. The book carries prefaces to five editions; the fourth edition introduced the companion website, and the fifth revised the text with new example sentences and a new layout.
• Theory kept separate. Because the theoretical context and X-bar syntax are held back to the final chapter, beginners can learn to analyse sentences before meeting a formal theory of phrase structure.

Limitations

• English only. As the subtitle says, it is an introduction to English syntax; it does not cover how other languages structure sentences.
• Answers restricted. The complete set of answers is for instructors, so independent learners will need another way to check their work on the end-of-chapter exercises.
• Limited theory. Only the last chapter addresses syntactic theory, and then as an introduction to constituency in X-bar syntax. Students who need current generative theory will need a further textbook.

Where It Fits in the Course

In this syntax course, Analysing Sentences is the most practical starting point for English. Maggie Tallerman's Understanding Syntax is the other first book: it also assumes no previous study of grammar, but takes a largely theory-neutral, descriptive approach drawing on data from over a hundred languages. Burton-Roberts suits students who want to master the analysis of English sentences first; Tallerman suits those who want to see how languages differ. Reading both gives a solid basis.

Andrew Carnie's Syntax: A Generative Introduction is the natural next step: a generative textbook that assumes some prior linguistics and covers constituency, structural relations, movement and Merge, with problem sets. Burton-Roberts's final chapter on X-bar syntax provides a bridge to it. Noam Chomsky's Syntactic Structures and Knowledge of Language are primary theoretical texts on generative grammar and on what it means to know a language, best read after a course has covered the basics.

How to Use This Book

The publisher describes the book as suited to readers coming to the topic for the first time, either for self-directed study or as core reading on an introductory syntax course; no previous study of grammar or linguistics is needed.

• Core, in order: the Introduction and Chapters 1–3 must come first, since every later chapter builds on constituents, functions, categories and tree diagrams. Then Chapters 4–7 on verb phrases, adverbials, auxiliaries and noun phrases.
• Complex sentences: Chapters 8–10 on embedded, wh- and non-finite clauses complete the analysis; take them in order.
• Theory: Chapter 11 can close the course or serve as preparation for a generative syntax course.

Do the in-text exercises as they appear rather than saving them for later, since later chapters assume the techniques of earlier ones. Draw the trees by hand, and go back to earlier trees when a later chapter adds structure to a phrase type you have already analysed. Use the extra exercises on the companion website for revision, and if working alone, check answers with a teacher or study group.