Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus

Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi

College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR

Chapter – One

Traditional Grammar, Structural Grammar and Transformational Grammar

Transformational Grammar
Starting formally in 1957 with the publication of Noam Chomsky‟s
Syntactic Structures, a new approach to the study of language was inaugurated.
This newer grammar has gone under various names: generative,
transformational, generative-transformational, and transformational-
generative.
The transformational grammarian is not content with describing what he finds in a
corpus of sentences collected from native speakers. He feels that his grammar
should enable one to produce all the sentences of a language, and he is as
interested in possible sentences as he is in the ones actually recorded. Since the
number of possible sentences in English or any other language is infinite, no one
could have heard all of them.

An adequate grammar of English should enable a person to produce not just those
sentences that have been said in the past, but all the sentences that a native speaker
is capable of creating or understanding. In addition, the grammar should not
generate sentences that a native speaker would reject, such as *The man horrified
the door or *Boy on the roof is.

In addition, speech may be affected by physical surroundings, emotions, memory

limitations, distractions, or other features such as chewing gum in the mouth of the
speaker. It is language (the underlying system), not actual speech output, that is of
primary interest to the transformationalist. In other words, transformationalist is

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023
interested in the speaker‟s competence, or knowledge of the language, rather than
in his performance, or actual use of it.

In some respects transformational grammar is similar to traditional grammar.

Transformational grammar assigns each sentence an underlying structure that is
called a deep structure. Some traditional grammars used a similar concept in
speaking of “understood” elements. For example, they said that Tom is taller than I
has the underlying form Tom is taller than I am tall and that imperative sentences
such as Come here have an understood subject you. Transformational
grammarians agree, but apply this idea of underlying structure to every sentence
and express it in a more abstract form than traditional grammarians did.

As transformationalists began studying deep structures, they noticed that languages

which are quite different on the surface often show many similar features in their
deep structures. Some linguists are now investigating the possibility that there is a
universal deep structure underlying all languages. Sentences having this universal
deep structure are converted into the sentences of particular languages by a process
known as transformation.

Chapter – Two
Sentence Structure and Phrase Structure Rules
Abbreviations used in this grammar are as follows: S is used to refer to a sentence
while sentence modifier is abbreviated SM, noun phrase is NP, and verb phrase
is VP. Rules in a transformational grammar are expressed in the following way:

S → (SM) Nuc

Nuc → NP + VP

The arrow means „„consists of” or “is to be rewritten as.”

These rules say that in English a sentence consists of a sentence modifier and a
nucleus; a nucleus (Nuc) consists of a noun phrase and a verb phrase. The
parentheses around SM mean that this element is optional; i.e., the sentence may or

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023
may not contain it. Since Nuc is not in parentheses, every sentence must include a
nucleus. Notice that there is no plus mark between parenthesized elements and
adjoining elements. In the second rule the fact that NP and VP are not in
parentheses indicates that both are necessary for every sentence in English. The
rules also indicate the order in which elements must be selected: the sentence
modifier must come first, then the nucleus; in the nucleus the noun phrase
must come first, then the verb phrase.

A sentence modifier (SM)

It is a word or group of words like yes, no, certainly, naturally, maybe, perhaps,
possibly, in fact, to be sure, or obviously.

e.g. Yes, that woman drinks coffee

The SM is yes, and the Nuc is that woman drinks coffee; in the Nuc, the NP is
that woman, and the VP is drinks coffee.

Exercise:

Analyze the following sentences to their deep constituents.

1. Sure I know the man who stole the car.

2. Obviously, Ali is the cleverest student in the class.

3. No, the dancing girls weren‟t at the stage.

4. Certainly, all the students will come to the graduation party.

In addition to rules that generate the sentences of English, we also have a means of
representing the exact choices that are made in the derivation of specific sentences.
This is known as a tree. The sentence Yes, that man drinks milk is represented as
follows:

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

SM NUC

NP VP

P1: S →(SM) Nuc

P2: Nuc →NP + VP

Noun Phrase (NP)

It always contains a nominal (N.) which may be a pronoun (she, he , it, ,,etc) or a
noun (Ali, Book, river, …etc.) and sometimes preceded by a det. (a, an, some, all,
few, …etc). It is represented by the following rule where det is optional and
number, i.e pluralization thus been put between brackets;

P7: NP →(Det) N (pl)

e.g These girls are happy.

NUC

NP VP

Det N Pl

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023
these girls s

Exercise

Draw trees of the following sentences

1. An Apple lay on the ground.

2. Those pearls look genuine.

3. Surely you can go with us.

4. Certainly those sheep ran fast.

Verb phrase

It may be verb to be (be) or main verb (MV) which both should show tense
whether in past, present or future.

P6: MV → NP

be Place

AP

V (NP)

1. be + NP This book is a text.

2. be + Place Rula was in the car

3. be + AP She was very rude.

4. v Ali ran

5. v + NP Bill sold the tickets.

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Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

Phrase Structure Rules are as follow:

P1:S →(SM) Nuc

P2: Nuc →NP + VP

P3: VP →Aux + MV (manner) (place) (time)

P4: Aux →tense (M) (have+en) (be +ing)

P5: Tense → present

Past

P6: MV → be NP

AP

Place

V (NP)

P7: NP → (Det) N (Pl)

P8: Ap →(intens) Adj

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

Chapter three
The Auxiliary
Tense in English grammar is expressed in form by the addition of the morphemes
(ed, en, ing or s) to change the time of the sentence from past to present perfect to
future. These tenses cannot be formed without auxiliaries (be, have, do). Thus they
are represented suing the following rules.

VP →Aux + tense

Tense → present

Past

Present perfect →(have + en)

Present continuous → (be +ing)

Eg. She is playing piano well.

Nuc

NP VP

Aux MV

N Tense

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Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

She present Be ing V

e.g She ran rapidly

Nuc

NP VP

N Aux MV manner

tense V

past run rapidly

Note that such trees actually show the structure of the sentences.
Transformationalist call each of the places at which a symbol is written a node and
say that a node dominates anything connected by lines below it. From the tree we
can see that John is an N, since the N node dominate it. Similarly, an is a Det, be
an artist is an MV, present be an artist is a VP, etc. On the other hand, John
present be is not dominated by any single node and is, therefore, not a structural
unit.

e.g John was an artist.

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023
S

Nuc

NP VP

N Aux MV

John tense be NP

Past be Det N

An artist

e.g. Layla was very attractive.

Nuc

NP VP

N Aux MV

Layla tense be AP

Past be Intens. Adj

Very attractive

Exercises:

1. They are playing pincponc.

2. Liqa is drawing myself.
3. Ahmed is talking on the phone.

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023
4. I am lying on the sofa.
5. Fatma is playing piano well.
6. These girls could have been attending the conference.
7. I like football very much.
In addition to perfect and continuous tenses, modal verbs could occur in the
sentence thus it is represented by (M). Therefore the formula will be as follows:

Aux → M (have +en) (be + ing)

Tense

P4: Aux →tense +( M) (have + en) (be + ing)

E.g: Draw trees of the following sentences

1. I have just arrived.

2. We have got the eggs.

3. She could do it yesterday.

4.We will be playing football this time tomorrow.

Phrase structure rules could be developed to be as follows:

P1: S → (SM) Nuc

P2: Nuc → Np + VP

P3: VP → Aux + MV (manner) (place) ( ( time)

P4: Aux → tense (M) (have + en) (be + ing)

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

P5: Tense → present

past

P6: MV → be NP

Ap

Place

V (NP)

P7: NP →(Det) N (pl)

P8: Ap → (intens) Adj

Exercises p.26

Q1// Draw trees of the following sentences:

1. Mabel might be upstairs.

2. Evidently he had read the report reluctantly.

3. That man must have lacked courage.

4. The members would have chosen the leader then.

5. Harold might have been sitting in his room.

6. he will be a minister next year.

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023
7.yes, Murphy has been very quiet.

8.The fireman will be having trouble soon.

Q2// Choose the correct sentence that match the formulas below:

1. NP+ present + M + V + NP

a. The student should use the library.

b. The car will hit the child.

c. He sings the song beautifully.

2. NP + past + M + have + en + be+ ing + place

a. The cow has been in the field.

b. They should have eaten in the restaurant.

c. People could have been running in the rain.

3. NP + present + have + en + V + NP

a. We will have caught him.

b. They have chosen John.

c. We are electing him.

4. NP + past + M + be + NP

a. He is the owner.

b. Everybody has gone home.

c. They would be conservatives.

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

5. NP + present + M + have + en + be + ing + V + place.

a. John is in the barn.

b. Jack will have been running in the house.

c. She must have been ill.

Q3// Write the formula for each of the following sentences below, make the
addition or deletion as required then write the resulting sentence.

e.g. Sally was playing. NP + past + be + ing + play.

Add have + en NP + past + have + en + be + ing + play.

Sally had been playing.

1. I ate then. ( add be + ing)

-NP+past+eat+Time.
NP+Past+be+ing+eat+time.
-I was eating then.

2. They drank the wine. (Add will)

- NP+past+drink+NP.

-NP+past+M+drink+NP

-They would drink the wine

3. We had gone to the windows. (Delete have + en)

-NP+Past+have+en+go+place.

NP+Past+go+place

We went to the windows.

4. You could have listened to me. (Add be + ing)

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023
-NP+Past+M+have+en+listen+ place

NP+Past+M+have+en+be+ing+listen+place

You could have been listening to me.

5. They might be disappointed.( Delete may)

- NP+past+M+be+AP

-NP+past+be+AP

-They were disappointed.

Now do horizontal analysis for the following sentences into their main constituents
performing what is required between brackets:

6. Sam was telling a lie. ( Add have + en )

7. You could have been repairing the clock. ( Delete be + ing)

8. I was going ( Add shall)

9. I could see him well. ( Delete can)

10. The waitress must be laughing at us.( add have + en)

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

Chapter Four
Lexical Feature
While Transformational grammar school concerns with transforming surface
structure to deep structure and vice versa, it also concentrates on the semantic
components of the sentences thus producing meaningful & grammatical sentences.
Accordingly, semantic features of sentence components should be considered in
order to avoid ungrammatical sentences. Below are the semantic features of some
parts of speech with their semantic restrictions :

1. Intransitive / Transitive verbs Restrictions:

 Intransitive verbs are verbs that don‟t need NP after them to complete their
meaning such as ; arrive, run, occur, evaporate, vanish, rise, sweat,
pause, stop …etc while transitive verbs require NPs after them to complete
their meaning. Thus intransitive verbs are represented by the feature:

[ _ ____ NP]

While transitive verbs( write, read, eat, bring, prove …etc have the feature :

[ + ____ NP] which means the verb needs a noun phrase after it.

The underline refers to the position of the verb. The plus (+) indicates that the
verb is followed by a noun while the minus (-) indicates that the verb is not
followed by a noun.

E.g: 1. He shot a deer. [ + ____ NP]

2. I tore the letter. [ + ____ NP]

3. An accident occurred yesterday . [ -- ____ NP]

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College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

4. time elapsed quickly. [ _ ____ NP]

 Some verbs with the feature [ + ____ NP] may not be followed by noun
phrases though they are usually did.

For example:

5. Linda ate (a piece of cake).

6. He drove ( his car fast)

7. The students wrote ( the homework)

Other verbs like these are: (watch, steal, read). There is no change in the meaning
of these verbs whether they are followed with noun phrase or not. Their semantic
feature [ + ____ NP] only states that a noun phrase is permitted after the verbs
with the meaning given.

 In addition, the semantic feature of a verb depends on its meaning in the

sentence in which it occurs. There is a difference between the sentences:

8. He ran fast .

9. He ran the store.

The verb run has the feature [ - ____ NP] in sentence (8) while [ + ____ NP] in
sentence (9).

 Verbs with the feature [ - ____ NP] may be followed by nothing or by

optional adverbials as in the examples below:

10. The children were sleeping or The children were sleeping calmly/soundly.

11. The girl fell. Or the girl fell from the 1st floor.

12. We hurried or We hurried out because of fire.

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Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

 Moreover, there are some intransitive verbs (lay, lurk, recline, step, glance)
that must be followed by adverbials if the sentence is to be
grammatical. For example:

13. We lay there. * We lay.

14. He lurked outside. * he lurked.

Differing from simple intransitive verbs, these verbs must be followed by adverbial
of place. Thus they have the feature [ + ____ Place] where the adverbial is not
optional but obligatory.

 There are also transitive verbs that must have noun phrase then adverbial
thus have the feature [+ ____ NP Place] such as (handed, gave, passed,
set, laid, …etc) For example:

15. Ali handed the paper to me. Not * Ali handed the paper.

16. Lama set her bag there. Not * Lama set her bag .

17. The teacher laid the book on the table. Not * The teacher laid the book .

So far we have the features:

1. [ + ____ NP]

2. [ - ____ NP]

3. [ + ____ place]

4. [ + ____ NP place]

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Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

2. Subject- Verb Restrictions

When choosing a subject to form a sentence we should be careful with the verb
following it in terms of semantic matching between them. For example:

18. The man sneezed. Not * The tree sneezed.

19. The man prayed . Not * The coffee prayed.

20. The teacher talked to me Not *The ants talked to me.

21. I coughed. Not * The book coughed.

 The sentences above with asterisk( *) are ungrammatical because the verbs
require human subject. They, therefore, have the feature [+ human]. In such
sentences when verbs do not permit nonhuman subjects such as (faint,
praise, worship, complain, acknowledge, thank, they have the feature

[- [ - human] ___]

Furthermore, there are verbs that permit human and animal subjects occurring
before them such as: bit, ran, taste, …etc. Therefore there is another feature that
permit human and animal, i.e animate. Verbs that do not permit inanimate
subjects have the feature [- [ - animate] ___] Thus we can say the horse bit me or
Ali bit me (both the horse and Ali are animate) , but we cannot say the tree or the
rock bit me.

 In addition, there are verbs such as (sit, rise, lie, lay…etc) that require
concrete subjects and don‟t permit abstract subjects. They have the feature
[- [ - concrete] ___] . Meanwhile verbs that do not permit concrete subjects
such as: (occur, befall, elapse, lay, taste,…etc) have the feature [- [ +
concrete] ___]. For example,

22. My admiration lays there. [- [ - concrete] ___]

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Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

23. A book occurred to me. [- [ + concrete] ___]

So far , we have four features

1. [- [ - human] ___]

2. [- [ - animate] ___]

3. [- [ - concrete] ___]

4. [- [ + concrete] ___]

Note: Linking verbs such as : seem, look, sound , appear, have the feature

[ - ____ NP] simply because they are not followed by noun phrase.

 Add to that there are verbs that require animate objects such as : surprise,
astonish, terrify, frighten, …etc. For example:

24. The noise surprised me/the dog but not *the tree.

25. The crashed frightened him/ the birds/ but not *the wisdom.

 There are also group of verbs that require living subjects: human, animals
and plants such as : die, grow, thrive, …etc. For example:

26. The man died/ The flower died/ the dog died.

 Some verbs take only abstract objects such as: guess, pretend, announce,
…etc.

27. I could guess the answer.

28. They announced their marriage.

29. The naughty boys pretended calmness.

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Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

 Some verbs are even more restricted such as: evaporate which require a
liquid subject. For example:

The lake‟s water evaporated.

 The verbs read and write must have objects related to writing. Other verbs
have severe restrictions on their subjects such as disperse, dissolve, corrode,
…etc or their objects such as: sing , whistle, say, etc.

Exercise:
Write the syntactic features of the following verbs as occurred in the lexicon.:
admire, eat, seem, occur.

Admire eat

[ + ____ NP] [ + ____ NP]

[- [ - human] ___] [- [ - animate] ___]

Seem occur

[ - ____ NP] [ - ____ NP]

[-[+ concrete ]___ ]

[- [ + concrete] ___]

3.Determiner/Noun Restrictions

While nouns have been classified previously as human, nonhuman, animate or

inanimate and concrete or abstract, there are features restricting nouns and
determiners. Nouns are either common [ + common] or proper [ - common]
Nouns could also be counted thus have the feature [+ count] such as: book or non-
counted thus have the feature [ - count] For example:

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

30. The horse bit me. [ + count]

31. Those doves flew away. [ + count]

32. The monkey ate some oats. [ - count]

33. The ground needs moisture. [ - count]

However, there are nouns that are count in one sentence and non-count in another
sentence. For example:

34. I throw a stone into the lake. [ + count]

35. This cottage is made of stone. [ - count]

Furthermore, sometimes a noun is noncount although we could count the item it

names. For example: furniture, news, sheep, fish, …etc

36. I bought some furniture.

We cannot say one furniture , two furniture, three furniture, etc., but we can count
the piece of furniture.

On the other hand, some abstract nouns are noncount and don‟t accept determiners
or plural morphemes: *The honesty is good, * The have courages. While other
abstract nouns, such as idea and trait, are count nouns and take determiners and
plural morpheme freely.

While nouns have the feature [ - count] and the feature [ - concrete] normally the,
this, and that may not be used. *I felt the sadness, *She was full of that
enthusiasm, nouns that are [ - count] and [ + concrete] take the freely. The oil is
leaking on the carpet.

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

Exercise

Write the syntactic features of the following words as in the lexicon:

(Mary, woman, cat and truth)

N woman Mary cat truth

Common + - + +

Count + - + -

Concrete + - + -

Animate + + + -

Human + + - -

A lexical entry for mouse will be the following:

/maus/ +N

+ common

+ animate

- human
+count

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

Exercise Chapter Four p.40 (With answers)

Q1// A- Use features to explain why the following sentences are

ungrammatical:

1. * The Perseverance is a virtue.

- “Perseverance” has the feature: +N, +common, - concrete, - count, therefore the
determiner “the” shouldn‟t be used before it.

2. * He has read book.

- “book” has the feature +N, +common, +count, + concrete, therefore the
determiner “a” or “the” should be used before it.

3. * A birds flew into the room.

- “birds” is plural and it has the feature [+ count] ,therefore the indefinite article
“a” shouldn‟t be used before it.

4.* Despair dropped to the floor

- The verb dropped has the feature: [ -[- concrete] _ ] and despair is an abstract
noun with the feature [- concrete].

5.* The eagle prayed for an hour.

- The verb “prayed” has the feature; [ -[- human] _ ] and the word “eagle” is a
noun having the feature [- human]

6. *They handed the book.

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College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023
- The verb “handed” has the feature; [ + ____ NP Place ], therefore another word,
i.e. adverb of place should come after the NP.

7. *We vanished the spot.

- The verb “vanished” has the feature; [ - ____ NP ], therefore no NP should come
after it.

8. *The tree coughed loudly.

-The verb “coughed” has the feature; [ -[- human] _ ], thus the subject “the tree”
with the feature [- human] shouldn‟t before it.

9. *The bread dripped.

-The verb “dripped” needs liquid subject and the noun “bread‟ has the feature
[+concrete]

10. *My boss elapsed

-The verb “elapsed” has the feature; [ -[+ concrete] _ ]. An abstract noun should
come before it specifically related to time.

B- Give the features of the following boldfaced words:

1. The monkey chewed the food slowly.

+N Monkey food student Bob ruler water accident

Common + + + + + + +

Count + - + + - -

Concrete + + + + + -

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2022-2023

2. A students coughed loudly

Cough [ -[- human] _ ].

3. He glanced at the water.

Glanced [ -[- animate] _ ].

Or [ +[+ animate] _ ].

4.Bob handed a ruler to me.

Handed [ + ____ NP Place ].

5. The accident occurred yesterday.

Occur [ -[+ concrete] _ ].

Or [ +[- concrete] _ ].

C. Examine the following sentences and decide why some of the them are
ungrammatical. What generalizations can you make about: much, many,
fewer, and less:

1. Much energy was spent on this project.

2. Many apples were in the basket.

3. *Much children were in the room.

- The determiner “much” requires [- count] N after it.

4.* Many dandruff was in the hair.

-The determiner “many” requires [+ count] N after it.

5.* He ate less apple than I did.

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College of basic Education
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2022-2023

-The determiner “less” requires [- count] N after it.

6. He has fewer friends than I have.

-The determiner “fewer” requires [+ count] N after it.

7.She has less confidence than Jane has.

-The determiner “less” requires [- count] N after it.

8. * He has fewer poise than I.

-The determiner “fewer” requires [+ count] N after it.

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
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2022-2023
Chapter Five

Negative Transformation

While phrase structure rules could underline sentences with various auxiliary
verbs, they cannot underline or account for negative, interrogative or passive voice
sentences such as:

We are not having exams today.

Did you go to Baghdad yesterday.

The door was opened by the manager.

On the other hand, transformational rules can underline such sentences and account
for all these various kinds of sentences. Transformational rules are actually used to
produce the changes in these different forms of sentences.

Accounting for negative sentences, the sentence „ Not John past can sing well‟ is
not grammatical and it would be if the SM not is moved to the auxiliary verb in the
sentence which is „ can‟,i.e. we change word order. „Not‟ is regarded SM since it
modifies the whole sentence while the negative affixes are not since they modify
the words to them they are attached not the whole sentence such as „impersonal‟

Transformational rules work on such negative sentences and transform them from
deep structure to surface structure, i.e grammatical sentences.

For example the sentence John couldn’t sing well is transformed from deep to
surface structure as follows:

Not + X + past + can + V + manner ↔ X + past + can + not + V + manner

The negative SM „not‟ is to be added to the auxiliary verb ,but in case of main
verbs two transformational process are needed in order to convey negative deep
structure into surface grammatical structure.

Not + x + tense + Aux + Y → x + tense+ Aux+not+ Y

Not + x + tense + be + Y →x + tense + be + not + Y

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023
Not + x + tense + V + Y → Y + tense + not + V + Y

Because there is a great deal of repletion in the above formula, they are combined
to the following one:

Not + X + tense Aux Aux + not

Be Y → X + tense be + not Y

V not + V

The square brackets indicates that corresponding items must be selected o both
sides of the arrow.

In case of sentences having main verbs with no aux thus two transformational rules
should be applied. The 1st negative transformational rule applies to the sentence
aux then do-transformational rule is applied to add the negative „not‟ to the aux
thus end up with grammatical surface structure.

For example, We don‟t jump here .

SM Nuc

NP VP

N Aux MV place

Tense not V

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

Nuc

NP VP

N Aux MV place

Tense do not V

Exercise;

Q// Transform the following deep structure into surface structure by applying the
negative transformation and where applicable , the do transformation.

1. not John present be in the room.

2. not of course the children past can go with us.

3. not those chairs present need paint now.

4. not she present look tired.

5. not they present be the leaders.

6. not the boys present will have arrived by then.

7. not no that cat present resemble my sister‟s cat.

8. not they present have seen me here.

9. not Patsy past be friendly.

10. not his foot past become infected.

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

Chapter Six

Question Transformation

In English grammar, there are two main kinds of questions: Yes\No questions (Are
you ready? Does she have a job? Will you go with him?, and WH Questions ( Who
broke the window?, Where did he go last week?,…etc. In such kind of sentences
rearrangement rule is applied in addition to substitution and deletion. If we look at
the question: What is he doing? This surface sentence is derived from the deep
structure Q he is doing NP- WH. After applying yes\no transformation, we have
the intermediate structure : Is he doing NP-WH? The WH transformation
substitutes the interrogative WH for the noun phrase and moves it to the beginning
of the sentence: what is he doing? These processes are shown in the following
trees. Look at the deep structure tree:

SM NUC

NP VP

Aux MV

Q He tense be ing V NP

Present be ing do WH

After applying Yes\ No Transformation it becomes:

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023
S

NUC

Aux NP VP

Tense be N

Aux MV

present be He ing V NP

ing do WH

Then WH transformation is applied thus move the NP with Wh attached to it to the

beginning of the sentence and substitutes what:

NUC

NP

Aux NP VP

Tense be N

Aux MV

What present be He ing V NP

ing do WH

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023
See the application of yes\ no transformation process on the following deep
structure: Q the bell is ringing now = Q present be ing ring now

The surface structure is : Is the bell ringing now? While the intermediate structure
is:

SM NUC

NP VP

Det N

Aux MV time

Q the bell tense be ing V

Present be ing ring now

Then the following surface structure is produced:

NUC

Aux NP VP

Tense be Det N

Aux MV time

present be the bell ing V

ing ring now

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023
Is the bell ringing now?

If the sentence has no aux and has rather be as main verb, the subject noun phrase
changes position with tense and be and Q is deleted:

Q + NP + tense +be +X tense + be + NP + X

Notice the following deep and surface structure of no aux interrogative sentences
with be as main verb:

1. Q the men are lucky Are the men lucky?

2. Q he was our supervisor Was he our supervisor?
3. Q betty is at home Is betty at home?

In addition, if the sentence has a main verb thus two processes are required: the 1st
one is addition of Q and the 2nd is do insertion. For example: Dose she know my
name?

SM NUC

NP VP

Aux MV

Q she tense V NP

Present know Det N

My name

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Summarized pamphlet of 4th year college level’ syllabus
Prepared by Dr. Maysaa R. J. Al Tammemi
College of basic Education
University of Diyala
2022-2023

Then do insertion applies:

NUC

Aux NP VP

Tense N

MV MV
present do V

know my name

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