[Introduction to Linguistics] Word Order, Grammar, and Phrase Structure Rules

In this video we look at word order in languages, grammaticality, prescriptive and descriptive grammar, as well as some basic phrase structure rules.

Old video. Updated video in the playlist on the channel.

Check out my NEW syntax series on my YouTube channel for more syntax!

Hello, welcome to TheTrevTutor. I'm here to help you learn your college courses in an easy, efficient manner. If you like what you see, feel free to subscribe and follow me for updates. If you have any questions, leave them below. I try to answer as many questions as possible. If something isn't quite clear or needs more explanation, I can easily make additional videos to satisfy your need for knowledge and understanding.

[ashlyrichmond]

Thanks for all of the videos I am totally lost in my linguistics class and all of the videos have helped me get caught up with what the textbook is reffering to.

[malteeaser]

I know nothing about linguistics, but I know I'm going to love it.

[podcast]

No English teacher can be a good teacher unless or until he/ she is with a good sense of linguistics. I'm getting a great help from this. Thanks to all.

[sharzashakeel]

Thank you so much for jotting down these complex topics into easy bits. it has helped us a lot as non-native English speaker we do not normally learn these things in schools.

[nonkululekochitya]

I am writing my first exam tomorrow, and I know I will make it. Thank you so much.

[Jacob-ezhc]

stumbled upon this video series and i am very excited for my upcoming linguistics class now! thanks

[YoussefOsse]

In the sentence ''The dog ran away''. Away is an adverb modifies the verb ran. It is not a preposition.

[seelevel]

I think people are probbaly afraid to leave comments, man. LOL And, I am enjoying the instruction immensely. Thank you so much for the teaching of this subject which is so very important for those who wish to be correct.

[jeremyhunter]

The issue of "ending sentences with a preposition", I understand, is due to teachers in times gone by would try and impose foreign grammar on English, particularly Latin. This resulted in rules such as "no double negatives", despite the fact that the double negative in Old English was perfectly legitimate, Latin be damned. It didn't negate itself, in fact it emphasised the negativity. People need to give up on prescriptive grammar once and for all. As long as we understand each other, that's all that matters, and when we don't, we'll work it out together.

[fatyfati]

Good explanation makes the lesson easy thank you so much !!

[hananehassouni]

Thanks for the video.can  you tell me the reason why you didn't abide by the binary system(branching) in the last example, kuz iw was expecting the recursion of the NP

[khmerlinguistics]

Thanks for your explanation in this video.

Just because it is a common misconception, the verb in "Boku wa niku ga suki desu" is actually "desu". "To like" in Japanese is an adjective so more like the whole phrase "suki desu" is the verb.

[danysyna]

Just an observation: SUKI in Japanese isn't a verb, actually is an adjective. It's a little complicated. So if you want to change you're example, you could use: Boku wa niku wo taberu - I eat meat. (Boku wa will be the Subject, niku wo will be the direct object and taberu will be the verb).

[azforthlol]

I always find it confusing about how concepts like subject and object are taken as a given. I find them some of the hardest concepts to nail down. We always introduce people to syntax with stuff like SVO. However, it completely presupposes an understanding of things like word class. It also leads lots of people to assume that subject means the same thing as agent, and it all goes fine until they hit passive constructions. Personally I think the subject-predicate distinction is the best starting point. It gives a better entry level understanding of syntax and doesn't get bogged down by being conflated with squishy semantic notions.

[giuliacoene]

thank you so so so much this really helped me out

[t.k.abrams]

Why was VP broken up into V and PP instead of just V and P at 11:00 in the video? How do you know when to make something NP or PP rather than just N or P?

[Rina-wtzp]

regarding the homework example: can VP := (V, NP) to allow for transitivity, then combine with PP := (P, NP) (using a hypothetical VP := (VP, PP) rule) to establish a first-order and second-order verb phrase hierarchy wherein VP1:=(V, NP) and VP2:=(VP, PP) ???

[ttchmp]

what about how to explain how a sentence is ungrammatical? ex. The instructor suggested the students to study. The verb phrase to study seems off, how do I explain that in linguistics terms?

[nilesnow]

Suki is a noun or an adjectival noun... but I get your point