phrase-structure grammar

noun

UK /ˈfreɪz ˈstrʌktʃə ˈɡræmə/

US /ˈfreɪz ˈstrʌktʃər ˈɡræmər/

A set of rules that shows how words can be put together to make sentences.

The teacher used phrase-structure grammar to explain how the sentence is built from smaller parts.

SYNONYMS

constituent grammar syntax rules sentence-building rules generative grammar

RELATED WORDS

syntax parse tree grammar linguistics sentence structure

OTHER MEANINGS

2. A formal system in linguistics that describes how phrases combine into larger units.

Chomsky's early work relied on phrase-structure grammar to model sentence formation.

3. A way of diagramming sentences by breaking them into nested phrases.

Students drew a phrase-structure grammar tree for the sentence 'The cat sat on the mat.'

4. A computational model used in natural language processing to parse text.

The parser was built on a phrase-structure grammar to analyze the input sentence.