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Linguistics & Grammar vocabulary · Syntax

Tree diagram

Meaning in linguistics & grammar, with examples

nounCommon term

In linguistics & grammar, tree diagram means: A drawing that shows the structure of a sentence or word as branches, with each phrase and its parts shown as nodes connected by lines.

In Turkish: ağaç çizimi, ağaç diyagramı

How it is used

Standard in syntax courses and exams (draw a tree diagram for this sentence). Labels such as S, NP, VP and PP sit on the nodes. Some textbooks use labelled bracketing instead, which shows the same information on one line.

Example sentences

  1. The tree diagram shows two possible structures for 'old men and women'.

  2. Draw a tree diagram for the sentence and label every phrase.

Common collocations

  • draw a tree diagram
  • syntax tree
  • label the nodes
  • phrase structure tree
  • syntaxThe study of how words are combined into phrases and sentences, and the rules of a language that decide which word orders and structures are possible.
  • constituentA word or group of words that functions as a single unit in the structure of a sentence, such as a noun phrase or a prepositional phrase.
  • phraseA group of words that works as one unit in a sentence but usually has no subject-verb pair, such as 'the old library' or 'in the morning'.
  • noun phraseA group of words built around a noun or pronoun that works as one unit, often as subject or object, such as 'the tall man in the blue coat'.

More terms: Syntax

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