When I come across a grammatical term involving trees, well, as the Wordsmith of the Woods and all, I have grin and bear it with all the branches in my mind. What a wonderful term—tree-adjoining grammar. Also known as TAG, this is a way of breaking down a sentence when rewriting with the use of a tree structure. If you love your grammar as you should, then keep on reading. Learn how you can take your sentences and stuff them into a tree for all the grammar glory of this meta grammar concept.
Tree Diagrams for Sentences
You probably remember, some with distain, the practice of diagramming sentences. Well, this is just another method of breaking down sentences like your teacher in grammar school once tried to teach you. Here you use initial trees, auxiliary trees, elementary trees, and root nodes for processing language instead of the other diagramming methods. Another interesting note here is that tree-adjoining grammar is referred to as mildly context-sensitive. If you are adverse to context-sensitive grammar structuring, you’ll be happy to know this is only a mild case.
When using a tree diagram to structure sentences using tree-adjoining grammar, you are looking at the meta grammar of the sentence. The actual tree diagram extends over each of the words in the sentence, connecting and breaking apart each word so that the ending design resembles a set of trees in a neat and orderly row. Grammar hounds and tree lovers abound on the tree-adjoining grammar train!
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To read more about the latest grammar and wordsmith magic on the web, check on back with the WriterAccess blog spot. You can also pick up on the trends that are taking over the writing world of the web. We help you create the creative workspace that you need so you can thrive as a content writer. Along with cool stuff like tree-adjoining grammar you get a chance to learn about Jumping the Shark: Making FinTech Funny and how to give feedback with clarity as a marketer.
“Welcome. I’m the Whispering Wordsmith of the Woods, An Old Man Willow type cunning the lit forest, Disrupting textbookish writers with grammar snaps and cracks.” As a professional web content writer for small-to-medium businesses, Miranda B understands how to effectively balance technical jargon and personal brand messaging. Her content is sticky, evergreen when expected to be, and always creative. Keep ’em coming back for more, that’s Miranda’s motto!
