Sentence Analysis from the Point of View of Traditional, Structural and Transformational Grammars

Purpose: To analyse sentence (simple type, statement form) in terms of three types of grammar: traditional, structural and transformational grammars in addition to presenting some hints about analysing sentences which are semantically the same but with different word order, from the point of view of the three grammatical approaches.

Method: Reviewing related literature and presenting examples that show the analysis of the sentence according to each grammatical school, briefly.

Results: Each type of the three grammatical approaches has different terminology and yet strategy when analysing a sentence. For instance, in traditional grammar the sentence is divided into units, into patterns in structural grammar and into elements and phrases in transformational grammar. In addition, in both traditional and structural grammars, a number of sentences which have identical meanings with different word order are considered totally different from one another when being analysed; whereas, in transformational grammar the sentences share the same base and are analysed in terms of surface and deep structure(s) for each one.

Conclusions: The three presented grammatical approaches can be arranged in terms of the most detailed approach as: transformational grammar, traditional, and finally structural grammar.