Question

Linguistics:

I am trying to draw a tree diagram of this sentence, but can't seem to figure it out, any help will be greatly appreciated!

The man who can play piano can sing

Answer 1

This is what I came up wth - not sure if it's right :/

Answer 2

NP
NP
D - The
N - man
AdjP
Pro - who
VP
VP
Aux - can
V - play
N - piano
VP
Aux - can
V - sing

Answer 3

@Vincent-Lyon.fr You seemed well versed in phonetics - linguistics too? ^_^ Does this look right?

Answer 4

Well, no, I never did that kind of thing. But I think I understand it.

Let me try:
{The man who can play piano}+{can sing}
{[The man]+[who can play piano]}+{can+sing}
{[The+man]+[who+(can play piano)]}+{can+sing}
{[The+man]+[who+(can+(play+piano))]}+{can+sing}

or
{[The+man]+[who+(can+play)+piano))]}+{can+sing}

which bears only a slight difference.

Your tree is my second option.
The tree for the first one has a different branching with respect to can/play/piano.

Once you get the answer, let me know if both solutions are valid or not.

Answer 5

@Vincent-Lyons.fr
yeah, the "who can play piano" part was what I was getting caught up on, because like you said, it can branch a few ways. Wasn't sure whether to treat "piano" as the direct object of "play" or just as a branch from "who"

I think your first option is the better breakdown ^_^



It looks more right

Answer 6

I think so too ;-)

Answer 7

LoL, it seems carlee122008 has disappeared, but we had fun solving his/her problem!