Editing Syntax (section)

=== Categorial grammar ===
{{Main|Categorial grammar}}
[[Categorial grammar]] is an approach in which constituents combine as [[function (math)|function]] and [[argument of a function|argument]], according to combinatory possibilities specified in their [[syntactic categories]]. For example, other approaches might posit a rule that combines a noun phrase (NP) and a verb phrase (VP), but CG would posit a syntactic category ''NP'' and another ''NP\S'', read as "a category that searches to the left (indicated by \) for an NP (the element on the left) and outputs a sentence (the element on the right)." Thus, the syntactic category for an [[intransitive]] verb is a complex formula representing the fact that the verb acts as a [[function word]] requiring an NP as an input and produces a sentence level structure as an output. The complex category is notated as (NP\S) instead of V. The category of [[transitive verb]] is defined as an element that requires two NPs (its subject and its direct object) to form a sentence. That is notated as (NP/(NP\S)), which means, "A category that searches to the right (indicated by /) for an NP (the object) and generates a function (equivalent to the VP) which is (NP\S), which in turn represents a function that searches to the left for an NP and produces a sentence."

[[Tree-adjoining grammar]] is a categorial grammar that adds in partial [[tree structure]]s to the categories.