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Grammify
Topics

Dependency Relations

Coordination

The smallest family — three relations — and the one whose shape surprises people most. Coordination joins things of equal rank, but a dependency tree has no way to draw “equal”: every arc has a head and a dependent. So the first conjunct is promoted to stand for the whole coordination, and everything else hangs off it.

What you’ll learn

  • Read the asymmetry a tree imposes on a symmetric construction
  • Attach cc and conj to the first conjunct, not to the verb
  • Follow a three-way chain, where conj hangs off conj
  • Tell a coordinating conjunction from a subordinating marker

A symmetric idea in an asymmetric notation

In salt and pepper, neither noun is subordinate to the other. A dependency tree cannot say that — every word must have exactly one head. The convention is to treat the first conjunct as the head of the whole coordination: it takes whatever role the phrase plays in the sentence, and both the conjunction and the later conjuncts attach to it.

The practical consequence is the thing to remember: in Salt and pepper sat nearby, only Salt is the subject as far as the tree is concerned. Pepper is a dependent of Salt.

“Salt and pepper sat nearby.”

nsubjccconjROOTadvmodSaltandpeppersatnearby
  • nsubjNominal subject
  • ccCoordinating conjunction
  • conjConjunct
  • ROOTRoot of the sentence
  • advmodAdverbial modifier
Salt carries the nsubj; and and pepper both hang off Salt

The three relations

ccCoordinating conjunction

The coordinating conjunction itself — and, but, or, and the rest of the FANBOYS. It attaches to the first conjunct.

How spaCy decides: the word is a coordinating conjunction. What varies is the head, and the head is always the conjunct before it.

“He stumbled but recovered.”

nsubjROOTccconjHestumbledbutrecovered
  • nsubjNominal subject
  • ROOTRoot of the sentence
  • ccCoordinating conjunction
  • conjConjunct
Coordinated verbs — but and recovered both attach to stumbled, the root

“We waited, but nobody came.”

nsubjROOTccnsubjconjWewaitedbutnobodycame
  • nsubjNominal subject
  • ROOTRoot of the sentence
  • ccCoordinating conjunction
  • conjConjunct
but joins two clauses — cc attaches to the first verb, conj marks the second

conjConjunct

Every conjunct after the first. It is the most polymorphic relation in this family — what is being joined can be nouns, verbs, adjectives or entire clauses, and the label never changes.

How spaCy decides: the word is coordinated with an earlier one of the same kind. Its head is the first conjunct in a two-part coordination, or the previous conjunct in a longer chain.

“The room was cold and damp.”

detnsubjROOTacompccconjTheroomwascoldanddamp
  • detDeterminer
  • nsubjNominal subject
  • ROOTRoot of the sentence
  • acompAdjectival complement
  • ccCoordinating conjunction
  • conjConjunct
Joining adjectives — cold is the acomp, damp hangs off cold

“The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed.”

detnsubjROOTccdetnsubjconjThelightsdimmedandthecrowdhushed
Joining whole clauses — hushed keeps its own subject but still hangs off dimmed

With three or more conjuncts the relation chains: each one attaches to the previous conjunct rather than all of them attaching to the first. That is worth knowing before you answer, because it changes the head you must click.

“She cooked, cleaned and organised.”

nsubjROOTconjccconjShecookedcleanedandorganised
A three-way chain — cleaned hangs off cooked, and organised hangs off cleaned

preconjPre-correlative conjunction

The first half of a correlative pair — the either of either…or, the both of both…and. Rare, but it does occur in the app’s corpus.

How spaCy decides: a conjunction-like word appearing before the first conjunct rather than between the conjuncts. The ordinary conjunction in the middle is still a plain cc.

“Either Ana or Luis will drive.”

preconjnsubjccconjauxROOTEitherAnaorLuiswilldrive
  • preconjPre-correlative conjunction
  • nsubjNominal subject
  • ccCoordinating conjunction
  • conjConjunct
  • auxAuxiliary
  • ROOTRoot of the sentence
Either is the preconj; or is still an ordinary cc

“Both the cat and the dog escaped.”

preconjdetnsubjccdetconjROOTBoththecatandthedogescaped
The same shape with both...and, this time over full noun phrases

Key terms

Conjunct
One of the things being joined. The first is promoted to head of the whole coordination; the rest are labelled conj. Jack and Jill fell. — Jill is the conj of Jack. She washed and dried the plates.
Coordinating conjunction
A word joining equals — and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet. Labelled cc, and attached to the first conjunct. Jack and Jill fell. We waited, but nobody came.

See: Imperatives & Conjunctions

Correlative pair
A two-part conjunction such as either…or. The leading half is preconj; the middle half stays cc. Either the ferry or the bus will do. Both Jack and Jill fell.
Compound predicate
Two verbs sharing one subject. Labelled with conj exactly like a compound sentence — the difference is whether the second verb has its own nsubj. She washed and dried the plates. The dog barked and ran.

See: Imperatives & Conjunctions

Practice on a real sentence

This sentence carries all three relations at once, including a preconj — one of only a handful in the whole corpus. Remember that both the conjunction and the second conjunct attach to the first conjunct, not to the verb.

“She both knows and corresponds with the queen.”

Word dependencies

Pick a relation, click the head, then click the dependent.

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Sentence — select a relation below, then click the words it connects

She both knows and corresponds with the queen.

Dependency tree — word-order columns

The dependency tree is built here as each relation is confirmed