Dependency Relations

Function Word Relations

Function words such as the, has, because and off carry little meaning, but they show how the other words fit together. This page covers the nine relations that attach them. Two of these, det and aux, are among the most common labels in Grammify’s trees; one, cop, never appears at all.

What you’ll learn

Attach a determiner to its noun, even when an adjective stands between them
Attach every helping verb to the main verb, and tell aux from auxpass
Attach a mark to the verb of the clause it introduces, and tell mark from cc
Tell a particle (prt) from a preposition (prep) by looking for an object
Identify the expletive there (expl) and the possessive 's (case)
Explain why the tree never shows cop, and find the attr or acomp it uses instead

What function words do

A function word carries grammar more than meaning. Articles, helping verbs and words such as because show how the other words fit together. Remove the and a from The librarian found a manuscript. You can still guess the meaning of librarian found manuscript, but it is not a correct English sentence. For the word classes themselves, see Determiners & Function Words.

Most of these arcs are short, because a function word usually stands close to its head. Watch for four common mistakes:

Making a helping verb the head. In has finished, has depends on finished (aux).
Attaching a determiner to an adjective. In that old clock, that depends on clock, not on old (det).
Reading a particle as a preposition. In turned off the lamp, off has no object of its own (prt).
Mixing up a subordinating word and a coordinating one. Because makes one clause depend on another (mark); and joins two equal parts (cc).

Determiners

det Determiner

An article (a, the), a demonstrative (this, those) or a quantifier such as no, some or every, attached to its noun. A possessive such as my or our takes a different label, poss.

How the parser decides: the word is a determiner, and its head is the noun it introduces. It attaches to the noun itself, never to an adjective sitting between them.

Every word that takes det

Articles: a, an, the
Demonstratives, before a noun: this, that, these, those
Quantifiers: some, any, no, every, each, either, neither, another, all, both
Question and relative words, before a noun: what, which, whatever, whichever (Which road?, whichever seat you like)
Not det: my, your, his, her, its, our, their, whose and a noun with ’s are poss. Much, many, several, few, little, enough, and such with no a after it (such people), are adjectives: amod. A number is nummod. A word before another determiner is predet.

“The librarian found a manuscript.”

det Determiner
nsubj Nominal subject
ROOT Root of the sentence
dobj Direct object

Two det arcs: each arrow starts at a noun and points to its own determiner

“That old clock still works.”

det Determiner
amod Adjectival modifier
nsubj Nominal subject
advmod Adverbial modifier
ROOT Root of the sentence

An adjective in between changes nothing: 'That' attaches to 'clock', not to 'old'

“Either answer is correct.”

With no 'or' later in the sentence, 'Either' is an ordinary det of 'answer'

predet Predeterminer

A word sitting in front of a determiner: all the windows, such a noise. It attaches to the noun, beside the determiner, not to the determiner.

How the parser decides: a quantifier or such before a determiner in the same noun phrase. With no determiner after it, the same word is usually a plain det: all windows.

Every word that takes predet

all, both, half, before an article, a demonstrative or a possessive: all the windows, both my parents, half an hour
such, quite, rather, before a or an: such a noise, quite a shock, rather a nuisance
many, in the old-fashioned many a: many a sailor
Not predet: the same words with no determiner after them. All windows and both cats are det, and such people is amod.

“All the windows rattled.”

predet Predeterminer
det Determiner
nsubj Nominal subject
ROOT Root of the sentence

Both arrows start at 'windows': one to 'All' (predet), one to 'the' (det)

“Such a noise woke everyone.”

'Such' before 'a' is also predet: both words attach to 'noise'

“It was quite a shock.”

'quite' before 'a' is predet too: 'quite' and 'a' both attach to 'shock'

Auxiliaries

aux Auxiliary

A helping verb attaching to the main verb. The main verb is the head, and the helping verb is the dependent. So in has finished, the root is finished, not has.

How the parser decides: the word is a helping verb or a modal, and the main verb it supports is its head. The label also covers do in questions and negatives, as in Did you call? and She does not swim. It also covers the to of an infinitive: in Diego hopes to win, to is the aux of win.

One label covers almost every helper: has in a perfect, will in a future, a modal such as can. Only the helper of a passive (be, get or become) has its own label, auxpass, below. Apart from that one, the tree does not say which job a helper does. You read the future from will, and the aspect from the helpers themselves.

Every word that takes aux

be, before an -ing form: am, is, are, was, were, be, been, and the short forms ’m, ’re, ’s
have, before a past participle: have, has, had, having, and ’ve, ’s, ’d
do, in questions, in negatives and for emphasis: do, does, did
Modals: can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, might, must; the short forms ’ll and ’d; and ca, wo, sha, the first halves of can’t, won’t, shan’t
need and dare, before a verb with no to: You needn’t worry, I dare not ask
The to of an infinitive, and its informal spellings: the na of gonna and the ta of gotta
Not aux: the helper of a passive is auxpass, and not or n’t is neg. Ought is the root of its clause: in You ought to rest, rest is its xcomp and to is the aux of rest. A be, have or do with no other verb to help is the root too (see cop).

“She has finished the report.”

nsubj Nominal subject
aux Auxiliary
ROOT Root of the sentence
det Determiner
dobj Direct object

The main verb 'finished' is the root; its aux arrow points to the helper 'has'

“They will arrive soon.”

The future helper 'will' gets the same label: it is the aux of 'arrive'

“He can swim well.”

A modal is an aux too — see Modal Auxiliaries for the Reed-Kellogg treatment

“She can’t swim.”

'can't' is two words: 'ca' is the aux of 'swim' and 'n't' its neg

“You needn’t worry.”

Before a verb with no 'to', 'need' is a helper: the aux of 'worry'

“I’m gonna leave soon.”

'gonna' is two words, like 'going to': 'gon' is the root, and 'na' is the aux of 'leave'

auxpass Passive auxiliary

The helping verb that forms a passive. It usually comes with nsubjpass, the subject of a passive verb. A passive with no subject of its own has an auxpass but no nsubjpass. In Nina hopes to be chosen, be is the auxpass of chosen, and Nina is the subject of hopes.

How the parser decides: a form of be, get or become supporting a past participle whose subject is the affected thing. When a passive also has a perfect auxiliary, only the passive-forming one gets this label.

Every word that takes auxpass

be: am, is, are, was, were, be, been, being, and the short forms ’m, ’re, ’s
get: get, gets, got, gotten, getting
become: become, becomes, became, becoming
Not auxpass: a perfect have in front of the passive helper is aux. In has been delayed, only been is auxpass.

A passive be is voice, not aspect. In has been delayed, has + been makes the perfect and been + delayed the passive: a present perfect in the passive (see how to read the helpers).

“The fence was repaired.”

det Determiner
nsubjpass Passive nominal subject
auxpass Passive auxiliary
ROOT Root of the sentence

Both arrows start at 'repaired': 'was' is its auxpass, 'fence' its nsubjpass

“Our flight has been delayed.”

Two helpers, two labels: 'has' is aux and 'been' is auxpass, both under 'delayed'

“He got fired last week.”

A form of get makes a passive too: 'got' is the auxpass of 'fired'

“The news became known quickly.”

So does become: 'became' is the auxpass of 'known', and 'news' its nsubjpass

Markers, particles, possessive ’s and expletive there

mark Marker

A subordinating conjunction such as because, until, whether or that, introducing a clause. It attaches to the verb of the clause it introduces, not to the verb of the clause outside. The word that is a mark when it opens a noun clause, as in the second figure below. It also has other jobs (see the three jobs of that).

How the parser decides: the word introduces a subordinate clause. That is what separates it from cc, which joins two things of equal rank.

Every word that takes mark

after, although, as, because, before, for, if, lest, like, once, since, than, that, though, till, unless, until, whereas, whether, while, whilst, with
Two-word marks, where both words are mark: as if, as though, so that. In even though only though is the mark; even is an advmod.
For is a mark only between two clauses (We rested, for we were tired), like only in informal English (She talks like she owns the place), and with only before a noun and its description (With the door open, …).
Not mark: when, where, why, how, whenever, wherever are advmod, because they also work as adverbs inside their clause. After, before, since, till, until with only a noun phrase after them are prep. And, or, but are cc.

“He left before the storm arrived.”

nsubj Nominal subject
ROOT Root of the sentence
mark Marker
det Determiner
advcl Adverbial clause modifier

The arrow starts at 'arrived', the verb of the clause, and points to its mark, 'before'

“She hopes that nobody minds.”

The word 'that' opens a noun clause: it is the mark of 'minds', not of 'hopes'

“She is taller than I am.”

Before a clause, 'than' is a mark: it attaches to 'am', the verb of the clause it opens

“With the door open, the room got cold.”

'the door open' is a clause with no verb, and 'With' is its mark, attached to 'open'

“He looks as if he has seen a ghost.”

A two-word mark: 'as' and 'if' both attach to 'seen'

prt Particle

The particle of a phrasal verb: the off of turn off, the up of give up. It belongs to the verb and changes its meaning; it does not introduce a phrase.

How the parser decides: the word looks like a preposition but has no object of its own. A second test is movement: a particle can follow the object, so turned off the lamp and turned the lamp off have the same relation.

With a pronoun object, the particle must follow it: turned it off, never turned off it ✗. Spanish has no phrasal verbs, so this order is a common mistake (see the particle tag, RP).

Every word that takes prt

about, across, along, around, aside, away, back, by, down, forth, in, off, on, out, over, round, through, together, up
Each of these has other jobs too. Most are also prepositions, so the same word can be prep in another sentence: only a phrasal verb makes it prt.
Not prt: ahead, apart, forward after a verb are adverbs, advmod: go ahead, fall apart, move forward.

“She turned off the lamp.”

nsubj Nominal subject
ROOT Root of the sentence
prt Particle
det Determiner
dobj Direct object

The word 'off' has no object of its own: 'lamp' is the dobj of 'turned', not a pobj of 'off'

“He gave the plan up.”

The particle moved to the end; the relation is unchanged

“The meeting was called off.”

In a passive the particle stays with its verb: 'off' is the prt of 'called', with no object anywhere

case Case marking

The possessive ’s, or the apostrophe alone after a plural that ends in -s (the twins’). The parser splits it from its noun and treats it as a word of its own, so teacher’s is two words in the tree.

How the parser decides: the ’s attaches to the owner, and the owner attaches to the thing owned as poss. So a noun with ’s makes two arcs. A possessive word such as my makes only one, poss.

Every word that takes case

The possessive ’s, and the apostrophe alone after a plural that ends in -s. Nothing else.
Not case: the ’s of it’s is a form of be, a verb. The ’s of Let’s go is the pronoun us, the subject of go (see PRP).

“The teacher’s notes vanished.”

det Determiner
poss Possession modifier
case Case marking
nsubj Nominal subject
ROOT Root of the sentence

Two arcs: poss from 'notes' down to 'teacher', then case from 'teacher' down to the possessive 's

“The twins’ bikes vanished.”

A plural possessive: the apostrophe alone is the case word, attached to 'twins'

expl Expletive

The expletive there of there is and there are. It fills the subject position but names nothing. The real subject comes after the verb, and the verb agrees with it. See the expletive there for how to find the real subject and how Reed-Kellogg draws it.

How the parser decides: there in the subject position, with no meaning of place. The adverb there of put it there names a place, so it is an ordinary advmod.

Every word that takes expl

there, and nothing else.
Not expl: the it of It is raining or It is clear that she left names nothing either, but Grammify labels it an ordinary subject, nsubj. See the last figure below.

With be, the real subject is an attr. With another verb, such as stood, the parser may label it dobj, although it is not an object.

“There are three messages.”

expl Expletive
ROOT Root of the sentence
nummod Numeric modifier
attr Attribute

'There' is expl, and the real subject, 'messages', is the attr of 'are'

“There stood a lighthouse nearby.”

expl Expletive
ROOT Root of the sentence
det Determiner
dobj Direct object
advmod Adverbial modifier

Another verb: 'There' is still expl, but the real subject, 'lighthouse', is labelled dobj

“It is raining again.”

'It' names nothing here, but it is an ordinary nsubj: only 'there' takes expl

No cop: the linking verb is the root

cop Copula Never used by Grammify’s parser

The label cop (copula) exists, but Grammify’s parser never uses it. You will not see it in any tree or exercise.

Every word that takes cop

None in Grammify. In the grammars that use the label, it marks a form of be (am, is, are, was, were, be, been, being) linking a subject to its complement. Grammify makes that be the root instead, as the figures below show.

Grammars disagree about sentences with a linking verb such as be. Universal Dependencies, a system that many other parsers use, makes the complement the head and puts be under it as cop. Grammify’s parser does the opposite: be is the root, and the complement depends on it as attr (a noun) or acomp (an adjective).

“She is a doctor.”

nsubj Nominal subject
ROOT Root of the sentence
det Determiner
attr Attribute

The verb 'is' is the root and 'doctor' is its attr; Universal Dependencies would make 'doctor' the root

“The soup is cold.”

det Determiner
nsubj Nominal subject
ROOT Root of the sentence
acomp Adjectival complement

The same pattern with an adjective: 'is' is the root, and 'cold' is its acomp

Quick check

In The new bridge has been closed, which word is the head of The? Which word is the root, and what labels do has and been get?
Answer
The is the det of bridge: a determiner attaches to its noun, never to an adjective such as new between them. The root is the main verb, closed, and both helpers depend on it: has is aux (it makes the perfect), and been is auxpass (it makes the passive).
Which off is a particle (prt) and which is a preposition (prep)? Nina took her coat off. Nina jumped off the wall.
Answer
The first is prt. It has no object of its own: her coat is the object of took off as a whole, and the particle can move: took off her coat. The second is prep: the wall is the object of off itself, so wall is its pobj, and off cannot move (jumped the wall off ✗).
In Santiago waited until the bus came, which word is the head of until, and what is its label? What changes in Santiago waited until noon?
Answer
The word until is the mark of came, the verb of the clause it introduces, not of waited; came is the advcl of waited. In until noon no verb follows, so until is a prep attached to waited, and noon is its pobj.
In There is a mouse in the kitchen, what labels do There and mouse get? In Omar’s brother is a dentist, which word is the root, and what labels do ’s and dentist get?
Answer
There is expl: it fills the subject position but names nothing. The real subject, mouse, is the attr of is. In the second sentence, the root is the linking verb is, not dentist, because Grammify’s parser never uses cop. The complement, dentist, is the attr of is, and ’s is the case of Omar.

Key terms

Function word: A word that carries grammatical meaning rather than dictionary meaning: determiners, auxiliaries, markers and particles. The kettle had whistled. — a determiner and an auxiliary. We left because it rained. — a marker.
See: Determiners & Function Words
Auxiliary: A helping verb. In the tree it is the dependent, and the main verb is its head: aux, or auxpass for the helper of a passive. She has finished. (aux) The road was flooded. (auxpass)
See: Modal Auxiliaries
Particle: Part of a phrasal verb, labelled prt. Distinguished from a preposition by having no object of its own. The plane took off. She looked the word up.
See: Determiners & Function Words
Expletive: A placeholder filling a grammatical slot without naming anything. In English, the expletive there, labelled expl. There is a library on campus. There were many students in the hall.
See: Adverbial Objectives & Retained Objects

Practice on a real sentence

This sentence has three clauses and two function-word arcs: one aux and one mark. Attach the helping verb to the main verb after it. Attach the mark to the verb of the clause it introduces, not to wondered. As always, click the head first, then the dependent.

Loading the practice sentence…