同学们，本栏目是对你们学过的知识和生活中常见问题的归纳。其中，有一些共性问题，也许你会需要哦！

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Question1: Please explain Immediate constituent (IC) analysis in your own language.

Answer:

 Definition

Structural grammar is characterized by a top-down process of analysis. A sentence is seen as a constituent structure. All the components of the sentences are its constituents. A sentence can be cut into sections. Each section is its immediate constituent. Then each section can be further cut into constituents. This on-going cutting is termed immediate constituent analysis. 

 Examples:

Old men and women: old | men and women, old || men | and women

The ||| little || girl | speaks || French. 

 In this way, sentence structure is analyzed not only horizontally but also vertically. In other words, IC analysis can account for the linearity and the hierarchy of sentence structure. It can analyze some ambiguities.

Question2: what is Structural grammar? Please explain it in your own language.

Answer:

Structural grammar arose out of an attempt to deviate from traditional grammar. It deals with the inter-relationships of different grammatical units. In the concern of structural grammar, words are not just independent grammatical units, but are inter-related to one another.