The theory of Transformational Grammar states that every sentence has a deeper structure of it's actual meaning, and a surface structure which depends on the various rules of grammar.

For example, the below sentences have the same meaning (deeper structure), but a different manifestation (surface structure) :

• I threw a rock at a seagull today.
• Today, I, at a seagull, threw a rock.

Don't worry about the seagull. It's just imaginary, and the speaker is a bad shot anyway.

Related Pages

• Ambiguity
• Generative Grammar
• Grammar
• Noam Chomsky
• Sentence

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