A constituency is a relation between a linguistic unit and the larger unit it composes. The analysis of constituency is important for the grammar of all languages. Words in a sentence are not arranged casually on a string. Instead, the words are grouped to form coherent building blocks within a sentence. Truth is, no matter the language, sentence structure is a common stumbling block. Thus, understanding constituency is crucial in order to come up with the proper ideas of constructing a sentence.

Indeed, there are tests for constituents that are used to diagnose and identify the sentence structure for the relevant language. The basic word order for sentence construction in most languages is subject, verb and object such as “I drink water” in English or “Ich thinke Wasser” in German. In languages like Spanish, however, the verb conjugation varies according to the pronoun. Thus, in this case, the sentence wouldn’t be “Yo bebo agua” because it’s too redundant.

The correct form is simply made of verb plus object: “Bebo agua.” This example illustrates why it is important to understand grammar and sentence structure rules. The key to being able to form a regular sentence that is correct is to understand more than learn.

For example, in our native languages, we know the structures of sentences by instinct. We don’t memorize rules but we can tell when something doesn’t make sense or when something sounds odd.  

Our brains learn grammar through pattern recognition. Basically, since infancy, we start recognizing the structure of sentences we hear in everyday life situations. It’s as if we had a chip installed to recognize the structure and replicate it with our own sentences. As adults, we usually focus on laws when learning a new language yet the best way to use our brain programming is to stop focusing on why a certain sentence has a specific structure and start focusing on what this structure looks like. 

Of course, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t study the rules. Rules are certainly helpful and any linguist should be able to understand them and know when and how to apply in the language they master.  However, the most important thing to consider is to train our brains to recognize patterns and be able to replicate them effortlessly.

One great way to do this to by creating sentences. Here is where constituency steps in: We recognize the elements, the natural order they should follow, and we create a sentence based on words that are grouped accordingly.