Definition and Examples of Surface Structure in Grammar
www.thoughtco.com › surface-structureJul 03, 2019 · A second example is based on the observation that although word order is variable in English, and transformations such as passivization can change it, the common structure noun-verb-noun often maps on to what is called the canonical sentence structure SVO (subject-verb-object). That is, in most sentences we hear or read, the first noun is the subject, and the second one the object.