Syntax studies the hierarchical structure and the arrangement of these units. Each language has a limited set of syntactic patterns it uses to make phrases and clauses. Likewise, languages may prefer the Subject of the clause to precede the verb. To ascertain the boundaries of the various units of a phrase or clause, a linguist looks for appropriate syntactic tests. Ambiguity Phrases and clauses may be either lexically or structurally ambiguous.
Tree diagrams are useful because they can disambiguate ambiguous sentences.
The man who hunts ducks out on weekends. The cotton clothing is usually made of grows in Mississippi. Fat people eat accumulates. Join elements that belong to the same phrase, working from right to left. Label the phrases.