transformational rule: Meaning and Definition of

transforma'tional rule"

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. a rule of transformational grammar that relates two phrase markers in the course of a derivation from the deep to the surface syntactic representation of a sentence, as by reordering, inserting, or deleting elements; a rule that converts deep structures into surface structures.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.