Abstract: One of the complicated problems of pattern description is the effect of recursive structures on the nature of a pattern as a class of the formal language. In the present paper the properties of different recursive structures have been investigated. A strategy of hierachical syntacticsemantic description has been studied by dividing a pattern into subpatterns according to its basic recursive structures. Thus, a systematic and effective approach for describing recursivc patterns has been suggested. The approach can be successfully applied to context-free programmed grammars, attributed grammars and two special types of modifications, namely, recursion-conditioned and recursion-attributed grammars. Their descriptive power for recursive structures has been discussed.