I recently wrote a small C compiler that uses a recursive decent parser while this should not be possible if you just look at the syntax grammar. Why, because it looks at some semantic information about the class of identifiers, whether they are variables of typedefs for example. On the otherhand this is not very surprising, because in the days C was developed, easy parsing was a practical implication of it not being an academic research thing, but something that just had to work.

Recursive decent parsers can simply be implemented with recusive functions. Implementing semantic checks becomes easy with additional parameters.