FACTS ABOUT SYNTAX
CONSTITUENTS (Hana, 2011)
SYNTAX VS GRAMMAR (Szczegielniak, 2010)
GRAMMATICAL FUNCTIONS
SYNTACTIC CATEGORIES (KUIPER, 2003)
SYNTAX
GRAMMAR
(Weaber, 1996)
Speaker knowledge
Part of grammar
Rules
Sentences
Structure
DEFINITION
CLASSIFICATION
combine words into phrases and phrases into sentences
indicates how the word functions within a sentence.
PHRASES
SENTENCES
NOUN PHRASE
ADJECTIVE PHRASE
specify the correct word order for a language
OPEN CLASSES
CLOSED CLASSES
describe the relationship between the
meaning and the arragement
specify the grammatical relations of
a sentence
Definitions
The most important syntactic categories (SUBJECT)
EX: Jhon / My loveable ponny / a river
It is used to modify nouns and thus often appear as constituents
Ex: very fat // as crasy as Jhon
VERB PHRASE
A verb phrase can be used as the predicate of a sentence
Ex: Snore // like marry // sleep soundly
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
Verbs (V)
Adjectives (Adj)
Prepositional phrases always consist of a prepositionplus a noun phrase:
Nouns (N)
Ex: from Brazil // for nothing
ADVERBIAL PHRASE
rhetorically effective use of
syntactic structures
prescriptions for
how to use structures and words
description of syntactic structure
functional command of sentence structure
Adverbs (Adv)
Adverbial phrases are often used to modify verbs or adjective
Ex: almost certainly // as fluently as Mark
Auxiliary verbs
Pronouns
Determiners
Categories
Prescriptive Grammar
Rhetorically Effective Grammar
Descriptive Grammar
Funtional Grammar
Prepositions
Conjunctions
the way speakers actually use their language
separate those of social,
academic, and linguistic “class”
informing, persuading, or motivating an audience
enables us to comprehend and produce language
DEFINITION:
‘the complete expression of a single thought’.
TYPES
SIMPLE
COMPOUND
COMPLEX
A simple sentence consists of a single clause; a clause contains a
single verb
Ex: Dan washes the dishes
Two clauses can be joined to make a coordinate sentence, as in these
Ex: Denise bought a new coat but she didn’t wear it often
Complex sentences are formed by incorporating clause(s) into another clause
Ex: That the runner from Ohio won the marathon surprised me
names a person, place or thing.
Examples
usually has a determiner.
A cat
Many kisses
Several sheep
can combine with an auxiliary
SUBJECTS
DIRECT AND INDIRECT OBJECTS
MODIFIERS
The one who performs the action denoted by the verb
can be modified by an adverb.
Ex: My brother wears a green overcoat
will go, have seen, should run
usually sleep, read carefully
Direct Object
Indirect Object
can modify a noun.
can be modified by an adverb.
A direct object is a noun that receives the action of the verb. Direct objects usually answer the questions “what?” or “whom?
a tall man, a cool day, a wonderful trip
very clever, extremely clever
An indirect object (IO) is one which precedes a direct object (DO), Have the semantic roles of goal, recipient, or benefactive
EXAMPLES
modifies
a. I threw [the puppy] [the ball]. (IO = goal)
b. John gave [the boys] [the CDs]. (IO = recipient)
c. My mother baked [me] [a birthday cake]. (IO = benefactive)
adjectives
other adverbs
verbs
stop abruptly, usually eat
amazingly cheap, quite nice
very quickly, quite soon
come before nouns
Examples
These modifiers specify the manner, location, time, or reason, among many other properties,
EXAMPLES
quantifiers
possesives
articles
a. The bus stopped suddenly.
b. Shakespeare wrote his plays a long time ago.
c. They went to the theater in London.
a, the
many, any, all, several
my, your, his, her
is followed by a verb
is negated directly
EX: It will rain.
EX: She would not come.
act as nouns
I, you, he, she, it
stand before noun phrases
in, on, about, with, at
Examples
connect two words at the same level.
V - V
Adj - Adj
N - N
S - S
women and men
run or walk
warm but rainy
I will talk and he will write.