Syntax

 What is Syntax? 

The word “syntax” comes from the Ancient Greek for “coordination” or “ordering together.” In spoken and written language, syntax refers to the set of rules that determines the arrangement of words in a sentence.

‘Syntax’ means ‘sentence construction’: how words group together to make phrases and sentences. The term syntax is also used to mean the study of the syntactic properties of languages.

Heads & Modifiers

 In English grammar, a Modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that functions as an adjective or adverb to provide additional information about another Word (called the head).

Heads (Features):

1. Contain the central piece of the information .
2. Determine the type of phrase & clause.

Modifiers (Features):

1. Complements are words or phrases that are used to complete the meaning of a given sentence.
2. Adjuncts are words or phrases that not necessary to complete the meaning of a sentence.

Example: ➔ Raskolnikov killed the old woman with an axe. 

Raskolnikov : Complement  (Obligatory) 

killed : Head 

The old woman : Complement (Obligatory) 

with an axe : Adjunct (Optional)

Constituent Structure “Syntactic Tests”

1- Transposition:

Moving from one grammatical category to another without altering the meaning of the sentence. This technique introduces a change in grammatical structure.

Example:

➔ The man called the boy suddenly.

➔ Suddenly the man called the boy.

2- Substitution: 

Substitution is when a word or phrase can be substituted by another lexical item that give the same or similar function as the original.In other words we replace a word that we previously used with another word. 

Examples:
 I really loved your biscuits,Can i have another one.
 Biscuits (noun) ➔ One (noun)

I'm sure you will finish before i do. 

Finish (verb) ➔ Do (verb)

3- Ellipsis: 

Ellipsis is the omission from a clause of one or more words that are nevertheless understood in the context of the remaining elements,In other words Instead of using a new word (Such as Substitution) we delete it. 

Example: 

➔ I want to sleep but I can't sleep. 

➔ I want to sleep but I can't. sleep

4- Coordination: 

Coordination is a grammatical linking of two or more phrases,or clauses belonging to the same category. 

It is a very flexible mechanism of syntax that allows that any given two or more lexical, phrases,or clauses categories to be joined. 

Example: 

➔ Ahmed and Ali went to cinema last night. ( Ahmed & Ali Noun Category) 

➔ I sang and laugh with my friends all night. (Sang & Laugh Verb Category)

Constructions "Syntactic Construction"

Syntactic Construction; 

Copula and Non-Copula. 

(Copula): Ascriptive, Locative, or Equative . 

(Non-Copula) Oblique Object or Double Object . 

Active or Passive.

Declarative or Interrogative.

Yes/No or WH Question (Interrogative).

Copula	Non-Copula
A copula is a verb or phrase that links the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, such as the word “is” in the sentence "The sky is blue". The verb “is” links between the subject and the complement.	Non-Copula is all other ordinary verbs. They define the action. Example:  Frank bought Jane the piano. The verb “Bought” defines an action.

Copula sentence can be :

Ascriptive: The link verb comes before the Adj. 

Example: Jack is Happy.

Equative: The Link Verb comes before the Noun. 

Example: Jack is a boy

Locative:  The link verb comes before the preposition. 

Example: Jack is in the class

Non-Copula sentence can be:

Oblique Object: Is the beneficiary of a verb is the complement, a noun or noun phrase related to verb via preposition. “of”,”to”, or “for”.

Example: She was bitten by a spider.

Double Object : Are verbs that take two objects a Direct and Indirect object without a preposition. Normally, the indirect object  is a person or a group of people and direct object is a thing. 

Example: I gave The girl her ball.

Active or Passive!

• Active: Tells us what a person or thing does.The subject performs the action(verb) on the object. Subject + Verb + Object
  Example: Anna painted the house. 

• Passive: Tells us what is done to someone or something.The subject is being acted upon. Object + Verb + Subject 
   Example: The house was painted by Anna.

Declarative or Interrogative ! 

• Declarative: Are the sentences that make a statement (or a declaration),They pass on information. Example: Frank bought the piano for Jane. 
  
  
• Interrogative: A sentence that asks a question.there are two types (YES/NO Question and WH-Question)
  Examples:
  ➔ Did Frank buy the piano for Jane? (YES/NO-Q)
  ➔ What did Frank buy for Jane? (WH-Q)

Exercises

Devise examples of constructions that fit the following labels:
➔ [NON-COPULA, DECLARATIVE, ACTIVE, OBLIQUE OBJECT]
➔ [NON-COPULA, DECLARATIVE, ACTIVE, DOUBLE OBJECT]
➔ [NON-COPULA, INTERROGATIVE, YES–NO, ACTIVE, OBLIQUE OBJECT]
➔ [COPULA, DECLARATIVE, ASCRIPTIVE]
➔ [COPULA, DECLARATIVE, LOCATIVE]
➔ [COPULA, INTERROGATIVE, WH, EQUATIVE]