What is Syntax?
Syntax refers to the study of how words combine to form meaningful sentences. It describes how words systematically create phrases, clauses, and sentences and how clauses/sentences combine to form even more complex sentences. People use syntax to utter well-formed sentences each day. We know that words cannot appear in random order to make sense.
For example, the following group of words does not make any sense: bloomed flowers early the beautiful. However, our knowledge of syntax helps us to restructure these words for meaning: The beautiful flowers bloomed early. To do this, we recognize that the function of some words will help determine their placement (i.e. "the" introduces a noun, "beautiful" modifies a noun, etc).
For example, the following group of words does not make any sense: bloomed flowers early the beautiful. However, our knowledge of syntax helps us to restructure these words for meaning: The beautiful flowers bloomed early. To do this, we recognize that the function of some words will help determine their placement (i.e. "the" introduces a noun, "beautiful" modifies a noun, etc).
Parts of Speech or Linguistically Speaking: Lexical Categories
Parts of Speech or lexical categories describe words that behave similarly in grammar. Linguists classify these words as Open-Class or Closed-Class (similar to morphemes) based on the groups ability to readily accept new members. There are four major types of open-class words: nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. There are five relevant closed-class lexical categories: prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, determiners, and auxiliary verbs. (The link at the top of the page describes each part of speech in detail and provides examples of each.)
Within these lexical categories, we can describe words by their morphological forms and typical syntactic positions. Here are two examples:
Mophological Description Syntactic Description
Noun -plural form with -s DET _____
-can take the suffixes: DET ADJ ______
-ion, -ment, -ness ADJ _______
-er, -ity, -an, -ship
-dom
Adverb -typically adds -ly ______ ADJ
______ V (VP)
V (VP) _____
____ AD
Within these lexical categories, we can describe words by their morphological forms and typical syntactic positions. Here are two examples:
Mophological Description Syntactic Description
Noun -plural form with -s DET _____
-can take the suffixes: DET ADJ ______
-ion, -ment, -ness ADJ _______
-er, -ity, -an, -ship
-dom
Adverb -typically adds -ly ______ ADJ
______ V (VP)
V (VP) _____
____ AD
The following link provides a more in-depth look at various lexical categories and offers examples for how they are used correctly in writing.
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In addition, words are often described by their form (i.e. noun) and function (i.e subject vs. adverbial). This sentence illustrates the difference.
Mice eat cheese.
Form: noun verb noun
Function: subject verb direct object (=noun)
Phrases, Clauses, and Sentences
Syntax is based on a hierarchical, constituent structure. Constituents are words that work together (syntactical units) to fit into larger units (phrases) that fit into a larger units (clauses) to make a sentence. Sentences can then be combined into compound or complex sentences.
There are five types of phrases in English: noun phrase (NP), verb phrase (VP) adjective phrase (ADJP), adverb phrase (ADVP), and prepositional phrase (PP). Phrase structure rules describe the allowable parts and ordering of each kind of phrase or clause. Here are some sample structure rules for NPs:
NP - N cat
NP - DET N the cat
NP - DET ADJ N the black cat
NP - DET ADJ ADJ N PP the pretty, black cat in the yard
Phrase structure rules serve as models of grammatical knowledge. Phrase structure trees, like the one above, visually represent which words combine into phrases and how those phrases turn into clauses and sentences. A clause is composed of a NP and VP. There are two main types of clauses: independent (complete sentence) or dependent (cannot function as a sentence).
Independent Clause: Tom pushed the car.
Dependent Clause: Because the battery died, Tom pushed the car.
Two or more independent clauses can combine to make a compound sentence joined by a coordinating conjunction or punctuated by a semicolon or colon.
Coordinating conjunction: Tom pushed the car and he fixed the battery.
Punctuation: Tom pushed the car; he fixed the battery.
Dependent clauses can sometimes be reduced to infinitive, gerund or participle phrases.
Infinitive: We know to do all our math homework.
Gerund: We love learning mathematics.
Participle (present): I want money falling out of the sky.
(past): The problems provided in the book did not help.
Different phrases and clauses can also function in a sentence as nominals (like a noun), adjectivals (like an adjective), and adverbials (like and adverb).
Nominal: (NP) I heard this strange sound.
Adjectival: (PP) My dog likes bones from skinny chickens.
Adverbial: (NP) She plans to run tomorrow.