syntax dic

7/25/2019 Syntax Dic

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LANGUAGE TERMINOLOGY

[1] ADJUNCTAdverbialsmay be classified as adjuncts, conjuncts, or disjuncts.

An adjun!is part of the basic structure of the clause or sentence in which

it occurs, and modifies the verb. Adverbs of time, place, frequency, degree, and

manner, are examples of adjuncts.

He died in England.

I have almost finished.

C"njun!sare not part of the basic structure of a clause or sentence. They

show how what is said in the sentence containing the conjunct connects with

what is said in another sentence or sentences.

Altogether, it was a happy week.

However, the weather was not good.

Disjun!s (also called sen!en!ial adverbs) are adverbs which show the

speaer!s attitude to or evaluation of what is said in the rest of the sentence.

Naturally, I paid for my own meal.

I had to pay for my own meal, unfortunately.

[#] AD$ER%IAL &Adv' ( any word, phrase, or clause that functions lie an

adverb. An adverb is a single"word adverbial.

[)] AD$ER%IAL CLAU*E &Adv Cl' ( a clause which functions as an adverb.#or example$

When I arrived I went straight to my room. (adverbial clause of time)

Wherever we looked there was dust.(adverbial clause of place)

We painted the walls yellow to brighten the room. (adverbial clause of

purpose)

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[+] AD$ER%IAL ,-RA*E &Adv,' ( a phrase that functions as an adverb.

#or example$

After dinner, we went to the movies.

[.] A,,O*ITION/ A,,O*ITI$E ( hen two words, phrases, or clauses in a

sentence have the same reference, they are said to be in apposition.

#or example, in the sentence$

My sister, Helen Wilson, will travel with me.

My sister and Helen Wilson refer to the same person, and are aclled

appositives.

The sentence can be rewritten with either of the two appositives missing,

and still mae sense$

My sister will travel with me.

Helen Wilson will travel with me.

[0] CLAU*E &Cl' ( a group of words which form a grammatical unit and which

contains a subject and a ini!e verb. A clause forms a sentence or part of a

sentence and often functions as a noun, adjective or adverb.

#or example$

I hurried home.

e!ause I was late, they went without me.

[2] COM,LEMENT &C'/ COM,LEMENTATION ( (in grammar) that part of

the sentence which follows the verb and which thus !ompletesthe sentence. The

commonest complements are$

a3 *ubje! C"45le4en! &*C'6 the complement lined to a subject by beor a

lining verb$

"he is a do!tor.

b3 Obje! C"45le4en! &OC'6 the complement lined to an object$

We made her the !hairperson.

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3 Adje!ive C"45le4en! &AC'6 the complement lined to an adjective$

I am glad that you !an !ome.

d3 ,re5"si!i"nal C"45le4en! &,C'6 the complement lined to a preposition$

#hey argued about what to do.

hile Adjun!sare optional parts of sentences, complements are often

obligatory parts of the sentences in which they occur.

[7] COM,LEMENT &ARY' CLAU*E &CCL' ( a clause which functions as a

complement. #or example$

#he $uestion is why you did it.

[8] COM,LE9 *ENTENCE ( a sentence which contains one or more

de5enden! lauses, in addition to its independent, or main, clause. #or example$

When it rained, we went inside.

(dep cl) (ind cl)

[1:] COM,OUND *ENTENCE ( a sentence which contains two or more

independent clauses which are joined by co"ordination. #or example$

He is a small boy but he is very strong.

(ind cl) (ind cl)

I%lleither phone you or I will send you a note.

[11] COM,OUND *U%JECT ( a subject which consists of two or more

elements joined by andand normally taing a plural verb. #or example$

eer and wine do not mi&.

[1#]CON*TITUENT ( a linguistic unit, (usually in sentence analysis) which is

part of a larger construction.

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[1)] CON*TITUENT *TRUCTURE ( the arrangement of linguistic units

(C"ns!i!uen!s' in a phrase, clause, sentence, etc., in order to show their

relationship to one another. A constituent structure can be represented in various

ways. A popular way is to use a !ree dia;ra4.

#or example, the constituent structure of the sentence #he penguin

swallowed the fishcan be shown as$

+entence

- -

/eterminer oun erb -

/et

#he penguin swallowed the fish

[1+] DETERMINER &De!' ( a word which is used with a noun, and which

limits the meaning of the noun in some way. #or example, in 0nglish the

following words can be used as determiners$

a3 A1T2340+, e3;3 a pen!il, the garden

b3 /056+T1AT20+, e3;3 this bo&, that !ar

3 -6++0++20+, e3;3 her house, my bi!y!le

d3 78AT2#201+, e3;3some milk, many people

e3 8501A4+, e3;3 the first day, three !hairs.

[1.] E9I*TENTIAL ( (in linguistics) describes a particular type of sentence

structure which often expresses the existence or location of persons, animals,

things, or ideas.

2n 0nglish, a common existential sentence structure is$

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#here 9 a form of the verb be

#or example$

#here are four bedrooms in this house.

Another frequently used existential structure uses the verb to have.

#or example$

#his house has four bedrooms.

[10] E9TRA,O*ITION ( the process of moving a word, phrase, or clause to a

position in a sentence which is different from the position it usually has.

#or example, the subject of some sentences can be moved to the end of the

sentence$

a. Trying to get ticets was difficult.

b. It was diffi!ult trying to get ti!kets.

2n sentence b3Itis called an!ii5a!"r< subje!, and trying to get ti!ketsis

called 5"s!5"ned subje!3

[12]-EAD ( the central part of a phrase. 6ther elements in the phrase are in

some grammatical or semantic relationship to the head. #or example, in the

0nglish N,$ the fat lady in the floral dress the noun lady is the head of the

phrase.

[17] IM,ER*ONAL CON*TRUCTION &*U%JECT' ( a type of sentence in

which there is no mention of who or what does or experiences something.

#or example$It%s !old' It%s raining.

[18] LOGICAL *U%JECT ( a N,which describes, typically, the performer of

the action. +ome linguists mae a distinction between the ;ra44a!ial subje!

and the l";ial subje!.

#or example, in the passive sentence$

#he !ake was eaten by (era.

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the !akeis the grammatical subject but (erais the logical subject as she is

the performer of the action. 2n$

(era ate the !ake.

(erawould be both the grammatical and the logical subject.

[#:] MODI=IER/ MODI=ICATION/ MODI=Y ( a word or group of words

which gives further information about (;modifies


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[#)]NOMINAL CLAU*E (also NOUN CLAU*E) > a clause which functions

lie a noun or noun phrase? that is, which may occur as subject, object

complement, in apposition, or as prepositional complement.

#or example$

ominal clause as subject$ What she said is awful.

ominal clause as object$I don%t know what she said

[#+] NOMINALI>ATION ( the grammatical process of forming nouns from

other parts of speech, usually verbs or adjectives. #or example, in 0nglish$

nominali@ed forms from the verb to write$ writing, writer as in$His writing is

illegible. Her mother is a writer.

[#.]NOTIONAL GRAMMAR ( a grammar which is based on the belief that

there are categories such as !ense/ 4""d/ ;ender/ nu4ber/ and asewhich are

available to all languages although not all languages mae full use of them. #or

example, a case system is found in erman, 4atin, and 1ussian, but not in

modern 0nglish.

Tradi!i"nal Gra44arwas often notional in its approach and sometimes

attempted to apply some categories to a language without first investigating

whether they were useful and appropriate for describing that language.

[#0]NOUN ,-RA*E &N,' ( (in some Tradi!i"nal Gra44ars) a participial

(see ,ar!ii5les) or Inini!ive phrase which could be replaced by a noun or

pronoun.

#or example, the participial phrase mowing the lawnin$

)eorge +ust hates mowing the lawn.

3ould be replaced by it$

)eorge +ust hates it.

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[#2]O%JECT &O' ( the noun, noun phrase or clause, or pronoun in sentences

with !ransi!ive verbs, which is traditionally described as being affected by the

action of the verb. The object of a verb can be affected by the verb either directly

or indirectly.

2f it is affected directly, it may be called the Dire! Obje! &DO'3 2n

0nglish, the direct object of a verb may be$

a3 created by the action of the verb, as in$

#erry baked a !ake.

b3 changed in some way by the action of the verb, as in$

#erry baked a potato.

3 perceived by the *ubje!of the verb, as in$

#erry saw the !ake.

d3 evaluated by the subject of the verb, as in$

#erry liked the !ake.

e3 obtained or possessed by the subject of the verb, as in$

#erry bought the !ake.

2f the object of a verb is affected by the verb indirectly, it is usually called the

Indire! Obje! &IO'. 2n 0nglish, the indirect object may be$

a3 the receiver of the direct object, as in$

#erry gave me the !ake.(> ;Terry gave the cae tome ;Terry baed the caeforme


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oan is tired.

#he !hildren saw the play.

#he sun rose.

Adjectives, nouns, etc. which occur in the predicate are said to be used

;predicatively


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[)#] *U%JECT ( (in 0nglish grammar), generally is the noun, pronoun, or

N"un ,@rase &N,' which$

a3 typically precedes the main verb in a sentence and is most closely

related to it.

b3 determines C"n"rd

3 refers to something about which a statement or assertion is made in the

rest of the sentence.

That part of the sentence containing the $ER%or $erb Gr"u5and which

may include Obje!s/ C"45le4en!s, or Adverbials) is nown as the ,redia!e.

The predicate is that part of the sentence which predicates something of the

subject. #or example$

*ubje! ,redia!e

#he woman smiled.

*ish is good for you.

[))] TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR ( a grammar which is usually based on

earlier grammars of 4atin or ree and applied to some other language, often

inappropriately. #or example, some grammarians stated that 0nglish had six

Casesbecause 4atin had six cases. These grammars were often notional and

prescriptive in their approach (see N"!i"nal Gra44ar/ ,resri5!ive

Gra44ar'3 Although there has been a trend towards using grammars which

incorporate more modern approaches to language description and language

teaching, some schools still use traditional grammars.

[)+] $ER% ,-RA*E &$,' ( &inTrans"r4a!i"nal Genera!ive Gra44ar) the

part of a *en!ene which contains the main verb and also any Obje! &s'/

C"45le4en! &s'/ and Adverbial &s'$

#or example, in$

#om gave a wat!h to his daughter.

All the sentence except #omis the verb phrase.

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%I%LIOGRA,-Y ,ar! I

F%G HantaI, A. %CC:. Desri5!ive En;lis@ *


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%I%LIOGRA,-Y ,ar! II

F%G HantaI, A. (%CC:). Desri5!ive En;lis@ *


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CONTENT* ,ar! I

4inguistics N definition

Hranches of 4inguistics$ -honetics

-honology

5orphology

+yntax

+emantics

+yntax N /efinition

1ules of +entence #ormation$

+yntactic 3ategories

-hrase +tructure 1ules$ -, -, A-, --, Adv-.

Transformations

/"+tructures$

3onstituents? +pecial Tests$

+ubstitution5ovement

3o"ordination

The Dead of a -hrase

+pecifiers of$

ouns (determiners)

erbs (qualifiers)

Adjectives (degree words)

Adverbs (degree words)

Adverbs (degree words)

3omplements. 3omplement options

-hrase +tructure Template$

+pecifiers 9 Dead 9 3omplements.

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The +entence. The +entence 1ule$ - 9 2nfl 9 -.

3omplemeti@ers (3)

3omplementi@er -hrase (3-)

3omplement 3lauses

+"+tructures$ Transformations 2nversion ? /o 2nsertion

h"5ovement

1ules of Tranformation

Trace element

Ambiguous +entences

6ther +tructural -atterns$ 3o"ordinate +tructures

5odifier +tructures

1elative +tructures

-assive +tructures? thematic roles$ agent,

theme, source, goal, location.

Annex$ 3omplement 6ptions

0xercises

4anguage Terminology

Hibliography

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CONTENT* ,ar! II

-hrases. 3lauses. +entences

-hrases (-)

3lauses 3l)

+entence (+)

The +imple +entence

The +ubject and -redicate roups

A. The +ubject roup (The oun -hrase$ -)

The oun 3lause

The -

/eterminers

5odifiers

The +ubject

H. The -redicate roup (The erb -hrase$ -)

The operator. The predication

3lassification of -redicates

Oinds of predicates

The -redicative 3lause

The 6bject (6). The 6bject 3lause (63l)

The /irect 6bject (/6)

The 2ndirect 6bject (26)

The -repositional 2ndirect 6bject (-26)

The -repositional 6bject (-6)

3omplements (3). 3omplement 3lauses (33l)

The +ubject 3omplement (+3)

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The 6bject 3omplement (63)

Adverbial 5odifiers (Adv5). Adverbial 3lauses (Adv3l)

Types of Adverbial 3lauses Abbreviated Adverbial 3lauses

The erbal -hrase (- P -- P 2-)

The -repositional -hrase (--)

The Adjective -hrase (A-). The 1elative 3lause (A3l)

1estrictive P on"restrictive 1elative 3lauses

+yntax 0xercises

Oey to +yntax 0xercises

4anguage Terminology

Hibliography

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