1-Introduction to Syntax.pptx

 *Syntax is the study of sentence structure in a language.
Scope- Types of sentences, phrases, clause, agreement and word
order etc.
 Syntax is the set of rules, principles, and processes that govern
the structure of sentences in a given language specifically word
order.
 The goal of many syntacticians is to discover the syntactic
rules common to all languages.

 Works on grammar were written long before
modern syntax came about.
 Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pāṇini (c. 4th century BC) is a pre-
modern work that approaches the sophistication of
a modern syntactic theory.

 A basic feature of a language's syntax is the sequence in which
the subject (S), verb (V), and object (O) usually appear in
sentences.
 Over 85% of languages usually place the subject first, either in the
sequence SVO or the sequence SOV.
 The other possible sequences are VSO, VOS, OVS, and OSV, the
last three of which are rare.

 *A phrase is a collection of words that may have nouns,
but it does not have a subject doing a verb.
 Phrases are considered as the second level of classification
as they tend to be larger than individual words, but are
smaller than sentences.
 We refer to the central element in a phrase as the head of
the phrase. If the head is a noun then the phrase is called a
noun phrase.

Example
1. Noun -----My coach is happy. (noun phrase as subject)
2. Verb -------Henry made my coach very proud. (verb phrase as
predicate)
3. Adjectival------Dad bought [(a blue and green) sweater]
4. Adverbial------ He scored the goal very quickly.
5. Prepositional -------The man in the house rented it.
(prepositional phrase modifies a noun adjectivally)
6. Gerundive-------- Dad talked about winning the game.
7. Participial-------- Racing around the corner, he slipped and fell.
8. Infinitive------- My duty as a coach is to teach skills. (infinitive
phrase functions as a noun) My sister wanted a cat to love.
(infinitive phrase functions as an adjective)

A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete
thought.
It is the largest grammatical unit as discussed in grammar and
linguistics.
A sentence may contain one or more clauses depending on its
type.
It is important to note that English sentences can be classified
into different types based on both their functions (meaning)
and structures (forms).

• All sentences are about something or someone.
• The something or someone that the sentence is
about is called the subject of the sentence.
• The predicate contains information about the
someone or something that is the subject.
• Examples.
John often comes late to class.
My friend and I both have a dog named Spot.

Based on functions, there are five types of sentences:
1. Assertive
2. Interrogative
3. Imperative
4. Optative, and
5. Exclamatory
Based on structures, sentences are of four types:
1. Simple
2. Complex
3. Compound, and
4. Compound-complex

Sentence Types Examples
1- Assertive Sentences (Statement) Ali is a good singer.
2- Interrogative Sentences (Question) Are you a student?
3- Imperative Sentences (Command,
request, proposal, encouragement)
Please open the door.
4- Optative Sentences (Desire, wish) May God bless you.
5- Exclamatory Sentences (Sudden
feeling, strong emotion)
How cute the baby is!

Assertive sentences are used to make statements or
comments. It describes a state of affairs, action, feeling,
or belief. As assertive sentences make statements by
declaration, they are also called declarative sentences.
 Example 1: This is a fascinating game.
 Example 2: This is not an exciting game at all.

Sentences that are usually used to ask questions are
called interrogative sentences. Interrogative sentences
are always followed by a question mark (?) or note of
interrogation.
 Example 1: Is it a good idea?
 Example 2: Are you not a member of the club?

Sentences that are used to ask someone to do something
are called imperative sentences. We can express
command, request, proposal, and encouragement with
imperative sentences. In such sentence
 Example 1: Please shut the window. (Request)
 Example 2: Sit down right here. (Command)
 Example 3: Come on, kick the ball! (Encouragement)

Optative sentences are used to express formal desire or
wish. This kind of sentence usually begins with the word
“May,” and full stop (.) or exclamatory sign (!) is used at the
end of the sentence.
 Example 1: May Allah bless you.
 Example 2: May you enjoy a happy life!
Remember! In modern grammar, optatives are not
considered individual sentence types. Instead, many
modern grammarians consider optative sentences as
part of imperatives.

Sentences that express a sudden feeling or strong emotion
of the speaker are known as exclamatory sentences. This
kind of sentence usually starts with “what” or “how” and
ends with a note of exclamation(!). They are also called
exclamative sentences.
 Example 1: how beautiful the garden is!
 Example 2: What a tragic play Shakespeare’s Hamlet is!
Remember! Some exclamatory sentences may not have
a complete sentence structure, but they are still
considered sentences.
 Example 1: Oh my God!
 Example 2: How strange!

Sentence Types Examples
1- Simple Sentences Raheem is a student.
2- Complex Sentences Allah helps those who help themselves.
3- Compound Sentences
Raheem is a student, but he earns for his
family.
4- Compound-complex
Sentences
Since Raheem is ill, he cannot join the
team today, but we hope that he can join
as soon as possible.

Sentences with only one independent clause are called simple
sentences. That means a simple sentence is a one-clause sentence
that contains one subject and one finite verb.
 Example 1: He is a boy.
 Example 2: He is the oldest person in the family.
 Example 3: The oldest person in the family will decide the date of
the program.
 Remember! A simple sentence is not necessarily a short
sentence. It can even be longer than a complex or compound
sentence. No matter how many words there are in a simple
sentence, there must be only one subject and a finite verb.
The examples given above will help to make the idea clear.

Sentences with two or more independent clauses having no
dependent clauses are called compound sentences. The clauses of
a compound sentence are usually connected through coordinating
conjunctions like “and,” “but,” “or” etc. A compound sentence is
also called a coordinate sentence as its clauses are joined by
coordinating conjunctions.
 Example 1: He is penniless, but he doesn’t beg.
 Example 2: I will come on my own or I will send someone with
the parcel.
Each of the sentences has two independent clauses. In the first
sentence, the clauses are joined with the coordinating conjunction
“but,” and in the second sentence, the coordinating conjunction is
“or.”

 Complex sentences are formed with only one independent
clause and one or more dependent clauses. Independent clauses
are also called principal clauses, and dependent clauses are also
called subordinate clauses.
Example: This is the boy who hit the longest six today.
 In this sentence, “This is the boy” is an independent clause, and
“who hit the longest six today” is a dependent clause. The
independent clause “This is the boy” has an independent
meaning of its own, but the other clause is added to this clause
to extend its meaning. On the other hand, the dependent clause
“who hit the longest six today” doesn’t have any independent
meaning of its own and is dependent on the independent clause
“This is the boy.”

When a compound sentence has one or more dependent clauses, this is
called a compound-complex sentence. As the name suggests, this kind of
sentence combines features of complex and compound sentences. That
means a compound-complex sentence must have at least two
independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses.
 Example: When my teacher scolded me, I felt sad, and I left the exam
hall.
 In this sentence, there are two independent clauses: “I felt sad” and “I
left the exam hall.” These two clauses are connected through the
coordinating conjunction “and.” Thus these two independent clauses
together form a compound sentence.
 Besides, “When my teacher scolded me” is the dependent clause in this
sentence. It is evident that there are two independent and one
dependent clause in the sentence, and together they form a
compound-complex sentence.

 A constituent is any syntactic unit, regardless of length or syntactic category.
 A single word is the smallest possible constituent belonging to a particular syntactic
category. So if a single word can substitute for a string of several words, then that's
evidence that the single word and the string are both constituents of the same
category.
 The constituent structure of sentences is identified using tests for
constituents. These tests apply to a portion of a sentence, and the
results provide evidence about the constituent structure of the
sentence.

Many constituents are phrases. A phrase is a sequence of
one or more words (in some theories two or more) built
around a head lexical item and working as a unit within a
sentence.
A word sequence is shown to be a phrase/constituent if it
exhibits one or more of the behaviors discussed below.
The analysis of constituent structure is associated mainly
with phrase structure grammar, although dependency
grammars also allow sentence structure to be broken down
into constituent parts.

Immediate constituent analysis or IC analysis is
a method of sentence analysis that was first
mentioned by Leonard Bloomfield.

1-Introduction to Syntax.pptx

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1-Introduction to Syntax.pptx