Syntax Parts of sentence word order in English

Syntax Parts of sentence & word order in English

Syntax • Sentence structure; how words are arranged so that they make sense to us • Syntax comes from Greek: Putting together or arrangement • syntax (n. ) http: //www. etymonline. com/index. php? allowed_in_frame=0&search=synt ax • c. 1600, from French syntaxe (16 c. ) and directly from Late Latin syntaxis, from Greek syntaxis "a putting together or in order, arrangement, a grammatical construction, " from stem of syntassein "put in order, " from syn- "together" (see syn-) + tassein "arrange" (see tactics).

Parts of sentence • The parts of the sentence are a set of terms to describe how people construct sentences from smaller pieces. • The parts of the sentence do not necessarily correspond with parts of speech. • The subject of a sentence, for example, could be a noun, a pronoun, or even an entire phrase or clause.

Parts of sentence: Subject and Predicate (Traditional Grammar) • Every complete sentence contains two parts: a subject and a predicate. • John (subject) runs (predicate). • The subject is about what (or whom) the sentence is. • The predicate tells something about the subject.

Subject v The doer of the action/Thing being referred to v In a declarative sentence, it always comes at the beginning of a sentence v It is either, noun or pronoun v It can be either simple or compound You will help me. (‘you’ is a simple subject) You- subject Will help me- predicate The new book I have bought is really expensive. (The new book I have bought is a compound subject) The new book I have bought- Subject Is really expensive- predicate

Predicate The part of a sentence that tells something about the subject. v Should have at least a verb v Sometimes can be just a verb: I swim. v In most cases it consists of a verb and an object: I eat apples. v Can be simple or compound ü I swim. (‘swim’ is a simple predicate) ü I eat apples. (‘apples’ is a simple predicate) ü I swim mostly during summer. (‘swim mostly during summer’ is a compound predicate) ü I eat fresh red apples sold in organic fruit stores. (‘eat fresh red apples sole in organic fruit stores’ is a compound predicate)

Objects Something that is acted upon by the subject/something that is affected by the action mentioned in the sentence v is either a noun or pronoun v is either direct or indirect/transitive verbs (write/eat/build/tell/mention etc. take direct object); ask what or whom question to know the direct question. v Direct object is the inseparable part of the sentence (in case you have multiple objects) ü She wrote a book. (‘a book’ is direct object) ü I saw him in the market. (‘him’ is the direct object) ü They play football. (‘football’ is a direct object) ü I bought my daughter a doll. (‘a doll’ is a direct object, and ‘my daughter’ an indirect object)

Identify the Direct & Indirect Objects • • She teaches English to Sergei. Please pass me the salt. I gave you a homework assignment. Tom sent an email to Susan. • Darren passed Joshua the ball.

Subject and Predicate Vs Noun Phrase (NP) and Verb Phrase (VP) His terror of spiders kept him out of the dark basement. Subject NP Predicate VP There will be three concerts in the arts centre tonight. Subject NP Predicate VP The fancy looking gadget is a new invention. Subject Predicate NP VP

Definitions v. Phrase --> a sequence of two or more words arranged in a gramm atical construction and acting as a unit in a sentence. 2. (in English) a sequence of two or more words as a preposition and a noun or pronoun, as adjective and noun, or an adverb and verb, that does not contain a ü finite verb and its subject or that does not consist of clause ü elements such as subject, verb, object, or complement. v. Clause --> a unit of grammatical organization next below the sentence in rank and in traditional grammar said to consist of a subject and predicate.

Phrases vs. Clauses • A phrase does not have a subject doing a verb: § Before the tornado, …………. . . § …………. . because of my place in line. • A clause has a subject doing a verb: § § Before we saw the tornado, we hid in the cellar. I was late because I lost my place in line. When she held the paint brush, she mentally prepared to paint. I can’t stand liars.

Deep Structure, Surface Structure, and Structural Ambiguity

Symbols Used in Syntactic Analysis S Sentence NP Noun Phrase VP Verb Phrase PP Preposition Phrase N Noun PN Proper Noun V Verb Article Adjective Adverb Pronoun Preposition Auxiliary Verb * Ungrammatical Sentences Consists of/composed of () Optional {} one and only mentioned within must be selected

S NP Art Adv Adj VP N The big yellow dog V NP ate Art N The dog The big yellow dog ate the bone. NP VP Tree Diagram

The mouse ran up the clock. NP VP S NP VP Art N V PP The mouse ran Prep NP up Art N the clock

Phrase Structural Rule A phrase is a syntactic unit that consists of a lexical category like noun, verb, or pronouns. v They are generative (unlimited number of phrases can be generated with same underlying structure) v Offer numerous analysis of syntactically ambiguous sentences v are represented in hierarchical structure NP Art an a the an the (Adj) green big tall N apple house lamp post orange university

How about these …. NP NP Adj Pro PN {Art N S NP Art N VP Aux VP V NP Art N NP VP Art N {a, an} {class, computer, bell, umbrella, hour, answer} Aux VP {can, could, will, would, may, might} V NP {make, reserve, have, provide} Art N {a, an, the} {difference, hotel room, noise, shade, winning score} (Adj) S NP VP N, Pro, PN} PP NP NP VP {Art N, Pro, PN} V {NP, PP} Prep NP Art N

Lexical Rules and Movement Rules v Using phrase structural rules we can generate unlimited number of phrases. In addition, some ungrammatical phrases can be generated (esp. by English Learners). The rule that pertains to maintaining the production of proper surface structure is called lexical rules. v Not all sentences are active voiced affirmative declarative sentences. We frequently use passive voice, or interrogative sentences, or negative sentences in our speech. The rule that tells us how these kind of sentences are formed, or how they are represented in hierarchical structures, or tree diagram (underlying deep structure) is said to be the movement rule. S NP Aux VP. (Active voiced, affirmative, declarative sentence) S Aux NP VP? (interrogative sentence) VP V NP 2 S NP 2 Aux be-verb V. (Passive voiced sentence)

Word order in English: SVO • Word order is very important in English • A normal sentence in English usually contains at least three elements: subject, verb, and object. Subject The cat John Mary Verb eats likes chose Object the goldfish. football. the wallpaper. • We should use ‘predicate’ instead of verb, but most grammar books use verb instead of predicate. • So, conventionally the word order is SVO. • EXCEPTION: In a small house adjacent to our backyard lives a family with ten noisy children.

SVO is not universal SVO Example: I like ice-cream. • SVO = I like ice-cream. Languages include English, the Romance languages, Bulgarian, and Swahili. • SOV = I ice-cream like. Languages: include Japanese, Turkish, Korean, etc. • VSO = Like I ice-cream. Languages include Classical Arabic, the Insular Celtic languages and Hawaiian. • VOS = Like ice-cream I. Languages include Fijian and Malagasy. • OSV = Ice-cream I like. Languages include Xavante and Warao.