English Syntax: Basic Concepts in Syntax

  Basic Concepts in Syntax

                                             Syntax

Word syntax is derived from the Greek word “syntaxis”, which means together and sequence.

“Syntax is the system of rules and principles that describe how to organize words into phrases and phrases into larger units called clauses.”

“Syntax constitutes a part of grammar shows how words are combined into phrases, how phrases form clauses, and how clauses are joined to make sentences.”

                                                      Phrase

Phrase is an expression which is a constituent in a sentence and is the expansion of a head (key word).

Phrase is a syntactic unit (NP, VP,) headed by a syntactic category (N, V,) as the head.

                               Example: King laughed (NP), Mary, John (N)

                         

                                 Clause & Sentence

Clause is a syntactic phrase made up of at least a subject (NP) and a predicate

(VP)

Terms sentence and clause can be used synonymously.

A sentence or clause is an expression which minimally contains a subject and

a predicate, complements and adjuncts.

For instance, NP the king is the subject, and the Verb Phrase (VP), composed of a single verb (V) laughed, is the predicate.

              Subject is syntactically the NP in the clause [NP VP].

             Predicate is syntactically the VP in the clause [NP, VP].

                

   Sentence & Clause Examples

1. John smokes cigars.                                         John Smokes.

2. My Brother brought an expensive car.          The King laughed.

    NP             Pred     Complement                            NP   Predicate

                                      Complement

Complement is a constituent whose presence is structurally “dictated” required or licensed by a particular word.

The presence of the complement “follows” from the presence of the word, which it is a complement of.

For instance, the NP my brother is the subject, the V brought is the predicate, and the NP an expensive car is a complement, more particularly a direct object, of the verb brought.

                  Subject & Complement = Argument

The subject and the complement together are said to be the arguments of the predicate.

Arguments are the participants (entities) that are necessarily involved in the situation identified by the predicate. 

For example, in “My brother brought an expensive car.” the predicate brought has two arguments: the subject (somebody did the buying), and the object (something was brought).

The subject John and the complement cigars are the two arguments of the predicate smokes ( the two entities involved in the act of smoking).

                 Subject & Complement = Argument

                 Subject vs. Complement ( 1st Difference)

In English, subjects typically occur in the nominative case (I, he, etc.), whereas objects occur in the accusative case (me, him, etc.).

Subjects typically carry nominative case, whereas complements typically carry accusative case (sometimes termed objective case).

                              Examples

                1. He/*Him smokes cigars      

                2. John smokes them/*they

                        Subject & Complement = Argument

                     (2nd Difference) Subject vs. Complement

Another difference between subjects and complements is that, in English, verbs agree with their subjects in person and number, but do not agree with their complements.

 So, if we have a third person singular subject like he or John, we require the corresponding third-person singular verb form smokes,

but if we have a first-person singular subject like I, or a first-person plural subject like we, or

a second person singular or plural subject like you, or a third person plural subject like they, we require the alternative form of smoke.

                  1. He smokes/*smoke cigars

                  2. I/We/You/They smoke/*smokes cigars

If we change the complement by replacing the plural form cigars with the singular a cigar, the form of the verb in English is unaffected:

            John smokes cigars/a cigar

            (3rd Difference) Subject vs. complement

Subjects in English typically precede verbs, while complements follow them.

Or Subject comes before the predicate and complement comes after the predicate.

                    Example: John smokes cigars.

                                      Sub  Pred  Complement

The difference between subjects and complements are in terms of whether they normally precede or follow the verb, whether they have nominative or accusative case and whether or not they agree with the verb.