Syntax

Syntax

The way that words and phrases are put together to form sentences in a language.

Content words

• nouns: house, cat, book, happiness

• adjectives: beautiful, big, long, interesting

• verbs: make, sleep, cook, see

• adverbs: slowly, unfortunately, here, very, usually

Function words

• prepositions: in, on, at, off, before, into, under

• pronouns: I, they, mine, us, him, yours

• conjunctions: and, or, after, but, neither, so, until

• determiners: the, a, my, his, ten, some, any, this, other

• auxiliary verbs: will, might, would, could, do, have

Multiple Select

What type of word is 'should'?

• Content word

• Function word

Multiple Select

What type of word is 'write'?

• Content word

• Function word

Multiple Select

What type of word is 'neither'?

• Content word

• Function word

Multiple Select

What type of word is 'casually'?

• Content word

• Function word

What's a constituent?

Constituents are groups of words that go together and fit into larger units, which are then built into sentences. 

The happy boy jumped swiftly over the rock by the pond.

• The smaller constituents (i.e. the happy boy, the pond, the rock) fit into larger constituents (i.e. by the pond), and even larger constituents (the rock by the pond)

Word --> Phrase --> Clause --> Sentence

Constituents follow a hierarchical structure.

Clauses:

Clauses are composed of noun phrases as the subject and verb phrases as the predicate. 

Compound sentences can be formed by joining two independent clauses.

John often comes late to class.

How many clauses do you see?

You can write on paper, or you can use a computer.

How many clauses do you see?

You can write on paper, although a computer is better if you want to correct mistakes easily.

How many clauses do you see?

Our school basketball team lost their last game of the season 75-68.

How many clauses do you see?

Basic structure of tenses