Building Blocks

Building Blocks of Syntax

Based on Chapter 2 of Syntax: An Introduction to Minimalism by Elly Van Gelderen ​

Lexical Categories

1. Nouns (N): Represent people, places, or things.

- Examples: 'chair', 'London', 'happiness'

 - Morphology: Can be pluralized (chairs), or possessive ('s).

 - Syntax: Often preceded by 'the' or 'a' (e.g., 'the chair').

2. Verbs (V): Actions or states.

  - Examples: 'run', 'destroy', 'be'

- Syntax: Often followed by objects or complements ('He ran fast.').

3. Adjectives (Adj): Modify nouns, describing qualities.

   - Examples: 'big', 'red', 'interesting'

4. Adverbs (Adv): Modify verbs, adjectives, or adverbs.

   - Examples: 'quickly', 'very', 'yesterday'

5. Prepositions (P): Express relationships in space or time.

   - Examples: 'in', 'on', 'before', 'under'

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is a noun?

• quickly

• house

• run

• beautiful

Multiple Choice

Which word is a preposition?

• after

• quickly

• big

• they

Multiple Choice

Choose the verb in this sentence: "She sings beautifully."

• she

• sings

• beautifully

• none

Grammatical Categories

1. Determiners (D): Specify nouns, indicate quantity, possession, etc.

   - Examples: 'the', 'a', 'this', 'some', 'my'

2. Tense (T): Express time reference (past, present, future).

   - Example: 'has eaten', 'will go

3. Complementizers (C): Introduce subordinate clauses.

   - Examples: 'that', 'because', 'if', 'whether'

Multiple Choice

Which is a determiner?

• my

• run

• because

• him

Multiple Choice

What is the function of "that" in the sentence: "I know that you left"?

• Preposition

• Complementizer

• Determiner

• Pronoun

Multiple Choice

Which verb form shows tense?

• eat

• eating

• eaten

• eats

Pronouns

1. Personal Pronouns: Used to refer to people or things.

 - Examples: 'I', 'you', 'he', 'they'

2. Reflexive Pronouns: Refer back to the subject.

- Examples: 'myself', 'yourself', 'himself'

3. Possessive Pronouns: Show ownership.

- Examples: 'mine', 'yours', 'his', 'ours'

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is a possessive pronoun?

• they

• mine

• me

• you

Multiple Choice

Which is a reflexive pronoun?

• himself

• him

• they

• we

Multiple Choice

Choose the correct pronoun: "This book is ___."

• I

• mine

• my

• we

Auxiliary verbs

1. Modals: Express ability, possibility, necessity.

   - Examples: 'can', 'will', 'must', 'should'

2. Perfect Aspect: Uses 'have' to indicate completed actions.

   - Example: 'I have eaten', 'She has finished.'

3. Progressive Aspect: Uses 'be' to indicate ongoing actions.

  - Example: 'I am studying', 'They were sleeping.'

Multiple Choice

Which is a modal verb?

• have

• will

• was

• been

Multiple Choice

Which verb form indicates perfect aspect?

• have eaten

• eating

• will eat

• eat

Multiple Choice

Choose the progressive aspect sentence

• She was walking

• She walked

• She has walked

• She will walk

Ambiguity and Flexibility

• Many English words can function as multiple parts of speech depending on context (e.g., police can be a noun, verb, or adjective).

• Words like that can act as complementizers or determiners based on their role in a sentence.

Examples

Noun: "Turn off the light before you leave."
(Light is the object, a source of illumination, acting as a noun.)

Adjective: "She wore a light jacket in the cool weather."
(Light describes the jacket, functioning as an adjective.)

Verb: "Please light the candles on the cake."
(Light refers to the action of igniting something, functioning as a verb.)

Word: "Light"

Adjective: "That is a fast car."
(Fast describes the car, which is a noun, acting as an adjective.)

Adverb: "He runs fast."
(Fast describes how he runs, modifying the verb runs, functioning as an adverb.)

Noun: "He decided to go on a fast for three days."
(Fast refers to the act of abstaining from food, acting as a noun.)

Word: "Fast"

Multiple Choice

Identifying the Function of a Word in Context

In the sentence below, what is the grammatical function of the word "light"?
"She turned on the light before reading her book."

• Noun

• Verb

• Adjective

• Adverb

Multiple Choice

Choosing the Correct Part of Speech:

Which sentence uses the word "run" as a noun?

• "I will run to the store."

• "The machine is on a test run."

• "They need to run the report."

• "She runs every morning."

Multiple Choice

Recognizing Multiple Roles of a Word:

In which sentence is the word "fast" functioning as an adverb?

• "The fast train arrived on time."

• "They will fast for religious reasons."

• "She drove fast to avoid traffic."

• "He enjoys the fast pace of the city."