Matakuliah : G0922/Introduction to Linguistics
Tahun
: 2008
Session 10
Syntax 1
LEARNING OUTCOMES
– Students are able to mention the types of phrases, clauses and
sentences
– Students are able to categorize phrases, clauses and
sentences according to their types
– Students are able to give examples for each type of phrases,
clauses and sentences
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OUTLINE
• Phrase
• Clause
• Sentence
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Definition of Syntax
• Syntax is part of grammar that represents a speaker’s
knowledge of sentences and their structure
• Structure is word order; so the meaning of the sentence
depends on the order in which the words occur in the
sentence.
- ‘I see what I eat’ is different from ‘ I eat what I see’
• Sequences of words that conform to the rules of syntax
are well formed or grammatical, and those that violate
the syntactic rules are ill formed or ungrammatical.
• Grammaticality of a sentence depends on the syntactic
rules but not whether the sentence is meaningful or not.
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Phrase
• A phrase is a group of words which functions as a unit
and does not contain a finite verb
• Finite verb is a verb that can take as its subject a
pronoun
- I see, he sees, they saw
• Non finite verb is a verb that can not a subject directly
- I seeing, he to see, we seen
• Non finite verb forms occur in the present participle
(v+ing), past participle (V+ed), infinitive (to+V).
• Only non finite verb forms can occur in phrases
- seen from this angle, the mountains look blue
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Types of Phrases
• Noun Phrase: a group of words with a noun as its
headword.
- The young man threw the old dog a bone
• Adjective Phrase : a group of words which modifies a
noun.
- Attributive AP : preceding for following a noun
The child, laughing happily, ran out the house.
- Predicative AP: following a verb
The letter was unbelievably rude
• Verb Phrase: a group of words with a verb as headword.
- He has been singing
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Types of phrase
• Adverb Phrase: a group of words which functions like an
adverb, it tells us when, where, why, how an event
occurred
- He almost always arrives on time
- He ran very quickly
Preposition Phrase : a group of words with a preposition
- He arrived by plane
- We are on a very good terms
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Clause
• A Clause is a group of words which contains a finite verb
but which cannot occur in isolation, that is a clause
constitute only part of a sentence.
• In a complex sentence, there are at least two clauses :
the main clause and one subordinate or dependent
clause.
- He believed that the earth was round.
He believed = main clause
that the earth was round = subordinate clause
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Types of Clause
1. Noun Clause: a group of words containing a finite verb
and functioning like a noun
• Noun Clause can be substituted by Noun, Pronoun,
Noun Phrase
• Noun Clause functions as Subject, Object or
Complement
- He said that he was tired
- What you said was not true
2. Adjective Clause or ‘relative clause’ is a group of words
which modify a noun.
- The dog which won the competition is a German
shepherd
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Types of Clause
3. Adverbial Clause: a clause that functions like an adverb
in giving information about when, where, why, how or if
an action occurred.
When he arrived we were all sleeping
Put it where we can all see it
• Adverbial Clauses are the most frequently used clauses
and they are mobile ( can occupy different position)
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Sentences
• 4 sub types of sentences
1. Declarative sentences make statement of assertion
- I shall arrive at three
2. Imperative sentences give orders, make request, have
no subject
- Come here
3. Interrogative sentences ask questions:
- Did you see your brother yesterday?
4. Exclamatory sentences express surprise, alarm,
indignation, or a strong opinion.
- You can’t be serious
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Sentence Types
•
According to the existence of verb, sentences can be
classified as:
1. Major sentences : contain finite verbs
2. Minor sentences : do not contain finite verbs
Minor sentences occur in:
a. Colloquial speech: ‘Got a match?”
b. Proverbial utterances :’out of sight, out of mind’
c. Advertising : Nokia, connecting people
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Sentence Types
•
According to the number of verbs, sentences can be classified as:
1. Simple sentences contain only one finite verb
- Water boils at 100 degrees centigrade
Compound sentences consist of two or more simple sentences liked by
coordinating conjunctions and, but, so , or, either..or, neither..nor , or
..then.
- He could neither eat nor sleep
3. Complex sentences consists of one simple sentence and one or
more subordinate clauses.
- She become queen when her father died because she was the
eldest child.
4. Compound Complex sentences are a combination of complex
sentences joined by coordinating conjunction.
- I saw him when he arrived the first time but I didn’t see him when
he came again.
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Internal structure of a sentence
• The basic pattern of the simple English sentence is:
Adjunct – Subject – Predicate – Object – Complement –
Adjunct
- John often called his brother a fool.
S
A
P
O
C
- The tall man saw him last Friday
S
P
O
A
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Sentence operation
• Insertion : ‘the child is clever’  the little child is
exceptionally clever.
• Deletion : The tall man saw him last Friday  The man
saw him
• Substitution : The young man visited his mother  he
visited her
• Transposition : I saw three men  three men I saw
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