Syntactic Skill
The structure and organization of the words, phrases, and clauses that make up a
sentence are studied and understood in syntax. The reader must analyze, store (in
working memory), and integrate a range of syntactic and word meaning information in
order to understand a phrase (Paris & Hamilton, 2019).
The rule of syntax in many languages governs how language is used to establish
shared understanding and acceptable utterances and constructions. Syntax also looks at
how phrases and sentences are put together (syntactic structure) (Shuaibu, U., Soye, H.
A. & Cletus, S. E., 2019). These words are made up of both purpose and content words
that have a specific location and function within the structure. This section provides
material and practical words/heads. Nouns, verbs (without the assistance of verbs),
adjectives, and adverbs are examples of content terms, while determinants, conjunctions,
prepositions, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, templates, qualifiers, and inquiry words are
examples of feature terms (Nordquist, R., 2018).
According to Imane (2018), an error is a linguistic occurrence that deviates from
accepted use norms and contributes to incomplete learning. Phrases is one of the
mistakes students make. A phrase is a collection of words that may include nouns or
verbs, which are the basic units of a sentence, but does not include a subject (the person
executing the action in the sentence) or a predicate (which indicates what the subject is
doing). By adding details about the subject, object, verb, or setting, a phrase helps a
sentence make sense. Although a sentence is composed of phrases, a sentence would
not make sense if a single phrase were taken out of it. Difficulty happens because they
have trouble understanding grammatical errors, particularly fragments (Bashir et al.,
2018).
People, on the other hand, overlook how crucial the overall structure of a phrase
is to its flow, meaning, and tone, when parallel structure is utilized, common grammatical
practices are also taken for granted because normally it is being used naturally and
without much thought. When parallel structure in writing gets incorrect, though, it goes
horribly wrong, and usually do not even see it unless there is a support of a good editor
or proofreader. Hence, parallel structure is needed because it makes a piece of writing
easier to understand. It allows us to understand when things are taking place, what is
taking place, who or what the subjects and objects of a sentence or clause are, and so
on. And when writers follow a parallel structure, they are less prone to making common
grammatical errors (Creighton, 2018).
Tetzner (2021) stated that the term ‘parallelism’ refers to the repeated and
balanced use of similar words, phrases or clauses that share a specific grammatical
structure or syntactical pattern. As a writing tool for academic and scientific authors,
parallelism clarifies intended meaning even when a sentence is complicated and renders
complex text more legible, comprehensible and memorable for readers. When used with
thought and care, it can not only establish a pleasing rhythm, but also promote an elegant
style and pack a persuasive logical punch, which is as desirable when presenting a paper
at a conference as it is when preparing a manuscript for publication or devising a thesis
statement.
Moxley & Paquette (2021) also argued that parallelism fosters reading
comprehension because it enables readers to chunk information — elements of a
sentence (e.g., words, phrase, sentence) — as coequal and related. Errors in Parallelism
errors are serious because then impede communication, resulting in confused readers.
These kinds of errors would not always interfere with comprehension, but they would
affect the style of your writing, placing an undue burden on the reader as he or she
struggles to decipher your intention. Proper parallel structure helps to establish balance
and flow in a well-constructed sentence; the alignment of related ideas supports
readability and clarity.
Meanwhile, Siddiqui (2021) stated that excellent English language communication
abilities are required for persons in all occupations, and that the concept of English verb
tenses is critical in developing effective communication. As a result, if someone wishes
to improve their communication abilities in both speaking and writing, they must learn
English tenses. A command of the twelve primary tenses of the English language would
greatly assist an individual in developing effective communication skills.
Wadhwani (2020) explained that since English is a chronological language, it is
necessary for English speakers to know when a specific action or event occurred. This
chronology, or the order in which events and dates occur, is communicated by English
speakers using verb tenses. Each tense denotes a link between two or more time periods
or the precise time of an event, emphasizing the significance of English grammar tenses.
They can be utilized to produce multiple interpretations from the same verbs, assisting
the listener in comprehending the meaning of your story. As a result, English includes a
large number of verb tenses, some of which show a relationship between two time periods
and others which reflect the precise timing of an activity.
With this, Davis (2021) noted that the right use of tenses allows English speakers
to distinguish whether an action or event takes place at, during, or over the period
indicated by a verb change. Aside from the usage of a time marker, when one wants to
indicate a different intention than the preceding one, a verb shift or formation is required.
There is a match between one's objective and his utterances while using tenses. If
somebody makes errors in verb formulation, his counterpart is likely to misinterpret or
misunderstand the meaning of his remark or sentence. In other words, if he speaks or
writes to his counterpart in the improper tense, the contact would most likely end in
misunderstanding.
Moreover, syntax and sentence construction are critical in academic writing. While
this is also true in informal writing, grammar errors in academic writing can rapidly detract
from the author's reputation. As a result, it is critical to make sure that the subjects and
verbs always agree. The subject-verb relationship is at the basis of grammatically
accurate English writing (Walter, 2017).
Middleton (2019) argued that the subject of a sentence should always match the
verb describing its action. This helps the reader understands who or what is doing
something and makes their writing easier to read and it guarantees that the sentence
means something. Without this core, a sentence fragments and loses its power to speak.
Indeed, a sentence only becomes complete when it contains at least a subject and a verb.
It is obvious from the foregoing explanations that subject-verb agreement is an
agreement between the subject and the verb. Because the meaning of the sentence will
be unclear without the subject and verb agreeing on each other, if the subject is singular,
the verb is singular, and if the subject is plural, the verb is plural. However, Al Murshidi
(2014) discovered that students are still perplexed when it comes to implementing
subject-verb agreement rules, and that their lack of awareness of the target language's
norms is the primary cause of written production errors.
It is also worth noting that changing your syntax and writing rhythms to keep your
reader engaged is a vital part of the writing process. All writing must adhere to sentence
construction guidelines in order to be effective. The structure of written sentences is what
sentence structure is defined as. To put it another way, sentence structure is how you
build sentences since it establishes clear standards for how sentences should be
constructed so that others may easily read and understand your writing while also
providing a variety of impacts and intrigues for the readers (Janovsky, 2021).
Similarly, May (2015) stated that sentence structure refers to how a person
combines words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence. Writers who do not vary their
sentences use the same subject, length, and kind of sentence over and over again. The
reader will become bored and their voices will become weak as a result of this repetition.
It not only breathes new life into writing, but it also cuts down on repetition. Changing the
structure of one's sentences will keep the reader engaged and give your work a rhythm.
It must be noted also that sentence structure dictates how the many parts of a
sentence are placed together, from punctuation to word order. There are many more
factors to consider in order to create correctly and clearly formed sentences, in addition
to following basic word order guidelines. It's not just about grammar; it's also about style
and flow. A range of sentence lengths and styles are used in effective academic writing.
Overly long phrases can be confusing for readers, while too many short sentences might
make your work feel jagged and fragmented (Bryson, 2020).
In addition, sentence fragments never have independent clauses, but instead are
dependent clauses or phrases. Fragments can masquerade as real sentences because
they begin with a capital letter and end with a period. If this would be read more closely,
it would be seen that fragments do not form a complete thought. It is a little like having
only half of the pieces to a puzzle. Without all the components, the entire picture would
be impossible to complete (Firestone & Betts, 2021).
Because a sentence fragment can be misleading to the reader, it is usually better
to resolve it by either adding what's missing from the sentence or attaching it to another
sentence. Although commonly thought to be a grammatical error, sentence fragments
can be utilized to add more meaning to words or to convey a distinct tone. However,
sentence fragments should always be checked to ensure that they do not need to be
altered in order to convey a whole notion (Betts, 2020).