Van woord tot zin werkcolleges
Syntax is the structure of language. Units of syntactic description:
Smallest
Largest
morpheme
Word
Phrase
Clause
sentence
A Sentence is one or more clauses
A clause is one or more phrases/ clauses
A phrase is one or more words/phrases
A word is one or more morphemes
Free morphemes can occur on their own. Bound morphemes cannot occur on their own, they must be
bound/ attached to a free morpheme. Another word for a bound morpheme is an affix
Bound morphemes:
- Inflection affixes: plural, genitive, past tense, comparative. Don’t change in meaning. They are
always a suffix.
- Derivational: turn a word into a new word, often of a different class. Prefix or suffix.
Morphological aspect of a
noun:
- Can take a plural
- Can be genitive
- Ity, ness
Morphological aspect of an
adjective
- Comparative
- -ly, but that could
also be an adverb
- -ful
Morphological aspect of a
verb
- Inflectional: tense –
ed
- Lexical verb: -s
Distributional aspects of
nouns:
- Definite/ indefinite
article
- Adjective between
determinator and
noun
- Prepositions
Distributional aspects of
adjectives
- Between
determinator and
nounw
- After the copular
verb
Distributional aspects of a
verb
- After subject
- Agreement between
subject and verb
Predicator: all the verbal forms
Adjuncts: wh… questions
h…. questions
There are only three non-finite forms:
- Infinitive
- Present participle
- Past participle
In any clause there can never be more than one finite form. In any clause there can never be more
than one lexical verb. A clause can either be finite or non-finite but a main clause must be finite.
Modal auxiliaries are always followed by infinitives. If a predicator consists of more than one verb
form, the first one is the finite and the lexical comes last.
Definite articles by definition indicate an NP and there can be restrictions on complements for
certain verbs.
Maximum projection: Words only function in a sentence as phrases; only phrases have a meaning.
Premodifying adjectives
Evaluative
size
color
Subjective
shape -ing
Emotional
age
material
nationality
noun
A constituent within a constituent is usually a complement and if you want to check whether it’s an
adjective: they are mobile in a sentence, a complement is not.
A transitive verb takes at least one subject or direct object, whereas an intransitive verb does not
take a subject/ direct object.
Examples of a ditransitive verb: tell, show, give, send, offer, refuse.
A complex transitive: object + object complement such as consider, put away, to call someone
something. There are some verbs that can be both transitive and intransitive: melt, change, slam.
Prepositional verbs:
A preposition that is attached to a verb and cannot be moved in a sentence, there’s stress on the
verb, instead of on the preposition and therefore it can’t be separated.
If the PP starts with/ involves “of” it can be a complement but not an adjunct. A complement is
selected by the head and an adjunct is not.
A non- finite clause is always a subclause. If a subclause is finite, you always have something in the
beginning, telling you that this is the beginning of a subclause, most of the time a complementizer.
For example “that”, there’s also subordinates such as because etc… Matrix clauses do not need such
a signpost.
Don’t confuse the different meanings of that. It can also be a demonstrative pronoun: this, that,
these etc…
Copular verbs: turn, seem, get (in some cases) be, become, remain, see.
A complex sentence contains at least one embedded clause.
All auxiliaries have NICE properties. NICE is an acronym that stands for:
Negation, Inversion, Code and Emphasis.
Negation simply means that auxiliaries can be followed by the word not, as in: Harry must
not go out or Mabel cannot swim. In speech the word not is often taken enclitically, as in: Harry can't
cook, or John mustn't smoke so much.
By Inversion we mean the possibility of changing the order of the subject of the sentence and the
auxiliary, for instance in questions, or when the sentence starts with a negative adverb, as in: Can
you stay for dinner? or Never had I seen such beauty.
Code refers to the following. Normally, auxiliaries cannot occur on their own in sentences, but need
to be accompanied by a lexical verb: *I must home  I must go home. However, in certain short
sentences, called tags, a part, including the lexical verb, is left out because it can be inferred from the
preceding context. In these cases we say that the auxiliary codes that information
Emphasis means that there is a finite form of to be that is not necessary but is only there to
emphasize something. Examples are: Do be careful, John! And Oh, he does have nice eyes.
English
Sentence
Clause
Main, matrix, or independent clause
Subclause, subordinate, or dependent clause
Subject
Predicate
Direct Object
Indirect Object
Subject complement
Object complement
Prepositional object/complement
Adverbial (Adjunct)
Phrase
Head
Specifier
Complement
Adjunct
Lexical categories
Noun
Verb
Copula
Adjective
Adverb
Preposition
Postposition
Functional (=grammatical) categories
Inflection
Complementizer, Conjunction
Determiner
Article
Case
Voice: active or passive
Tense: present or past
Aspect
Mood
Finite
Non-finite
Infinitive
–ing participle, present participle
–ed participle, past participle
Simple sentence
Complex sentence
Coordination
Subordination
Dutch
Zin
Hoofd- of bijzin
Hoofdzin
Bijzin
Onderwerp, subject
Gezegde, predicaat
Lijdend voorwerp
Meewerkend voorwerp
Naamwoordelijk deel van het gezegde
Bepaling van gesteldheid
Voorzetselvoorwerp
Bijwoordelijke bepaling
Woordgroep
Hoofd
Specificeerder
Complement
Bepaling
Lexicale categorieën
Zelfstandig naamwoord, nomen
Werkwoord, verbum
Koppelwerkwoord
Bijvoeglijk naamwoord, adjectief
Bijwoord, adverbium
Voorzetsel
Achterzetsel
Functionele (grammaticale) categorieën
Vervoeging, verbuiging, inflectie
Voegwoord
Determinator
Lidwoord
Naamval
Bedrijvende of lijdende vorm
Tijd: tegenwoordig of verleden
Aspect
Modus
Finiet (finiet werkwoord = persoonsvorm)
Infiniet
Infinitief, heel werkwoord
Tegenwoordig deelwoord
Voltooid deelwoord
Enkelvoudige zin
Samengestelde zin
Nevenschikking, coördinatie
Onderschikking