Syntax

Sentence Patterns
Professor Dr Salah Mohammed
 Syntax

Syntax refers to the arrangement of words and

phrases to create well-formed sentences in a
language. In linguistics, syntax is the set of rules,
principles, and processes that govern the
structure of sentences in a language, usually
including word order. The term syntax is also
used to refer to the study of such principles and
processes.
 Word Classes
All words belong to categories called word classes (or parts of
speech) according to the part they play in a sentence. The main word
classes in English are listed below.
• Noun
• Verb
• Adjective
• Adverb
• Pronoun
• Preposition
• Conjunction
• Determiner
• Exclamation
 Word Classes (or parts of speech)

In English grammar, a word class is a set of

words that display the same formal properties,
especially their inflections and distribution. The
term "word class" is similar to the more
traditional term, part of speech. It is also
variously called grammatical category, lexical
category, and syntactic category.
 Lexical vs Function Classes
The two major families of word classes are
lexical classes (nouns, verbs, adjectives,
adverbs) and function classes (determiners,
particles, prepositions, and others).
 Form Classes and Structure Classes

The distinction between lexical and

grammatical meaning determines the
first division into: form-class words
and structure-class words. In general,
the form classes provide the primary
lexical content; the structure classes
explain the grammatical or structural
relationship.
 Configurational vs Non-configurational
Language
Different languages use different devices for showing the
relationship of one word to another. Most languages have
one or two favorite devices. The most common devices
are: word order and inflection
• A configurational language is a language that has a
rigid word order based on a specifically
ordered structure such as English.
• Non-configurational languages are languages
characterized by a flat phrase structure and a relatively
free word order such as Arabic, Latin, and French.
 Constituent Analysis
Sentences comprise smaller component
parts, i.e. constituents, which are combined
together into non-random ways that are
called sentence patterns.
The linguistic procedure which divides
sentences into their component parts or
constituents, by means of successive
substitution, is known as constituent analysis.
 Immediate Constituents Analysis
IC Analysis is a part of syntax which deals with
immediate constituents analysis that is the
process of analyzing units of a sentence or analysis
of a sentence into its immediate constituents.
It is a system of grammatical analysis that divides
sentences into successive layers, or constituents,
until, in the final layer, each constituent consists of
only a word or meaningful part of a word.
 Tree Diagrams
A tree diagram is an explanation technique used
to represent how sentences can be analyzed
into its constituents. Its branches resemble the
branches of an upside-down tree where
successive layers of constituents are shown.
In a tree diagram, a basic sentence type at the
top branches downwards in ever-increasing
complexity.
 Node
The advantage of a tree diagram is that it has
joins or nodes to make the whole construction
become clearer .
 Rewrite Rules
A rewrite rule is an alternative way of expressing
the information found on a tree diagram.
A rewrite rule is a replacement rule, in which the
symbol to the left of an arrow is replaced by an
expanded form written to the right of the arrow:
S –> NP VP
 Five Basic Components
There are five basic components (elements):
S = subject
V = verb
O = object
C = complement, and
A = adverbial
 7 Basic Sentence Patterns

The English language has seven basic sentence (or

clause) patterns. Examples are:
1. (SV) John laughed.
2. (SVA) John went upstairs.
3. (SVC) John is tall.
4. (SVO) John kissed Jane.
5. (SVOO) John gave Jane a present.
6. (SVOC) John made Jane angry.
7. (SVOA) John put the bag on the table.
 7 Sentence Patterns

1. (SV) Subject + Intransitive Verb

(The baby cried)
2. (S V O) Subject + Transitive Verb + Object
(John broke the window)
3. (SVOO) Subject + Transitive Verb + Indirect Object + Direct Object
(I gave Tom a book)
4. (SVOC) Subject + Transitive Verb + Object + Object Complement
(John made Mary sad)
5. (SVC) Subject + Intransitive Verb + Subject Complement
(My sister is a teacher)
6. (SVA) Subject + Intransitive Verb + Adverbial
(The boys are in the garden)
7. (SVOA) Subject + Transitive Verb + Object + Adverbial
(John put the book on the table)
 Syntactic Processes

There are THREE syntactic process that can

expand the English sentence. These are:
• Conjoining
• Embedding
• Recursion
• There is another process that can reshuffle
sentence constituents, movement.
 Conjoining
• Conjoining is the process in which two or more sub-sentences of
equal importance are attached together to form a single one. It is
the process of joining the clause or sentence using a coordinator
(and, but, or).

The president will understand.

The president will agree.
Conjoining:- The president will understand and agree.

Insects were in the bed.

Insects were on the bed.
Insects were under the bed.
Conjoining:- Insects were in, on and under the bed.
 Embedding
Embedding happens when a subordinate clause is
added or embedded into the main clause. It is the
process in which two or more subsidiary sentences
are inserted into one main sentence. In theory, a
sentence can have an indefinite number of
sentences embedded in it.
• The man sat next to you. The man is my elder brother.
• The man who sat next to you is my elder brother. (embedding)
• The boy broke the window. The boy is Tom.
• The boy who broke the window is Tom. (embedding)
 Recursion
Recursion is the possibility of repeatedly reusing
the same construction, so that there is no fixed
limit to the length of sentences.
This is the cat that killed the rat that was sold by
the old man who lived in the city that was on the
river.
 Movement
Movement is a syntactic process that reshuffles, deletes, or
rearranges substitutes sentence constituents. The movement process
are:
a) Reshuffling:
He pulled down the thief.
He pulled the thief down.
b) Deletion:
You close the window.
Close the window.
c) Rearrangement:
The door is white.
Is the door white?
d) Passive:
He was driving the car.
The car was being driven by him.