LANE 334 -EA: Syntax

2011 – Term 2

By:

Dr. Shadia Y. Banjar

http://SBANJAR.kau.edu.sa/

http://wwwdrshadiabanjar.blogspot.com

Constituency

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• According to Syntax the component parts of a sentence are called CONSTITUENTS Which are the natural grouping of a sentence.

Each of them has:

• a formal CATEGORY (Whether it is a noun phrase, a verb phrase, etc)

and …

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and …

• a grammatical FUNCTION (whether it is the subject, or object, or predicate, etc)

Intuitively, we feel that certain words in a sentence are

grouped together:•The young student met his friend in the local library after lunch.

A unit A unit

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A unit

Both met and friend are next to his, but our intuition is that they are different in whether they form a unit with it.

Grammatical

sentence

Grammatical Units

Grammatical Units

Clause

phrase

Word

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Sentences are:1.Simple,2.Compound3.Complex

Sentences

3.Complex4. Compound-Complex

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Clauses are:1.Main clauses (independent clauses)2.Subordinate clauses

Clauses

2.Subordinate clauses

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There are these kinds of phrase: 1.verb phrase, 2.noun phrase,

Phrases

2.noun phrase, 3.adjective phrase,4.adverb phrase, and 5.prepositional phrase.

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The main word classes are: 1. verb, 2. noun, 3. adjective,

Word classes

3. adjective, 4. adverb, 5. preposition,6. determiner, 7. complementizer, and 8. conjunction.

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Sentence Types• Simple– One INDEPENDENT CLAUSE in a subject-verb pattern:

• We cancelled the order last week.

• Compound– Two or more independent clauses

– no dependent clauses

– Coordination takes place:

[s1[s2] coord [s3]]– Note: A comma and a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS) must be used to connect

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– Note: A comma and a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS) must be used to connect the sentences.

•Bill cooked dinner, and I did the dishes, but Susan helped not at all!

• Complex– One independent clause with one or more dependent clauses.

– Subordination takes place:

[s1[s2 subord ]]

• Although Bill and I cooked dinner and did the dishes, Susan helped not at all.

– Note: The use of a comma is required with the dependent clause comes first in the sentence.

• Compound-Complex

- A mixed type of sentences

- consists of multiple independent clauses, at least one of which has at least one dependent clause.

- Have (Coordinators and subordinators)

- Coordination of subordinated clauses take place:

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If your order has not been shipped within 30 days,

we will notify you of this delay by e-mail, and you

will have the option to cancel your order.

When you receive a promotional code, enter it on

your order, but only one promotional code may be

used for each order.

A constituent is formed if…

1) Constituents can stand alone

• e.g. “What did you find?” “A puppy” (not “found a”)

√

2) Constituents can be replaced by one word.

• e.g. “Where did you find a puppy?” “I found it in the

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• e.g. “Where did you find a puppy?” “I found it in the

park.”

3) Constituents move together.

• e.g. It was [a puppy] that the child found.

• e.g. [A puppy] was found by the child.

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