What is syntax?

Write a short essay on how syntax started and became

a sub-branch in linguistics. Talk about some of the main authors and the
basics of syntax.

What is syntax?

Syntax is a form of grammar concerned mainly with word order and with
the agreement of words when they are used together in a sentence. It is
the proper construction of the sentence.

Merriam webster defines syntax as following:

a. the way in which linguistic elements (such as words) are put together
to form constituents (such as phrases or clauses) and the part of
grammar dealing with this.
b. a connected or orderly system: harmonious arrangement of parts or
elements

simply, the syntax is the branch of the linguistics which tells us which is
the right order of the different words for example:

1. Nouf coffee drinks.

2. Drinks coffee Nouf.
3. Nouf drinks coffee.
4. Coffee drinks Nouf.
5. Coffee Nouf drinks.

Here above we have only one right sentence, which is syntactically

right, this right sentence is number 3. Definitely, it has the right order
for the subject (S), verb (V) and the object (O) and the rest sentences
are absolutely wrong. Also, we have a singular subject so the verb has
to be with singular ‘s’ (drinks). This refers to another importance and
definition of syntax as a tool used in writing right grammatical
sentences.

The history of syntax:

The word "syntax" comes from the Greek, which means "arrange
together." It is also used to mean the study of the syntactic properties
of a language. Syntax In computer contexts, refers to the right ordering
of symbols and codes to enable the computer to understand
instructions without confusion.

For centuries, grammaire générale , in 1660 by Antoine Arnauld , this is

the first work to expose to the syntactic rules , in which the author said
that there is a single natural way to express an idea.

In the 19th century, linguists began to realize the variety of human

language and the relationship between the language and logic.

Moreover, the main role of syntax became clear only in the 20th
century and many of syntactic theories have emerged.

So, the study of language and linguistics has been emerged long time
ago there are many branches of linguistics as following:

Syntax is One of the oldest branches of linguistics is the study of

organization and formation of the sentence and its basic elements
(subject – verb – object) which we named syntax.

Phonetics - the study of sounds in their physical aspects.

Phonology - the study of speech sounds in their cognitive aspects.

Morphology - the study of the formation of words.

Syntax - the study of the formation and organization of sentences.

Semantics - the study of meaning.

Pragmatics - the study of language use.

Main syntax authors

There are many authors who are interested in writing about syntax as a
branch of linguists. Noam Chomsky is one of the most common linguists
who has been studying and writing about syntax. In his book, Aspects of
the Theory of Syntax he tries to discover of the productivity of language,
he confirms that a countless infinite number of sentences can be
produced by any normal human being. He points that any human being
must have a rule system in their head that is able to form that infinite
number of sentences.

Many linguistics consider Chomsky and his work to be the cornerstone of

modern syntactic theory.

David Adger is also a famous modern author who wrote ‘Core Syntax: A
Minimalist Approach’, it is a good work to start learning about generative
grammar. This book helps language’s learners to know adequate amount
of knowledge about the main information about syntax, it is really suitable
for beginners
Some basics of syntax:

 The man drove his car quickly.

 The man quickly drove his car.
 quickly, the man drove his car.

All above sentences are correct and acceptable in English, so by

rearranging just one word in the sentence, a different syntax is formed.

There are four types of syntactic sentences in English:

1.Simple sentences: contains subject – verb and object

 He runs.
 I ate fish.
 They read a book.
2.Compound sentences: more than one subject or verb.
 My brother watched a film and I read a book
 We will not go to the mall but we will go to the park.
3.Complex sentences: contain a subordinating clause.
 The man drove his car quickly though he was nervous.
 Because she studied hard, she succeeded.
4.Compound-complex sentences: contain two independent clauses
and more dependent clauses.
 Although he was nervous, the man drove his car quickly and he
didn’t care.
 The girl succeeded and her brother failed because she studied but he
didn’t.
Subject/predicate:

All sentences refer to something or someone. The subject who does

something and the predicate contains information about the someone or
something that is the subject

 Nouf often comes late to class.

 My friend and I both have a car.
 Lying on the sofa watching old films is my favorite hobby.
 On Saturdays I never get up before 9 o'clock.
 The teacher gave me a pen as a present.

Red words are the subject and we can notice that it can come at the first
and in the middle of the sentence and it can be a single word and a
collection of words.

Underlined word is predicate because they contain information about

someone or something which is the doer or the subject of the sentence.

Subject verb agreement: Subjects and verbs must agree in number.

 If the subject is singular, the verb must be singular too:

o She writes every day.
 If the subject is plural, the verb must also be plural:
o They write every day.
 Two or more subjects take plural:
o Sarah and Nouf are friends (not is)
 If a clause or a phrase comes in the middle of a sentence between
two commas the verb agrees with the main subject.
o Nouf, as well as his friends, is excited.
 each, each one, either, neither, everyone, everybody, anyone,
anybody, nobody, somebody, someone, and no one are singular and
require a singular verb.
o Each of the participants is ready.
o Neither of them was accepted.
o I will offer a $5 gift card to everybody who participates in
the study.
o No one was available to meet with me at the preferred
times.
 Noncount nouns take a singular verb.
o Education is the key to success.
 Collective nouns are words are considered singular and take a
singular verb. group, team, committee, family, and class.
o The group meets every week.
o The committee agrees on the quality of the writing.