1. Syntax as a science. Syntactic rules.

From Greek syntaxis from syn (together) + taxis (arrangement); literally means “setting
out together” or “arrangement”.
Syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases, clauses, and
sentences in a language. It focuses on the word order of a language and the relationships
between words. 3) the way in which linguistic elements (as words) are put together to
form constituents (as phrases or clauses)
Syntactic structure certainly affects morphology, and morphology is one very important
way that syntactic structure is revealed. The main ideas to keep in mind to this point are:
• Language is a tool for communication; therefore, structural similarities among unrelated
languages can, in most cases, be attributed to common communicational functions.
• Languages can accomplish the same or similar communicative tasks by changing the
shapes of words (morphologically) or by changing how words are arranged
(syntactically).
1. the most typical order of the subject (S), verb (V) and object (O) in sentences such
as “The cat eats the mouse”. The most common orders are SVO (found in English,
Indonesian, Chinese, Spanish and thousands of other languages) and SOV (found
in Japanese, Persian, Hindi and Turkish among others). VSO is less common
(found in Standard Arabic and Irish), and the three other orders that put the object
before the subject are found in less than 5% of the world languages.
2. A single sentence should include one main idea. If a sentence includes two or
more ideas, it’s best to break it up into multiple sentences.
3. The form of a verb must agree with the subject in number and person. For
example, in English, we say "I am" and "you are," not "I are" or "you am."
4. Subordinate clauses (dependent clauses) also require a subject and verb. Below we
explain more about how to use subordinate clauses in sentence structure.
5. Adjectives and adverbs go in front of the words they describe. If there are multiple
adjectives describing the same noun, use the proper adjective order, known as the
“Royal Order.”
2. Types of phrases. Phrase structure rules.
Types of phrases
1. Noun phrases
Often a noun phrase is just a noun or a pronoun:
e.g, People like to have money.
I am tired.
But noun phrases can also include:

 determiners: Those houses are very expensive.

 quantifiers: I've lived in a lot of houses.
 numbers: My brother owns two houses.
 adjectives: I love old houses.
These parts of the noun phrase are called premodifiers because they go before the noun.
We use premodifiers in this order:
determiners and quantifiers > numbers > adjectives + NOUNS
e.g.
Determiners and Numbers Adjectives Nouns
quantifiers
The Six children
Our Young Children
six Young Chidren
These Six Young Children
Some Young Children
All those six Young Children
Their many young children

Other parts of a noun phrase go after the noun. These are called postmodifiers.
Postmodifiers can be:

 prepositional phrases:
a man with a gun
the boy in the blue shirt
the house on the corner

 –ing phrases :
the man standing over there
the boy talking to Angela

 relative clauses :
the man we met yesterday
the house that Jack built
the woman who discovered radium
an eight-year-old boy who attempted to rob a sweet shop

 that clauses. These are very common after nouns

like idea, fact, belief, suggestion:
He's still very fit, in spite of the fact that he's over eighty.
She got the idea that people didn't like her.
There was a suggestion that the children should be sent home.

 to infinitives :
I've got no decent shoes to wear.
These are very common after indefinite pronouns and adverbs:
You should take something to read.
I need somewhere to sleep.

There may be more than one postmodifier:

an eight-year old boy with a gun who tried to rob a sweet shop
that girl over there in a green dress drinking a Coke
Verb phrases
A Verb Phrase conducts the task of the verb.
Verb phrases in English have the following forms:

1. a main verb: We are here. I like it. Everybody saw the accident. We laughed.
2. the auxiliary verb be and a main verb in the –ing form: Everubody is (aux)
watching (-ing). We were(aux) laughing (–ing).
3. the auxiliary verb have and a main verb in the past participle form:
Everybody has (aux) worked (p.p) hard. He had(aux) finished (p.p) work.
4. a modal verb (can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would) and a
main verb: They will (modal) come. He might come.
5. the auxiliary verbs have and been and a main verb in the –ing form:
Everybody has been working hard. He had been singing.
6. a modal verb and the auxiliaries be, have and have been: They will be listening.
He might have arrived. She must have been listening.
7. the auxiliary verb be and a main verb in the past participle form: English is
spoken all over the world. The windows have been cleaned. Lunch was being
served. The work will be finished soon. They might have been invited to the party.
8. We can use the auxiliaries do and did with the infinitive for emphasis: It was a
wonderful party. I did enjoy it. I do agree with you. I think you are absolutely
right.
9. We can also use do for polite invitations: Do come and see us some time. There
will be lots of people there. Do bring your friends.

Examples of Verb Phrase

o I was singing a modern song yesterday.
o They were playing soccer.
o I was helping him to do the work.
o Jeff will go to watch the movie.
o I am writing articles on various topics.
o Dana is coming to participate in the program tomorrow.
o Bob will perform in the dancing contest.
o I sang different kinds of songs on the game show.
o We are going to the Cineplex to watch a movie.
o Alex will prepare the plan for the project.
o They were playing football in that field.
o The minister is coming to attend the program.
o The police are trying to find the criminal.
o The mother is taking her child to the school.
o Jeffry is going out for a vacation.
o Samantha will participate in the debate contest.
o Alana is waiting for the flight for a long time.
 Adjective phrases

An adjective phrase always has an adjective acting as the head. The adjective phrase
may also contain words or phrases before or after the head (modifiers and
complements)

Adjective (head):That’s a lovely cake.

These flowers are wonderful.
Adjective preceded by a modifier (underlined):
That soup is pretty cold.
Many of the exercises are fairly difficult.
Adjective + a modifier after it:
The food was tasty enough.
The car is economical for its size.
Adjective + a word or phrase which is required to complete its meaning (a complement):
She was aware of the danger of travelling alone.
Some people weren’t willing to pay extra to book a seat on the plane.
Adjective preceded by a modifier + a word or phrase which is required to complete its
meaning (a complement):
We’re not very keen on having an activity holiday.
Are you really interested in rock and roll?
Some adjective phrases have more complex structures.
Adverb phrase
An adverb phrases consists of one or more words. The adverb is the head of the phrase
and can appear alone or it can be modified by other words. Adverbs are one of the four
major word classes, along with nouns, verbs and adjectives.
In the examples the adverb phrases are in bold. The other words that modify the adverb
are underlined:
We usually go on holiday in August.
Time goes very quickly.
The day passed quickly enough.
This works really well for its size.
Luckily for us, the cost was not so high.
We kept the new money quite separately from what we’d already collected.
In general, these patterns are similar to adjective phrases.
Adverb phrases: types and meanings

An adverb phrase can consist of one adverb or an adverb plus other words before it
(premodification ) or after it (postmodification). Adverb phrases have many different
meanings.
In the examples the adverb phrases are in bold. The other words that modify the adverb
are underlined.
We walked very carefully across the floor. ( type – manner, tell how something happens)
Here is where I was born. That’s it. Right there. (type – place, tells where smth happens)
Dad got home very late. (type – time tells when something happens )
We use adverb phrases most commonly to modify verbs. In the examples the adverb
phrases are in bold. The verbs that they modify are underlined:
Children grow up really quickly.
I exercise very regularly and I eat quite healthily.

Adverb phrases + be
We use adverb phrases with be. This is especially typical of adverbs of place:
I’m upstairs. I’ll only be a minute.
A:
Have you seen my gloves?
B:
They’re right there, on the table.

Adverb phrases + adjectives/adverbs

We use adverb phrases (adv) to modify adjectives and other adverbs:
I found it extremely difficult to talk to her.
He drives really carefully.

Adverb phrases + other phrases

We use adverb phrases (adv) to modify noun phrases (np) and prepositional phrases:
That’s quite a tree. (it’s a tree that is special in some way, e.g. it’s very big)
There was hardly anyone at the concert.
We climbed right over the top of the hill and down again.

Adverb phrases + determiners

We use adverb phrases to modify determiners, especially words like all, some, half,
many (quantifiers):
Only half of my friends could come to my party.
Very few people have heard of my city. It’s very small.
3. Basic characteristics of word classes (lexical categories): Noun and its
morphological, syntactic and semantic properties.

The noun is the central lexical unit of language. It is the main nominative unit of speech.
As any other part of speech, the noun can be characterised by three criteria: semantic (the
meaning), morphological (the form and grammatical catrgories)
and syntactical (functions, distribution).

Semantic features of the noun. The noun possesses the grammatical meaning of
thingness, substantiality. According to different principles of classification nouns fall into
several subclasses:

1. According to the type of nomination they may be proper and common;

2. According to the form of existence they may be animate and inanimate. Animate
nouns in their turn fall into human and non-human.
3. According to their quantitative structure nouns can
be countable and uncountable.

This set of subclasses cannot be put together into one table because of the different
principles of classification.

Morphological features of the noun. In accordance with the morphological structure of

the stems all nouns can be classified into: simple, derived ( stem + affix, affix + stem
– thingness); compound ( stem+ stem – armchair ) and composite ( the Hague ). The
noun has morphological categories of number and case. Some scholars admit the
existence of the category of gender.

Syntactic features of the noun. The noun can be used un the sentence in
all syntactic functions but predicate. Speaking about noun combinability, we can say that
it can go into right-hand and left-hand connections with practically all parts of speech.
That is why practically all parts of speech but the verb can act as noun determiners.
However, the most common noun determiners are considered to be articles, pronouns,
numerals, adjectives and nouns themselves in the common and genitive case

4. Basic characteristics of word classes (lexical categories): Verb and its

morphological, syntactic and semantic properties. (mini-group answer)

Grammatically the verb is the most complex part of speech. First of all it performs the
central role in realizing predication - connection between situation in the utterance and
reality. That is why the verb is of primary informative significance in an utterance.
Besides, the verb possesses quite a lot of grammatical categories. Furthermore, within the
class of verb various subclass divisions based on different principles of classification can
be found.

Semantic features of the verb. The verb possesses the grammatical meaning of verbiality
- the ability to denote a process developing in time. This meaning is inherent not only in
the verbs denoting processes, but also in those denoting states, forms of existence,
evaluations, etc.
Morphological features of the verb. The verb possesses the following grammatical
categories: tense, aspect, voice, mood, person, number, finitude and phase. The common
categories for finite and non-finite forms are voice, aspect, phase and finitude. The
grammatical categories of the English verb find their expression in synthetical and
analytical forms. The formative elements expressing these categories are grammatical
affixes, inner inflexion and function words. Some categories have only synthetical
forms (person, number), others - only analytical (voice). There are also categories
expressed by both synthetical and analytical forms (mood, tense, aspect).

Syntactic features. The most universal syntactic feature of verbs is their ability to be
modified by adverbs. The second important syntactic criterion is the ability of the verb to
perform the syntactic function of the predicate. However, this criterion is not absolute
because only finite forms can perform this function while non-finite forms can be used in
any function but predicate. And finally, any verb in the form of the infinitive can be
combined with a modal verb.

5. Basic characteristics of word classes (lexical categories): Adjective and its

morphological, syntactic and semantic properties. (mini-group answer)

Adjectives are words expressing properties and characteristics of objects (e.g. blue,
simple, progressive, etc.) and, hence, qualifying nouns. Grammatically, four features are
generally considered to be characteristic of

adjectives:

1) their syntactic function of attributes;

2) their syntactic function of predicatives;

3) their taking of adverbial modifiers of degree (e.g. very);

4) their only grammatical category — the degrees of comparison.

Adjectives in English do not change for number or case.

Morphological Composition

Simple adjectives — old, kind, bad, good, etc.

Derived adjectives. Many adjectives are formed from other parts of speech by

adding different suffixes:

-able: comfortable; -ic: atomic;

-ible: visible; -ish: childish;

-ant: elegant; -ive: attractive;

-ent: dependent; -ful: careful;

-al: cultural; -less: careless;

-ly: brotherly, friendly; -ous: dangerous;

-y: dirty, sleepy

Some past participles ending in -ed (e.g. excited) and some present participles

ending in -ing (e.g. exciting) are used as adjectives. Common pairs of -ed/-ing adjectives
are: amazed / amazing; annoyed / annoying; bored / boring, enchanted / enchanting.

Compound adjectives. They are used with hyphens: grass-green, deaf-mute, blue-eyed;
long-legged; fair-haired.
Semantic Characteristics

Semantically adjectives can be divided into two groups.

1. Qualitative adjectives denote properties of a substance directly ― great, cold,

beautiful. According to their meaning they may be further differentiated as:

a) descriptive ― denoting a quality in a broad sense ― cold, light, wonderful;

b) limiting ― denoting a category, a section of a whole, a number, i.e. specifying the

substance (noun) ― the previous page, an equestrian statue, medical aid, the left
hand, several pages.

2. Relative adjectives describe properties of a substance through relation to

material: woollen, wooden, feathery; ― time: daily, weekly, monthly; place: Northern,
European, Italian; some action: defensive, preparatory.

Relative adjectives are limiting in their meaning.

Many adjectives reveal a descriptive or limiting meaning depending on the head-word or

the context.
Descriptive adjective Limiting adjective

little finger ― just a small finger little finger ― the last finger of a hand

fast actions fast train

foreign manners foreign languages

musical voice musical instrument

dramatic scene dramatic performance

Adjectives are also distinguished as gradable and non-gradable. Most adjectives are
gradable. That means that they can be modified by adverbs of degree and themselves
change for degrees of comparison. Non-gradable adjectives admit no comparison on
account of their meaning.

All dynamic adjectives are gradable. Most stative adjectives are gradable too. Non-
gradable adjectives are participle adjectives and adjectives describing origin, material,
type and purpose: perfect, unique, full, empty, square, round, wooden, upper.
The Position of Adjectives (Syntactic)

When we use more than one adjective before a noun, there is often a preferred order for
these adjectives. However, this order is not fixed: opinion + size/physical
quality/shape/age + colour + participle adjectives + origin + material + type + purpose
+ noun.

 an old plastic container (= age + material + noun)

 a hard red ball (= quality + colour + noun)

 a frightening Korean mask (= opinion + origin +noun)

 a round biscuit tin (= shape + purpose (for holding biscuits) + noun)

 a small broken plate (= size + participle adjective + noun)

 a useful digital alarm clock (= opinion + type + purpose + noun)

Note that there are a few adjectives which go before or after nouns and they change in
meaning according to their position:

This elect body meets once a year (specially chosen).

The president elect takes over in May (who has been elected).

George was late for the meeting (didn’t come in time).

The late George Brown was an outstanding musician (who is dead now).

Present employees number 3.000 (who work at present).

The employees present should vote on this (who participate in the meeting).
6. Basic characteristics of word classes (lexical categories): Adverb and its
morphological, syntactic and semantic properties. (mini-group answer)
Morphological: Adverbs vary in their structure. There are simple, derived, compound, and
composite adverbs

Simple adverbs are rather few, and nearly all of them display functional semantics,
mostly of pronominal character.

In derived adverbs the most common suffix is -ly, by means of which new adverbs are
coined from adjectives and participles. The characteristic adverbial prefix is a-.

Among the adverbs there are also peculiar composite formations and phrasal formations
of prepositional, conjunctional and other types. Compound adverbs are formed of two
stems. Composite phrasal adverbs consist of two or more word-forms.

Some authors include in the word-building sets of adverbs also formations of the
type from outside, till now, before then, etc.

The only pattern of morphological change for adverbs is the degrees of comparison. The
three grades are called positive, comparative, and superlative degrees

Adverbs that are identical in form with adjectives take inflections following the same
spelling and phonetic rules as for adjectives. Several adverbs ending in -ly (quickly,
loudly) form comparatives according to the same pattern, dropping their adverb-forming
suffix. These adverbs acquired the form in -ly only recently and retained the older forms
of the comparative and superlative.

However most disyllabic adverbs in -ly and all polysyllabic ones form the comparative
and superlative analytically, by means of more and most.
Syntactic features of the adverb

In accord with their categorial meaning, adverbs are characterised by a combinability

with verbs, adjectives and words of adverbial nature (Fig. 97). The functions of adverbs
in these combinations consist in expressing different adverbial modifiers.

Adverbs can also refer to whole situations; in this function they are considered under the
heading of situation-“determinants”.

Adverbs can also combine with nouns acquiring in such cases a very peculiar adverbial-
attributive function, essentially in post-position, but in some cases also in pre-position.

Some adverbs are restricted in their combinability whereas others may modify different
words.

Adverbs may function as adverbial modifiers of manner, place, time, degree to a finite or
non-finite form of the verb. Adverbs may also function as adverbial modifiers to an
adjective or another adverb. Usually the modifying adverb is an intensifier.

There are some adverbs which may modify nouns or words of nominal character,
functioning as attributes

Phrase is a small group of words standing together as a conceptual unit, typically forming a
component of a clause.