els-105-week-1-.pptx

ENGLISH SYNTAX  Syntax Any speaker of any human language can produce and understand an infinite number of possible sentences Thus, we can’t possibly have a mental dictionary of all the possible sentences Rather, we have the rules for forming sentences stored in ou...

ENGLISH SYNTAX  Syntax Any speaker of any human language can produce and understand an infinite number of possible sentences Thus, we can’t possibly have a mental dictionary of all the possible sentences Rather, we have the rules for forming sentences stored in our brains – Syntax is the part of grammar that pertains to a speaker’s knowledge of sentences and their structures  Syntax part of linguistics that studies the structure and formation of sentences. derived from the Greek word 'syntaxis' , meaning 'together' and 'sequence  What the Syntax Rules Do The rules of syntax combine words into phrases and phrases into sentences They also specify the correct word order for a language – For example, English is a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) language The President nominated a new Supreme Court justice *President the new Supreme justice Court a nominated They also describe the relationship between the meaning of a group of words and the arrangement of the words – I mean what I say vs. I say what I mean  What the Syntax Rules Do The rules of syntax also specify the grammatical relations of a sentence, such as the subject and the direct object – Your dog chased my cat vs. My cat chased your dog Syntax rules specify constraints on sentences based on the verb of the sentence *The boy found *Disa slept the baby *The boy found in the house Disa slept The boy found the ball Disa slept soundly Zack believes Robert to be a gentleman *Zack believes to be a gentleman Zack tries to be a gentleman *Zack tries Robert to be a gentleman  What the Syntax Rules Do Syntax rules also tell us how words form groups and are hierarchically ordered in a sentence “The captain ordered the old men and women off the ship” This sentence has two possible meanings: – 1. The captain ordered the old men and the old women off the ship – 2. The captain orderthe old men and the women of any age off the ship – 1. The captain ordered the [old [men and women]] off the ship – 2. The captain ordered the [old men] and [women] off the ship  Symbols and abbreviations [ ] - square brackets are used to indicate a subordinate clause at sentence level. //- slants are used to show subordinate clauses inside phrases (i.e. at phrase level). -indicates omission of a certain element.  Symbols and abbreviations - - indicates that the particular unit could be analysed further. -arrows indicate a general connection between two items - a kinked left-pointing arrow indicates the relation of a clause inside a phrase to the head of the phrase. Symbols and abbreviations indicates a relation of presupposition between two elements. indicates an implicative relation between two elements. indicates the negation or destruction of a former implicative relation.  Basic elements of grammatical structure grammatical categories of words known as word-classes or parts of speech What contrasts with structure is the idea of function (subject, object, etc.),  ‘parts of speech’ noun- is a word used to represent a thing, concept, place, or person pronoun: words that stand in for a noun verb- action word adjective -word that modifies or describes a noun or pronoun. adverb- word that can modify or describe a verb, adjective, another adverb  ‘parts of speech’ preposition- a word that connects a noun, a noun phrase, or a pronoun to another word, esp. to a verb, conjunction- is a word that connects or joins clauses, words, phrases together in a sentence interjection- an exclamatory word or phrase used to express an emotional reaction or to emphasize a thought.  Sentence function Interrogative Sentence (question) Interrogative sentences ask a question. They ask us something. They want information, and they always end with a question mark. (wh-word +) auxiliary + subject + verb... Positive Negative Do you like coffee? Don’t you like coffee?  Sentence function Imperative Sentence (command) Imperative sentences give a command. They tell us to do something, and they end with a full-stop/period (.) or exclamation mark/point (!). The usual word order for the imperative sentence is: base verb... Positive Negative Stop! Don’t stop!  Sentence function Exclamative Sentence (exclamation) Exclamative sentences express strong emotion/surprise—an exclamation—and they always end with an exclamation mark/point (!). The usual word order for the exclamative sentence is:  Types of Sentence declarative sentence is a sentence that conveys information; usually ends with a full stop/ period.  Sentence Function What (+ adjective) + noun + subject + verb How (+ adjective/adverb) + subject + verb Look at these examples: What a liar he is! What an exciting movie it was! How he lied! Sentence function