Contents of this document: Words - Parts of Speech - The Tenses and Aspects of English - Phrases - Clauses - Sentences
The domain of language called 'syntax' covers the structure of phrases, clauses, and sentences, as well as the functions these units carry out in language. The job of syntax in language is to provide us with patterns for putting words together into larger constructions (such as phrases), which in turn form building blocks for yet larger constructions (such as clauses and sentences). The reason we want to be able to put words together in language is in order to make the meanings of those words blend. Words stand for concepts or ideas in our mind, which we have extracted from our experience of the world. Syntax allows us to 'mix and match' the words so that their meanings also 'mix and match'. Our language provides us, for example, with two separate words 'blue' and 'sky'. When we want the meanings of these two words to combine, for instance to describe the clear weather in our location to a friend in a distant location, we can put the words together — 'blue sky' as part of message describing the weather conditions to our friend.
It is very important in syntax to distinguish between what kinds of units act as building blocks in syntax, on the one hand, and the particular roles these building blocks play in larger syntactic constructions. The table below sets out three kinds of information: the linguistic terms for the units that appear in sentences (word, phrase, clause, sentence); the linguistic terms for different classesor categories of those units (a noun (= N) is a kind of word, a NP (noun phrase) is a kind of phrase, etc.). The third column lists the functions that these different units play in building sentences; these functions are based on meaning relationships among the units, and uses that the units are put to in communication.
Units of syntactic structure (building blocks
of phrases, clauses, and sentences):
| Unit type | Form | Functions (roles in building larger syntactic units) |
| word | Noun, Verb, Adjective, etc. | -building block for a phrase
-roles in phrases: head, modifier |
| phrase | Noun Phrase, Verb Phrase,
Adjective Phrase, etc. |
-building block for a clause
or phrase
-roles in other phrases: modifier of head, complement of head -roles in clauses: subject, direct object, indirect object, adverbial, object complement, subject complement, etc. |
| clause | -finite, nonfinite
-independent (main), dependent (subordinate) |
-building block for a sentence
or phrase
-clauses may take the roles of phrases within phrases (modifier, for example) -a clause may take a role that a phrase usually takes within another clause (e.g., subject or direct object) -a dependent clause may modify a main clause |
| sentence | consists of at least one finite clause | -asserts a fact/belief,
asks a question, gives a command,
etc. |
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