1.Basic syntactic notions.

The syntactic language level can be described with the help of special linguistic terms and
notions: syntactic unit, syntactic form, syntactic meaning, syntactic function, syntactic position,
and syntactic relations.

Syntactic unit is always a combination that has at least two constituents. The basic syntactic
units are a word-group, a clause, a sentence, and a text. Their main features are:

a) they are hierarchical units – the units of a lower level serve the building material for the units
of a higher level;

b) as all language units the syntactic units are of two-fold nature:

c) they are of communicative and non-communicative nature – word-groups and clauses are of
non-communicative nature while sentences and texts are of communicative nature.

Syntactic meaning is the way in which separate word meanings are combined to produce
meaningful word-groups and sentences. Green ideas sleep furiously. This sentence is quite
correct grammatically. However it makes no sense as it lacks syntactic meaning.

Syntactic form may be described as the distributional formula of the unit (pattern). John hits the
ball – N1 + V + N2.

Syntactic function is the function of a unit on the basis of which it is included to a larger unit: in
the word-group a smart student the word ‘smart’ is in subordinate attributive relations to the
head element. In traditional terms it is used to denote syntactic function of a unit within the
sentence (subject, predicate, etc.).

Syntactic position is the position of an element. The order of constituents in syntactic units is of
principal importance in analytical languages. The syntactic position of an element may determine
its relationship with the other elements of the same unit: his broad back, a back district, to go
back, to back sm.

Syntactic relations are syntagmatic relations observed between syntactic units. They can be of
three types – coordination, subordination and predication.

Syntactic relations.

The syntactic units can go into three types of syntactic relations.

1. Coordination (SR1) – syntagmatic relations of independence. SR1 can be observed on

the phrase, sentence and text levels. Coordination may be symmetric and asymmetric.
Symmetric coordination is characterized by complete interchangeability of its elements –
pens and pencils. Asymmetric coordination occurs when the position of elements is
fixed: ladies and gentlemen. Forms of connection within SR1 may be copulative (you
 and me), disjunctive (you or me), adversative (strict but just) and causative-consecutive
(sentence and text level only).
2. Subordination (SR2) – syntagmatic relations of dependence. SR2 are established
between the constituents of different linguistic rank. They are observed on the phrase and
sentence level. Subordination may be of three different kinds – adverbial (to speak
slowly), objective (to see a house) and attributive (a beautiful flower). Forms of
subordination may also be different – agreement (this book – these books), government
(help us), adjournment (the use of modifying particles just, only, even, etc.) and enclosure
(the use of modal words and their equivalents really, after all, etc.).
3. Predication (SR3) – syntagmatic relations of interdependence. Predication may be of
two kinds – primary (sentence level) and secondary (phrase level). Primary predication is
observed between the subject and the predicate of the sentence while secondary
predication is observed between non-finite forms of the verb and nominal elements
within the sentence. Secondary predication serves the basis for gerundial, infinitive and
participial word-groups (predicative complexes).

2. Definition and general characteristics of the word-group.

There are a lot of definitions concerning the word-group. The most adequate one seems to be the
following: the word-group is a combination of at least two notional words which do not
constitute the sentence but are syntactically connected. According to some other scholars (the
majority of Western scholars and professors B.Ilyish and V.Burlakova – in Russia), a
combination of a notional word with a function word (on the table) may be treated as a word-
group as well. The problem is disputable as the role of function words is to show some abstract
relations and they are devoid of nominative power. On the other hand, such combinations are
syntactically bound and they should belong somewhere.

General characteristics of the word-group are:

1) As a naming unit it differs from a compound word because the number of constituents in a
word-group corresponds to the number of different denotates:

a black bird – чорний птах (2), a blackbird – дрізд (1); a loud speaker (2), a loudspeaker (1).

2) Each component of the word-group can undergo grammatical changes without destroying the
identity of the whole unit: to see a house - to see houses.

3) A word-group is a dependent syntactic unit, it is not a communicative unit and has no

intonation of its own.

2. Classification of word-groups.

Word-groups can be classified on the basis of several principles:

1. According to the type of syntagmatic relations: coordinate (you and me), subordinate
(to see a house, a nice dress), predicative (him coming, for him to come),
2. According to the structure: simple (all elements are obligatory), expanded (to read and
translate the text – expanded elements are equal in rank), extended (a word takes a
dependent element and this dependent element becomes the head for another word: a
beautiful flower – a very beautiful flower).
2. Subordinate word-groups.

Subordinate word-groups are based on the relations of dependence between the constituents.
This presupposes the existence of a governing Element which is called the head and the
dependent element which is called the adjunct (in noun-phrases) or the complement (in verb-
phrases).

According to the nature of their heads, subordinate word-groups fall into noun-phrases (NP) – a
cup of tea, verb-phrases (VP) – to run fast, to see a house, adjective phrases (AP) – good for
you, adverbial phrases (DP) – so quickly, pronoun phrases (IP) – something strange, nothing
to do.

The formation of the subordinate word-group depends on the valency of its constituents.
Valency is a potential ability of words to combine. Actual realization of valency in speech is
called combinability.

2. The noun-phrase (NP).

Noun word-groups are widely spread in English. This may be explained by a potential ability of
the noun to go into combinations with practically all parts of speech. The NP consists of a noun-
head and an adjunct or adjuncts with relations of modification between them. Three types of
modification are distinguished here:

1. Premodification that comprises all the units placed before the head: two smart hard-
working students. Adjuncts used in pre-head position are called pre-posed adjuncts.
2. Postmodification that comprises all the units all the units placed after the head: students
from Boston. Adjuncts used in post-head position are called post-posed adjuncts.
3. Mixed modification that comprises all the units in both pre-head and post-head position:
two smart hard-working students from Boston.

Pre-posed
Post-posed adjuncts
adjuncts
Pronoun Adj.
Adj. Ven
N2 Ving
N`s prep.N2
Ven prepVing
Ving D
Num Num
D wh-clause, that-
clause

2. Noun-phrases with pre-posed adjuncts.

In noun-phrases with pre-posed modifiers we generally find adjectives, pronouns, numerals,

participles, gerunds, nouns, nouns in the genitive case (see the table). According to their position
all pre-posed adjuncts may be divided into pre-adjectivals and adjectiavals. The position of
adjectivals is usually right before the noun-head. Pre-adjectivals occupy the position before
adjectivals. They fall into two groups: a) lim iters (to this group belong mostly particles): just,
only, even, etc. and b) determiners (articles, possessive pronouns, quantifiers – the first, the
last).

Premodification of nouns by nouns (N+N) is one of the most striking features about the
grammatical organization of English. It is one of devices to make our speech both laconic and
expressive at the same time. Noun-adjunct groups result from different kinds of transformational
shifts. NPs with pre-posed adjuncts can signal a striking variety of meanings:

world peace – peace all over the world silver box – a box made of silver table lamp – lamp for
tables table legs – the legs of the table river sand – sand from the river school child – a child
who goes to school

The grammatical relations observed in NPs with pre-posed adjuncts may convey the following
meanings:

1. subject-predicate relations: weather change;

2. object relations: health service, women hater;
3. adverbial relations:

a) of time: morning star, b) place: world peace, country house, c) comparison: button eyes, d)
purpose: tooth brush.

It is important to remember that the noun-adjunct is usually marked by a stronger stress than the
head.

Of special interest is a kind of ‘grammatical idiom’ where the modifier is reinterpreted into the
head: a devil of a man, an angel of a girl.

6. Noun-phrases with post-posed adjuncts.

NPs with post-posed may be classified according to the way of connection into prepositionless
and prepositional. The basic prepositionless NPs with post-posed adjuncts are: Nadj. – tea
strong, NVen – the shape unknown, NVing – the girl smiling, ND – the man downstairs, NVinf
– a book to read, NNum – room ten.

The pattern of basic prepositional NPs is N1 prep. N2. The most common preposition here is ‘of’
– a cup of tea, a man of courage. It may have quite different meanings: qualitative - a woman of
sense, predicative – the pleasure of the company, objective – the reading of the newspaper,
partitive – the roof of the house.

2.Phrase definition

Term "phrase" - every combination of two or more words which is a grammatical unit but is not
an analytical form of some word (as, for instance, the perfect forms of verbs). The constituent
elements of a phrase may belong to any part of speech. For instance, they may both be nouns, or
one of them may be an adjective and the other a noun, or again one of them may be a verb and
the other a noun, or one may be a preposition and the other a noun; or there may be three of
them, one being a preposition, the other a noun, and the third a preposition, etc.

So phrases are sentence constituents. But phrases can be also treated as units built by combining words
outside the sentence: a man —an old man; old—very old.
The difference between a phrase and a sentence is a fundamental one. A phrase is a means of
naming some phenomena or processes, just as a word is. Each component of a phrase can
undergo grammatical changes in accordance with grammatical categories represented in it,
without destroying the identity of the phrase. For instance, in the phrase write letters the first
component can change according to the verbal categories of tense, mood, etc., and the second
component according to the category of number. Thus, writes a letter, has written a letter, would
have written letters, etc., are grammatical modifications of one phrase.

3.. The sentence.

It is rather difficult to define the sentence as it is connected with many lingual and extra lingual
aspects – logical, psychological and philosophical. We will just stick to one of them - according
to academician G.Pocheptsov, the sentence is the central syntactic construction used as the
minimal communicative unit that has its primary predication, actualises a definite structural
scheme and possesses definite intonation characteristics. This definition works only in case we
do not take into account the difference between the sentence and the utterance. The distinction
between the sentence and the utterance is of fundamental importance because the sentence is an
abstract theoretical entity defined within the theory of grammar while the utterance is the actual
use of the sentence. In other words, the sentence is a unit of language while the utterance is a unit
of speech.

The most essential features of the sentence as a linguistic unit are a) its structural characteristics
– subject-predicate relations (primary predication), and b) its semantic characteristics – it refers
to some fact in the objective reality. It is represented in the language through a conceptual
reality:

We may define the proposition as the main predicative form of thought. Basic predicative
meanings of the typical English sentence are expressed by the finite verb that is immediately
connected with the subject of the sentence (primary predication).

To sum it up, the sentence is a syntactic level unit, it is a predicative language unit which is a
lingual representation of predicative thought (proposition).

There is not only one definition of a sentence, there are several.

1. A sentence is a proposition expressed by words (something true). A proposition is the

semantic invariant of all the members of modal and communicative paradigms of
sentences and their transforms.
2. A sentence is a subject-predicate structure. So, a sentence is a structural scheme.
3. Phonological: a sentence is a flow of speech between 2 pauses.
The main peculiar features of the sentence are: integrity (целостность), syntactic independence,
grammatical completeness, semantic completeness, communicative completeness,
communicative functioning, predicativity, modality, intonational completeness.

Different approaches to the study of the

sentence.
a) Principal and secondary parts of the sentence.

b)Immediate constituents of the sentence. IC analysis.

To grasp the real structure of the English sentence, one must understand not only words that
occur but also the principles of their arrangement.

Each language has its own way of structural grouping. English has dichotomous phrase structure,
which means that the phrase in English can always be divided into two elements (constituents)
until we get down to the single word. All groups of words are arranged in levels. The name given
by linguists to these different levels of relationship is immediate constituents.

Thus, one way of analyzing a sentence is to cut it to its immediate constituents, that is, to single
out different levels of meaning:

It is obvious that dividing a sentence into ICs does not provide much information. Nevertheless,
it can sometimes prove useful if we want to account for the ambiguity of certain constructions. A
classic example is the phrase old men and women which can be interpreted in two different ways.
Ambiguity of this kind is referred to as syntactic ambiguity. By providing IC analysis we can
make the two meanings clear:

X p>

c) Oppositional analysis.

The oppositional method in syntax means correlating different sentence types: they possess
common features and differential features. Differential features serve the basis for analysis.
E.g. two member sentence :: one member sentence (John worked:: John! Work! Or: I speak
English :: I don’t speak English.

d) Constructional analysis.

According to the constructional approach, not only the subject and the predicate but also all the
necessary constituents of primary predication constitute the main parts because they are
constructionally significant. Therefore, the secondary parts of the sentence are sometimes as
necessary and important as the main ones. If we omit the object and the adverbial modifier in the
following sentences they will become grammatically and semantically unmarked: Bill closed the
door; She behaved well.

The structural sentence types are formed on the basis of kernels (basic structures). Three main
types of propositional kernels may be distinguished: N V, N is A, N is N. However, if we take
into account the valent properties of the verbs (their obligatory valency) the group will become
larger (8 kernels), e.g. N1 V N2 N3: John gave Ann the book, N1 V N2: I see a house.

The kernel sentences form the basis for syntactic derivation. Syntactic derivation lies in
producing more complex sentences

Syntactic processes may be internal and external. Internal syntactic processes involve no
changes in the structure of the parts of the sentence. They occur within one and the same part of
the sentence (subject, etc.). External syntactic processes are those that cause new relations within
a syntactic unit and lead to appearance of a new part of the sentence.

The internal syntactic processes are:

Expansion The phone was ringing Compression They were laughing

and ringing and singing
Contamination (two parts of the
Complication (a synt. unit becomes
sentence are joined together – e.g.
complicated) I have seen it – I
double predicate) The moon rose
could have seen it
red

Replacement – the use of the words that have a generalized meaning: one, do, etc, I’d like to take
this one.

Representation – a part of the syntactic unit represents the whole syntactic unit: Would you like
to come along? I’d love to. Ellipsis – Where are you going? To the movies.

The external syntactic processes are: Extension - a nice dress – a nice cotton dress.

Ajoinment - the use of specifying words, most often particles: He did it – Only he did it.

Enclosure – inserting modal words and other discourse markers: after all, anyway, naturally, etc.

4. The utterance. Informative structure of the utterance.

The utterance as opposed to the sentence is the unit of speech. The main categories of the
utterance from the point of view of its informative structure are considered to be the theme and
the rheme. They are the main components of the Functional Sentence Perspective (FSP) – actual
division of the sentence (most language analysts stick to the term “sentence” but actually they
mean “utterance”).

In English, there is a “standard” word order of Subject + Verb + Object: The cat ate the rat –
here we have a standard structure (N1 + V + N2). However, there are numerous other ways in
which the semantic content of the sentence can be expressed:

1. The rat was eaten by the cat.

2. It was the cat that ate the rat.
3. It was the rat that the cat ate.
4. What the cat did was ate the rat.
5. The cat, it ate the rat.

Which of these options is actually selected by the writer or the speaker will depend on the
context in which the utterance occurs and the importance of the information. One important
consideration is whether the information has already been introduced before or it is assumed to
be known to the reader or listener. Such information is referred to as given information or the
theme. It contrasts with information which is introduced for the first time and which is known as
new information or the rheme.

Informative structure of the utterance is one of the topics that still attract the attention of
language analysts nowadays. It is well recognized that the rheme marking devices are:

1. Position in the sentence. As a rule new information in English generally comes last: The
cat ate the rat.
2. Intonation.
3. The use of the indefinite article. However, sometimes it is impossible (as in 1): A
gentleman is waiting for you.
4. The use of ‘there is’, ‘there are’. There is a cat in the room.
5. The use of special devices, like ‘as for’, ‘but for’, etc.: As for him, I don’t know.
6. Inverted word order: Here comes the sun.
7. The use of emphatic constructions: It was the cat that ate the rat.

Classification of sentences according to the

purpose of utterance and according to their
structure.
1. According to structural features: simple and composite; two-member and one- member
sentences. Elliptical and one-member sentences: e.g. Marvelous! Horrible! How very
interesting! e.g. No birds singing at the dawn (Strong resemblance to 2 member
sentences). e.g. I saw him there. Yesterday (parselation).
2. According to the purpose of the utterance: declarative, interrogative, imperative,
exclamatory, ? optative. Prof.Ilyish: before dividing sentences into 3 classes we should
divide them into emotional and non-emotional and within emotional we can establish 4
classes.

The strictly declarative sentence immediately expresses a certain proposition, that is why the
actual division of the declarative sentence presents itself in the most developed and complete
form. The rheme of the declarative sentence makes up the center of some statement as such.
The strictly imperative sentence does not express any statement or fact, i.e. any proposition
proper. It is only based on a proposition, without formulating it directly. Namely, the proposition
underlying the imperative sentence is reversely contrasted against the content of the expressed
inducement. It is so because an urge to do something (i.e. affirmative inducement) is based on a
supposition that something is not done. An urge not to do something (i.e. negative inducement)
is founded on the supposition that something is done or may be done. E.g Don’t talk about them
(They talk about them). Thus, the rheme of the imperative sentence expresses the informative
nucleus not of an explicit proposition, but of an inducement – a wanted or unwanted action.

The actual division of the strictly interrogative sentences is uniquely different from declarative
and imperative sentences. It expresses an inquiry about information which the speaker does not
possess. Therefore the rheme of the interrogative sentence, as the nucleus of the inquiry, is
informationally open (gaping). Its function consists only in marking the rhematic position in the
response sentence and programming the content of the rheme in accord with the nature of the
inquiry. The thematic part of the answer is usually zeroed since it’s already expressed in the
question: e.g. How are you? – Fine, thanks.

Two-member and one-member sentences

A two-member sentence has two members – a subject and a predicate. For example:

Mary laughed.

In its turn a two-member sentence may be complete or incomplete. It is complete when it has a
subject and a predicate. It is incomplete when one of the principal parts or both of them are
missing but can be easily understood from the context. Such sentences are called elliptical and
are commonly used in colloquial speech. Ellipsis refers only to the structural elements of the
sentence, not the informational ones. This means that those words can be omitted, because they
have only grammatical, structural relevance, and do not carry any new relevant information.
There are several types of elliptical sentences.

1) Sentences without a word-form in the subject position.

Looks like rain. Don’t know anything about it.

2) Sentences without word-forms in the subject position and part of the predicate position. In
such cases the omitted part of the predicate may be either a) an auxiliary verb or b) a link verb.

a) Going home soon? See what I mean? Heard nothing about him lately.

b) Not bad. Free this evening?

3. Sentences without a word-form only in part of the predicate position, which may be an
auxiliary or a link verb. For example:

You seen them? Everything fixed? You sure? All settled.

4) Sentences without word-forms both in the subject and the predicate position. Such ellipses
occur in various responses.

What time does Dave come for lunch? - One o’clock.

What were you thinking about? - You.

5) Sentences without a word-form in the predicate position. Such ellipses occur only in replies to
questions.

Who lives there? - Jack.

What’s happened? - Nothing.

A two-member sentence may be unextended or extended.

Anunextended sentence contains two main positions of the basic pattern, that of the subject and
the predicate. For example:

Mary laughed. Mary is happy.

An extended sentence may contain variousoptional elements (including attributes, certain kinds
of prepositional objects and adverbial modifiers). For example,

John ran quickly to me. Mary laughed heartily at the joke.

Obligatory extending elements are those which complete the meaning of other words, usually
verbs, or pronouns, which without them make no or little sense. Therefore obligatory elements
are called complements.

John learned French. (the meaning of “learned” is incomplete without the object “French”)

John lives in London. (the meaning of “lives” is incomplete without an adverbial of place)

5.The utterance. Communicative and

pragmatic types of utterance.
communicative types of utterances: exclamatory, imperatives, interrogatives, declaratives.

Speech can be described as an act of producing voice through the use of the vocal cords and
vocal apparatus or other means, such as sign language, to create linguistic acts in the form of
language that communicate information from an initiator to a recipient. In more colloquial terms,
speech can be described in several different ways:

A linguistic act designed to convey information.

Various types of linguistic acts where the audience consists of more than one individual,
including public speaking, oration, and quotation.

The physical act of speaking, primarily through the use of vocal cords to produce voice. See
phonology and linguistics for more detailed information on the physical act of speaking.
However, speech can also take place inside one's head, known as intrapersonal communication,
for example, when one thinks or utters sounds of approval or disapproval. At a deeper level, one
could even consider subconscious processes, including dreams where aspects of oneself
communicate with each other (see Sigmund Freud), as part of intrapersonal communication,
even though most human beings do not seem to have direct access to such communication.

Charles Fries suggested classifying all the utterances not on the basis of their own semantics, but
on the kind of responses which they elicit, or according to their external characteristics. He
distinguished, first, utterances which are followed by oral responses (greetings, calls, questions,
etc.); second, utterances followed by action responses (requests or commands); and third,
utterances which elicit signals of attention to further conversation (statements); additionally, he
distinguished a minor group of utterances, which are not directed to any interlocutor in particular
and presuppose no response (“non-communicative utterances”, e.g., interjectional outcries).

Pragmatic utterance types performatives and constatives (representatives): performatives are

treated as utterances by which the speaker explicitly performs a certain act, e.g.: I surrender; I
pronounce you husband and wife; and constatives (representatives) as utterances by which the
speaker states something, e.g.: I am a teacher; constatives are further subdivided into minor
types, such as promissives (commissives), e.g.: I will help you; expressives, e.g.: How very sad!;
menacives, e.g.: I’ll kill you!, directives, e.g.: Get out!; requestives, e.g.: Bring the chalk, please;
etc.