A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SYNTACTICAL

THEORY

BY:
Aprida Simbolon 17120272
The Understanding of Syntax

Syntax is the part of grammar that represents a speaker’s

knowledge of these structures and their formation, in other words
syntax is the study of sentence patterns of language. In linguistics,
syntax refers to the rules that govern the ways in which words
combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. The aim of this
study is how to show you what syntactic structure is and what the
rules that determine syntactic structure are like.

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 The Analysis of Syntactical Theory

Is the process of analyzing a string of symbols, either in

natural language and conforming to the rules of a formal
grammar.
 

 Traditional Analysis (word class rules)

A traditional grammar is a framework for the description of

the structured of language traditional grammar may be
constrasted with more modern theories of grammar in
theoritical analysis.
 

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 Transformational Generative Grammar
Transformational generative grammar
theory was presented by Noam For example, transformational grammar relates the
Chomsky. This theory is about active sentence “John read the book” with its
structure of sentece in a language. corresponding passive, “The book was read by John.”
According to Chomsky his gramar is The statement “George saw Mary” is related to the
generative : a basic or simple corresponding questions, “Whom [or who] did George
sentence can be transformed into a see?” and “Who saw Mary?” Although sets such as
number of sentence with either the these active and passive sentences appear to be very
same or different meeting. different on the surface (i.e., in such things as word
order), a transformational grammar tries to show that in
the “underlying structure” (i.e., in their deeper relations
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to one another), the sentences are very similar.
 
Word classes

Modern grammars normally recognise four

major word classes (verb, noun, adjective,
adverb) and five other word classes
(determiners, preposition, pronoun, conjunction,
interjection), making nine word classes (or
parts of speech) in total. But note that some
grammarians use different systems and may
recognise eight or ten different word classes.
Verbs
Verbs are action or state words like: run, work, study, be, seem
Adjectives
Adjectives are words that decribe nouns, like: kind, clever,
expensive.
Adverbs
Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives or other
adverbs, like: quickly, back, ever, badly, away generally,
completely
Prepositions
Prepositions are words usually in front of a noun or pronoun
and expressing a relation to another word or element, like:
after, down, near, of, plus, round, to
Pronouns
Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns, like:
me, you, his, it, this, that, mine, yours, who, what. It
can be divided into six types, they are:

 
 
1. Reflexsive Pronouns
reflexsive pronouns these show identify “self”;
myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves, itself,
themselves.
Examples:
John bakes all the bread himself.
The cat opened the door itself.
2. Indefinite Pronouns
Unlike demonstrative pronouns, which point out
specific items, indefinite pronouns are used for non-
specific things. This is the largest group of pronouns.
All, some, any, several, anyone, nobody, each,
both, few, either, none, one, and no one are the most
common.

Examples:
Several students must have seen the driver leave.
(Several is not a specific person.)
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at
the stars.
 4. Personal Pronouns
3. Interrogative Pronouns The personal pronouns are I, you, he, she, it, we,
Interrogative pronouns are used in questions. they, and who. More often than not (but certainly not
Although they are classified as pronouns, it is always), they replace nouns representing people.
not easy to see how they replace nouns. Who, When most people think of pronouns, it is the personal
which, what, where, and how are all pronouns that usually spring to mind.
interrogative pronouns.
Examples:
Examples: We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on
Who told you to do that? the curb and clap as they go by.
Which dog won the race? I bought some batteries, but they weren't included.
(Comedian Steven Wright)

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5. Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns are used to show
possession. The possessive pronouns are
mine, yours, his, hers, ours, and theirs. 6. Relative Pronouns
Relative pronouns are used to add more information to
Examples: a sentence. Which, that, who (including whom and
The tickets are as good as ours. whose), and where are all relative pronouns.
Shall we take yours or theirs?
Examples:
Dr Adam Sissons, who lectured at Cambridge for more
than 12 years, should have known the difference.

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 Interjections
Interjections have no grammatical value - words like:
ah, hey, oh, ouch, um, well

Nouns
Nouns are words for people, places or things like:
mother, town, Rome, car, dog. There are several
different types of noun, as follows:

1. Common noun
A common noun is a noun that refers to people or
things in general, e.g. boy, country, bridge, city, birth,
day, happiness.
2. Concrete noun
A concrete noun is a noun which refers to people and
to things that exist physically and can be seen,
touched, smelled, heard, or tasted. Examples include
dog, building, coffee, tree, rain, beach, tune.
 

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 3. Common noun
A common noun is a noun that refers to people
or things in general, e.g. boy, country, bridge,
city, birth, day, happiness.

4. Abstract noun
An abstract noun is a noun which refers to ideas,
5. Proper noun qualities, and conditions - things that cannot be seen or
A proper noun is a name that identifies a touched and things which have no physical reality, e.g.
particular person, place, or thing, e.g. Steven, truth, danger, happiness, time, friendship, humour.
Africa, London, Monday. In written English,
proper nouns begin with capital letters.

6. Collective nouns
Collective nouns refer to groups of people or things,
e.g. audience, family, government, team, jury.

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