Introduction of Syntax
Moh. Firmansyah, S.Pd., M.Pd
FORM, LANGUAGE LANGUAGE INTERDICIPLINARY
MEANING, UNITS SCIENCE VIEW
FUNCTION
SEMANTICS
SENTENCE SYNTAX
FORM/
LOGICAL
MEANING
MORPHEME MORPHOLOGY LINGUISTICS
FORM PHONEME PHONOLOGY
The Definition of Syntax
The study of the internal structure of sentence: How to
put together words to form sentence
The part of the grammar that represents a speaker’s
knowledge of sentences and their structure
The process of how the sentence is arranged
Head and Modifiers
Two central ideas:
1. Certain relationships hold between words
a. Head : one word that controls the other words.
b. Modifiers : the other words that modify the head.
2. Words are grouped into phrases and that groupingstypically bring
together heads and their modifiers.
A given head may have more than one modifier, andmay have no
modifier.
In Phrases : every phrase contains a head and possibly, but un necessarily, one
or more modifiers. Example:
(1) a barked loudly. (with 1 modifier)
head modifier
Head : barked (verb)
Modifier: loudly (adverb)
b. The large dog (with 2 modifiers)
modifier 1 modifier 2 head
Head : dog (noun)-
Modifiers : the (d eterminer; definite article), large (adjective)
In Clauses : Each clause has a head, the verb
Example:(2) Mr. Elton delivered a charade to Emma for a friend.
modifier 1 head modifier 2 modifier 3 modifier 4-
Head : delivered (verb)
Modifiers: Mr. Elton (noun), a charade (direct object), to Emma(indirect object),
for a friend (preposition phrase)
Head: convey a central piece of information.
Modifiers : convey extra information.
Example:
a. expensive books
modifier head
b. the expensive books
modifier 1 modifier 2 head
Meaning:- the head word books indicates the very large set of things that
count as books.
The modifier expensive indicates that the speaker is drawing attention not to
the whole set but to the subset of books that are expensive.
The word the in (b) signals that the speaker is referring to a set of books which
have already been mentioned or are otherwise obvious in a particular context.
Examples: My mother bought a present for Jeanie in Jenners last Tuesday.
Description
Head bought (verb)
The verb bought controls all other phrases in the clause. It requires a human
noun to its left (i.e., mother and requires a noun to its right that denotes
something concrete (i.e. a present
present Modifiers
:=> obligatory (complements): my mother, a present => optional (adjuncts):
for Jeanie, in Jenners, last Tuesday
Part of Speech
The most common parts of speech are
nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and
prepositions.
Parts of speech tell us how a word is going
to function in the sentence.
Determining part of speech
The Problem of Traditional Definitions
A noun is a “person, place, or thing,” or that a verb is
“an action, state, or state of being.”
Eight Main Groups of Function Words
1. Noun Determiners
the, a/an, my, her, their…,that/this
one, two…,some, all, many, few, other, more……
2. Auxiliaries
can, may, could, will, would, shall, should, need, do, be,
have, be going to….
3. Qualifiers
Very, quite, rather, a little, so, more, most, less, enough,
too, …
4. Preposition
- simple: after, around, before, …
- Compound: back of, due to, together with..
- Phrasal: by means of, in front of,
on account of,…
5. Coordinators
and, not, but, nor, rather than, either, Neither
6. Interrogators
- simple: when, where, how, why
- Interrogative Pronoun: who, what, which,whoever, whatever
7. Includers
- Simple: after, although, how, since,…
- Relative Pronoun: who, which, that, when,
etc
8. Sentence-linkers
- Simple: consequently, furthermore, hence
- Phrasal: at least, in addition, in fact, etc
