syntax

syntax

The study of sentence structures; it concerns the arrangement of words in sentences

phrase

a collection of words that have a grammatical relationship with eachother

clause

units of grammar that contain a subject and a verb

main clause

the part of the sentence that can stand alone as its own sentence

subordinate clause

the part of the sentence that cannot stand alone as its own sentence

subject

the noun/pronoun at the beginning of a clause. What the clause/sentence is mainly about.

object

the person or thing that has been acted upon

direct object

the person or object that is involved in the action

indirect object

the thing that is affected by the action but is not directly involved.

complement

a phrase that follows a linking verb (verbs that describe state) and provide additional information about the subject. eg They felt happy or The government was threatened due to the protests

adverbial

a single word, phrase or clause that provides extra information about an element, typically in relation to time, place, or manner, can be moved around in the sentence

sentence

a group of words that contains at least one main clause which may contain one or more other clauses.

coordination

uses coordinating conjunctions to combine clauses in sentences

subordination

uses subordinating conjunctions to change main clauses into subordinating clauses

simple sentence structure

contains a single main clause

compound sentence structure

contains two or more simple sentences. These sentences are joined together with a comma and a conjunction or a semicolon.

complex sentence structure

contains a single main clause and one or more subordinate clause.

compound complex sentence structure

contain two main clauses and at least one subordinate clause.

sentence fragments structure

groups of words that look like sentences but aren't because they are missing either a subject or a main verb.

declarative sentence types

a sentence that tells something

interrogative sentence types

a sentence that asks something

imperative sentence types

a sentence that tells someone to do something

exclamatory sentence types

a sentence that shows strong feeling

ellipses

removing words or phrases from an utterance to avoid unnecessary repetition

premodifiers (noun phrase)

words which give you information about a noun and are placed before said noun. can be determiners or adjectives

postmodifiers (noun phrase)

words which give you information about a noun and are placed after said noun. usually prepositional or adjectival phrases or relative clauses

intransitive verb

verbs that only require a subject and cannot take an object eg he slept, my dog smiled

transitive verb

verbs that require a subject and an object eg Adam hit Bill

ditransitive verb

verbs that require a subject and two objects eg I gave her the money. where I is the subject, the money is the direct object and her is the indirect object and gave is the verb

copular and catenative verbs

verbs like ‘am’ ‘be’ ‘seem’ or ‘become’ that usually require an adjective afterwards instead of a noun phrase eg I am happy

complex-transitive verb

sentence with a complement accompanying the object such as I find her annoying. usually used in formal texts

active sentences

have the agent as the subject eg Zach saw the ladybug where zach is both the subject and agent

passive sentences

have the patient as the subject eg the ladybug was seen by zach, the ladybug is the patient and subject

agent

the one doing the action

patient

has the action done to them

agentless passive sentences

similar to a regular passive but the agent is eliminated from the sentence entirely. eg the ladybug was seen.

parallelism

when two similar syntactic structures are repeated next to each other. can increase impact and memorability, evoke emotion etc

listing

a technique in which a user creates a sense of culmination or excess by going through a series of phrases

polysyndeton listing

multiple conjunctions between items of a list eg we need to pack up the chairs and tables and pens and books

asyndeton listing

no conjunctions present in the list eg i need to buy apples, pears, beef, bread.

antithesis

when two syntactic structures in parallel have opposite or antonymic meanings eg go big or go home