Syntactic Structure of Phrases and Main Clauses – Quick Notes

What is syntax?

  • Definition: study of how words are organized into phrases and clauses (sentence structure); languages vary in organization; strong link to morphology (morphosyntax). Useful for analyzing clients’ language in clinical practice.

  • Key outcome: understand how syntax interacts with form and meaning for quick assessment and intervention.

Phrases and clauses: overview

  • Phrases: groups of words that function as a unit; consist of a head and zero or more dependents.

  • Clause: sequence of words with a verb that can stand alone as a simple sentence; clauses contain phrases and have specific functions.

  • English tends to be SVO order; phrases nest inside each other to build larger structures.

  • SVOCA: the typical functional roles in clauses — Subject, Verb, Object, Complement, Adverbial.

  • Head-driven: the head word of a phrase determines its category; dependents attach to the head.

  • Three kinds of dependents: Complement, Modifier, Specifier.

Phrase structure: key types

  • NP (Noun Phrase): head is a noun; may have Det (determiner), AdjP (adjective phrase), PP (prepositional phrase) as modifiers/complements.

  • AdjP: headed by an adjective; may include AdvP (adverb) modifying the adjective.

  • AdvP: headed by an adverb; may include modifiers.

  • PP: headed by a preposition; its complement is usually an NP (or another PP); often indicates place/time.

  • VP (Verb Phrase): headed by a verb; may include AdvP, NP/PP/AdjP as complements, and pre-head/post-head modifiers; can include auxiliaries and modals.

  • Determiners, pre-head modifiers, modifiers, complements, and specifiers interact to form full phrases.

Head and dependents: the rule

  • Phrase = Head + Dependents

  • ext{Phrase} = ext{Head} + ext{Dependents}

  • Dependents attach to the head; a phrase can be a single head word (head alone) or expand with dependents.

  • Phrases can be nested; complex structures arise from layering phrases inside phrases.

Noun Phrase (NP) details

  • NP is headed by a noun; may include Det, AdjP, PP, and pronouns can act as NPs.

  • Optional elements: Determiner (Det) is optional; NP → (Det) N with possible AdjP, PP, etc.

  • Example: The avid reader of books in the cafe (head = reader).

  • Substitution and transposition: NP can be replaced by a pronoun (The girl ran → She ran). NP can be moved in a sentence (Across the field ran the girl).

  • Specifiers in NP include determiners and possessives; possessive determiners function as specifiers in DetP structures.

Modifiers and complements in NP

  • Complements are required by the head to complete meaning (e.g., reader of books; “of books” complements reader).

  • Modifiers are optional (AdjP, AdvP, PP) and can occur before or after the head depending on type.

  • Specifier role often involves determiners or possessives in NP structure.

  • Order constraints: when both a complement and a modifier occur, their order is fixed (e.g., the student of linguistics with long hair is grammatical; repositioning yields ungrammatical sequences).

Other phrase types

  • PP: complements often attach to verbs or nouns; can function as both complement and modifier depending on position and meaning.

  • AdvP: reference to degree or manner; often precedes the head in VP contexts.

  • VP: combines a main verb with optional auxiliaries, negatives, complements (NP/PP/AdjP/S), and adverbs.

  • Transitivity: how many arguments a verb requires:

    • Intransitive: 1 argument (subject) — e.g., "He slept."

    • Transitive: 2 arguments (subject + object) — e.g., "He took it."

    • Ditransitive: 3 arguments (subject + direct object + indirect object) — e.g., "He gave me a cake."

    • ext{Intransitive} o 1 ext{ arg},\quad ext{Transitive} o 2 ext{ args},\quad ext{Ditransitive} o 3 ext{ args}

Clauses and sentence types

  • Clause: a sequence containing a verb; phrases within clauses serve functions: Subject, Verb, Object, Complement, Adverbial (SVOCA).

  • Clause types: main/independent vs subordinate/dependent; relative clauses can modify a noun; adverbial clauses provide time/place/purpose.

  • Sentence types (five basic main forms): Declarative, Closed Interrogative, Open Interrogative, Imperative, Exclamative.

  • Sentence types by structure: simple (one clause), compound (two or more independent clauses connected by coordinators), complex (main clause with subordinate clauses).

Open vs closed questions

  • Closed (yes/no) questions involve subject-auxiliary inversion: You are coming → Are you coming?

  • Open (Wh-) questions involve inversion plus fronting a Wh-phrase: Where has he gone? What did you have for breakfast?

Imperatives and exclamatives

  • Imperatives: predicate in plain non-tensed form; subject is often omitted (Be quiet; Put your shoes on).

  • Exclamatives: start with a fronted Wh-phrase (what/how) and do not involve subject-auxiliary inversion; e.g., What a beautiful day it is outside!

Active vs passive voice

  • Active: subject, agent performs the action; follows typical SVO order.

  • Passive: object/complement (patient) becomes the subject; formed with be + past participle; only transitive verbs can be passivised.

  • Example: The chef prepares the meal → The meal is prepared by the chef.

Coordinators and subordinators

  • Coordinators connect independent clauses (and, but, or, yet, so, etc.).

  • Subordinators introduce dependent clauses (that, whether, if, for, to, etc.).

Quick recall checks

  • Five clause types and their functions.

  • Difference between NP, VP, PP, AdjP, AdvP, and how they combine.

  • How to identify subject, predicate, object, complement, and adverbial in a clause.

  • How active and passive forms relate to argument structure and transitivity.

Notes references (for further study)

  • Gillam & Marquardt (2016); McLaughlin (2006); McLeod & McCormack (2018); Sandoval & Denham (2021).