Prepared by: Ms. Grace M.

Bangayan
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 define syntax
 differentiate between syntax and
grammar
 distinguish between grammatically and
ungrammatically
 review the parts of speech
 diagram syntactic structure
 criticize/discuss issues on syntax
 Noam Chomsky

“Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.”

WORD ORDER

“I eat pizza”

S V O
WORD ORDER

“I eat a large pizza with extra cheese.”

SV O
DEFINITION OF SYXTAX

In linguistics, syntax refers to the rules that

govern the ways in which words combine to
form phrases, clauses, and sentences.

The term “syntax” comes from the Greek

meaning “arrange together”
OTHER DEFINITIONS

 Syntax is the proper order of words in

phrase or sentence.
 Syntax is a tool used in writing proper
grammatically sentences.
 Native speakers of language learn
correct syntax without realizing it.
 DEFINITION

Syntax is defined as the arrangement

of words and phrases in a language to
create a well-structured or well-formed
sentence.
SYNTAX vs GRAMMAR
 SYNTAX vs GRAMMAR
COMPARISON TABLE

Characteristics GRAMMAR SYNTAX

DEFINITION Grammar is a set of Syntax is a set of
structured rules and principles, rules,
principles that and processes
prescribe how that govern how a
sentences, phrases, sentence is
clauses, and words structured in any
of a language are language.
constructed.
 SYNTAX vs GRAMMAR
COMPARISON TABLE

Characteristics GRAMMAR SYNTAX

POSITIONING Grammar is a Syntax is a part
description of of grammar along
predictable patterns with morphology
of a language. and phonology, in
Includes accidence, most usage.
orthography, syntax
and morphology.
 SYNTAX vs GRAMMAR
COMPARISON TABLE

Characteristics GRAMMAR SYNTAX

CONTENT Is about the Is mainly about
structures and rules the order of
that govern the words in a clause
construction of words, or sentence.
phrases, clauses and
sentences.
 SYNTAX vs GRAMMAR
COMPARISON TABLE

Characteristics GRAMMAR SYNTAX

USAGE General term used in A discipline of
every day’s linguistics applied
language per need.
consumption
 GRAMMATICAL vs UNGRAMMATICAL

1. I hit the ball.

2. My blue tortoise deceived time’s
chocolate.
3. Jimmy not is friendly.
4. The verb crumbled the milk.
5. Prepositions are not good to end
sentences with.
 GRAMMATICAL

Grammatical is (linguistics) acceptable as a

correct sentence or clause as determined by
the rules and conventions of the grammar.
 UNGRAMMATICAL

Ungrammatical is (linguistics) in violation of

one or more of the rules and conventions of
a language as defined by the grammar,
resulting in unacceptable, or incorrect
usage.
PARTS OF SPEECH
 NOUN
- A word that names a person, a
place, a thing, or an idea.
Proper nouns name a particular person,
place, thing or idea and begin with a capital
letter. (United States, June, and Lowes)
Common nouns do not name a particular
person, place or thing and do not need
capitalization. (country, month, and school)
Others types: Collective, Count, Abstract, Concrete,
Tangible, Intangible
 PRONOUNS
- A word used instead of a
noun. It is a substitute for a
noun.
Jim outran the animals.
He outran them.
Other examples: (he, him, his, she, her, hers,
and it)
Types: Personal, Relative, Intensive, Reflexive,
Demonstrative, Indefinite
 VERB

- Themain word in the

predicate of a sentence that
expresses action or being.
Action verbs tell what the subject does.(sing)
Verb phrases are verbs made up of more than
one word. (is studying)

Other verbs are called helping or auxiliary verbs.

(has, have)
 PREPOSITION

- A word that shows the relationship

between a noun and some other word
in the sentence.

Tip: Any way that you can throw a ball

would be a preposition. (up, down, in, out, and
through)
 ADJECTIVE
- A word that describes or
modifies a noun or pronoun.
One adjective can change the meaning of a whole
sentence.

It was a boring day. It was an exciting day.

An adjective can tell what kind, which one, or how
many.
Adjective order: NIOSSACNN
 ADVERB
- A word that describes or modifies
a verb, adjective or another adverb.

Adverbs that modify verbs answer:

How? (slowly)
Where? (outside)
When? (later)Or
To what extent? (thoroughly)
 INTERJECTION

- A word or words that show feeling.

If it stands alone, it is followed
by an exclamation point. (Hey!)

If it begins a sentence, it is set

off by a comma. (Well, I never
Hey! I
knew that.) need help,
please!
 CONJUNCTION
- A word that connects words
or groups of words.
I am going to the store and by the bank.

Conjunctions like a
work… bridge.
Five Signal of Syntactic Structure
1. Word Order
Word order
Position of words relative to each other.

 Noun- The ______ is here.

These ______ are beautiful.
 Verb- The child may ______ something.
The children _______ friendly.
____ you _____ me that?
 Adjective- The ____ teacher taught the____ students.
 Adverbs- The boy ate his cookies ________.
2. PROSODY
Prosody
Combinations of Pattern of pitch, stress,
and juncture.

 What did you do?

3. FUNCTION WORDS

Function words
Words with little or no lexical meaning
which are used in combining other words
into larger structures.
3. FUNCTION WORDS
Determiners
Auxiliary
Subordinators Verbs

Function
Words
Qualifiers
Conjunctions

Prepositions Interrogatives
4. INFLECTIONS
Inflections
Suffixes, always final, which adapt words to fit
varying structural positions without changing
their lexical meaning or part of speech.

 Nouns- teacher teachers teacher’s teachers’

 Verb- eat eats ate eating eaten
 Adjective- smart smarter smartest
 Adverbs- fast faster fastest
5. DERIVATIONAL CONTRAST
Derivational Contrast
Derivational prefixes and suffixes which
change words from one part of speech to
another.
 Noun- work worker/ stimulate stimulator/govern government
 Verb- summarize beautify locate
 Adjectives- happy happiness / greed greedy
 Adverbs- soft softly / common commonly
FOUR TYPES OF SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE
 FOUR TYPES OF SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE

 Structures of Modification
 Consist of two immediate constituents a
head and a modifier.

Hungry people
M H
Home town
M H
Easily superior
M H
 FOUR TYPES OF SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE

 Structures of Predication
Consist of two immediate constituents a
subject and a predicate.

The sun sets in the west

The snow was cold
 FOUR TYPES OF SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE

 Structures of Complementation
Consist of two immediate constituents a
verbal elements and a complement

We are learning grammar

He gives a lesson
He caught and ate the fish
FOUR TYPES OF SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE

 Structures of Coordination
 Consist of two or more immediate constituents
which are equavalent units joined in a
structure which function as a single unit.

He bought his friend a doctor and a gentlemen.

PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES

S- NP VP
NP- (Det) (Adj) N (PP)
PP- P NP
VP- V (NP) (PP) (Adv)
TREE DIAGRAMMING PRACTICE
S
NP VP
Adj
Pro V
quickly
He left

He left quickly.
TREE DIAGRAMMING PRACTICE
S
NP VP
Adv
Det N V
Adj
quickly
the man left
big

The big man left quickly.

 THREE DIAGRAMMING PRACTICE

1. The man hit the ball with the bat.

2. The student wrote her thesis on
linguistics.
3. The teacher is teaching syntax now
and the students are taking down
notes.
ISSUES IN TEACHING SYNTAX
Andews et al. (2004) systematic review on a study
“The effect of grammar teaching (syntax) in English on
5 to 16 year olds’ accuracy and quality in written
composition” found out that out of 16 papers, 12
provided a conclusion about the effects of syntax
teaching on the accuracy and quality of pupil’s
writing. None of these 12 reviews of teaching syntax
concluded that teaching traditional nor
transformative/generative grammar had a positive
effect on the quality and accuracy of 5 to 12 year-
olds’ written compositions.
ISSUES IN TEACHING SYNTAX
 Aperocho, Maico Demi B. (2015) on her study
“Lexical and syntactic features of the male and
female students argumentative essays” seeks to
identify the lexical and syntactic features of the
male and female freshman college students using
analysis method. Findings show that males’
argumentative essays are more complex than those
girls because males used more words, morphemes,
coordinators, and subordinators in their text.
IMPLICATIONS IN TEACHING SYNTAX

 If there’s a little evidence that formal grammar

teaching of syntax works, then practices based
on theories such as “you learn to write” by
writing need to be given more credence and
subject themselves to further systematic review.
And having established that much, we can now
go on to research what is effective. Andrews
et al. (2004)
IMPLICATIONS IN TEACHING SYNTAX

 If there’s a little evidence that formal grammar

teaching of syntax works, then practices based
on theories such as “you learn to write” by
writing need to be given more credence and
subject themselves to further systematic review.
And having established that much, we can now
go on to research what is effective. Andrews
et al. (2004)
REFERENCES
References:
Aperocho, Maico Demi B. (2015). Lexical and syntactic features of the male and
female students argumentative essays. Univ. of Mindanao. Intl. Mult. Res. Jour. Vol. ,
no.1, pp.213-226 Received:December 2, 2015; Accepted: December 21, 2015; Released
January 15, 2016 www.uminjournals.org.

The Importance of Word Order in English.(2015, March 23). Retrieved from

http://toeflgoanywhere.org.

Baluyut, Jomeah. (2013, December 6). Five signals of syntactic structure. Retrieved from
http://www.linguistic123.blogpost.com