syntax Flashcards
phrase types
a phrase is a collection of words have have a grammatical relationship with each other. includes:
- noun phrase
- verb phrase
- adjective phrase
- adverb phrase
- prepositional phrase
noun phrase
contains a noun and other related words that describe the noun.
verb phrase
contains a main verb and any related words.
adjective phrase
group of words functioning as an adjective in a sentence.
adverb phrase
consists of an adverb or words acting as adverbs.
prepositional phrase
consists of a preposition and the object of the preposition.
clauses
consist of a subject and a verb. clauses may be main/independent (stand alone) or subordinate/dependent (cannot stand alone). functions in a clause include:
- subject
- object
- predicate
- complement
- adverbial
subject
noun or noun phrase that takes the action indicated by the predicator.
object
the noun or noun phrase that has not taken the action indicated by the predicator.
predicate
the verb is referred to as the predicator and all of it’s modifiers referred to as the rest of the predicate.
complement
phrase/clause that provides extra information about an element. often complements come in the form of an adjective phrase.
adverbial
single words, phrases or clauses that provide extra information about an element in relation to time, place or manner.
sentence structures
group of words that contain at least one main clause. includes:
- sentence fragment
- simple sentence
- compound sentence
- complex sentence
- compound-complex sentence
sentence fragment
act as a sentence even though they aren’t a complete main clause. (potato cakes 3 for $1)
simple sentence
contain a single main clause. (i bought three potato cakes)
compound sentence
contain at least 2 main clauses joined by a coordinate conjunction. (i bought three potato cakes and theo bought a burger)
complex sentence
contain a single main clause and one or more subordinate clauses. (i bought three potato cakes because i was hungry)
compound-complex sentence
must have at least three total clauses, with two main and one subordinate. (i bought three potato cakes and theo bought a burger because we were both hungry)
sentence types
includes:
- declaratives
- imperatives
- interrogatives
- exclamatives
declarative
sentence that conveys information, observations or statements.
imperative
sentence that gives a direct order or instruction.
interrogative
sentence that frame a question to elicit a response.
interrogative tag
turns a declarative or imperative into an interrogative by inverting the verb of the main clause to its negative form and attaching it to the end of the interrogative.
exclamative
sentence that makes exclamations, indicating emotion or emphasis.
agent + patient
the agent is the person/thing that caused the change of state the verb describes.
the patient is the thing that has been change or affected by the agent.
active voice
the agent is the subject of the sentence.
(the dog bit the boy)
passive voice
the patient is the subject of the sentence.
(the boy was bitten by the dog)
syntactic patterning
patterns created through repeated syntactic structures, for efficiency, emphasis, or literary effect. includes:
- listing
- parallelism
- antithesis
listing
grouping items using ellipses to aid cohesion.
parallelism
repetition of phrases or clauses. it is effective for reinforcing ideas, forming rhythm and tempo, and increasing predictability.
