Syntax - Basics

Question 1

5 Domains of Language

Answer 1

Phonology: sound system of a language

Semantics: encoding of meaning, includes vocabulary

Morphology: word forms and inflection

Syntax: rule system for building sentences

Pragmatics: communicating appropriately with others in various ways

Question 2

Modes of syntax

Answer 2

Receptive: listening, reading

Expressive: Speaking, writing

Question 3

Morpheme

Answer 3

smallest meaningful word or word part

Question 4

Inflectional morphology

Answer 4

add grammatical information such as tense and number

Question 5

Derivational Morphology

Answer 5

added to create a new word and can change the category of a word

Question 6

Lexical/content words

Answer 6

open class words (except prepositions)
noun, verb, adjective, adverb, prepositon

Question 7

function words

Answer 7

finite/closed class
pronoun, determiner, conjunction

Question 8

Nouns

Answer 8

represent persons, places, things or abstractions

various classifications: simple and compound, common and proper, concrete and abstract

Question 9

Count/Noncount/Collective Nouns

Answer 9

Count nouns: Can be counted, may take plural affixes like ‘s’ or ‘es’ or spelling may change. eg. letter, apple

Mass nouns: cannot usually be counted as individual units, so they don’t take plural affixes eg. mail, milk

Collective nouns: refers to a group of individuals acting as a whole unit. May be pluralized. eg. flock, team

Question 10

Pronouns

Answer 10

Classes: personal, demonstrative, indefinite, relative, interrogative

to classify pronouns we consider number (singular or plural) and case (1st, 2nd or 3rd person)

Question 11

Demonstrative Pronouns

Answer 11

Only acting like a pronoun if they replace the noun

this, that

these, those

Question 12

Indefinite Pronouns

Answer 12

have general/nonspecific referents

examples: all, anyone, each, every, many, one, other, some

sometimes these words behave like other word classes

Question 13

Relative Pronouns

Answer 13

important in syntactic analysis as they can be used to embed clauses

examples: who, whoever, whom, whomever, whose, what, whatever, which, whichever, that

Question 14

Interrogative Pronouns

Answer 14

overlap with relative pronouns but are always used to form a question

“wh” words

eg. whose, why, what, which

Question 15

Verbs

Answer 15

signify action or state of being

required in clauses

classifications: main, auxiliary and transitive/intransitive

take on inflectional and derivational morphemes

Question 16

auxiliary verbs

Answer 16

“helper” verbs: provide additional information

come before the main verb and do not stand alone

3 common aux: have, be, do

others: need, had, get

Question 17

Copula / Copular verb

Answer 17

main verb that can be followed by an adjective or noun complement

eg. Be - can be a auxiliary or a copular

Question 18

Modals

Answer 18

a subset of auxiliary verbs that clarify meaning or “mood”

include: can, shall, need, may, will, must, ought, should, could, might, would

Question 19

Transitivity

Answer 19

transitive verb: takes one or more objects

intransitive verbs: require no object

Question 20

Inflectional Morphology

Answer 20

signals person, number, voice, tense

subject-verb agreement: person, number

voice: active vs passive

Question 21

Verbals

Answer 21

infinitives, gerunds, participles

Question 22

Infinitives

Answer 22

to + verb

can be used as nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs

can be used to embed one sentence into another

Question 23

Gerunds

Answer 23

present participle acting as a noun

eg. running is her favorite sport but she sometimes thinks about swimming

Question 24

Participles

Answer 24

present participle: verb + -ing

past participle: verb + -ed

can be used in many constructions, especially in adjectival forms

Question 25

Descriptive Adjectives

Answer 25

modify a noun

often comes before the noun but can come after (eg. the tall girl, she wants the coffee hot)

can come after intransitive verb or copular (eg. the girl is tall)

Question 26

Limiting adjectives

Answer 26

specify how much, how many, whose etc.

include:
- proper (indicate distinctness) - eg. Canadian provinces
-Possessive (indicate ownership) eg. the dog’s bone
-Demonstrative (are also determiners) eg. that one is tricky

cardinal and ordinal: used to indicate number and order

Question 27

Pronouns as adjectives

Answer 27

Indefinite pronouns (eg. some bananas, many people)

interrogative pronouns (eg. which topic do you like best?)

Question 28

Modify a verb (adjective / adverb)

Answer 28

inform about: manner, place, time, degree, number, reason, and to affirm/negate

may end in “-ly”, other adverb endings are “-wise” and “-ward”

Question 29

Determiners

Answer 29

add info about the noun

demonstratives / interrogatives

possessives

articles: a, an, the

Question 30

Prepositional Phrase

Answer 30

prepositions connect two content words and provide information about the relationship

preposition is usually the first word in the phrase

in a conversation the phrase might be reduced

Question 31

Prepositional / Phrasal Verbs

Answer 31

verb + preposition to create idiomatic form: in this case the preposition is called a (verb) particle

Question 32

Conjunctions

Answer 32

can be used to link words, phrases and clauses

major categories: coordinating (join words or ideas of equal weight), correlative (come in pairs), subordinating (join ideas of unequal weight)