THE SYNTAX OF ENGLISH

Noun and Verb Phrases and Grammatical Functions

NOUN PHRASES (NP)

a noun and all the words/word groups that belong with the noun and cluster around it.

headword/ head

modifiers

Example:

girl the girl

the
the

beautiful
beautiful

girl
girl who is standing by the window

A NP can be rather complex, containing other noun phrases, or it can consist of just one word (a noun) if the word can occur without any modifier.
Examples:

Children often build castles on the beach. Children who are very creative often build castles on the beach.

Dani wanted to take a make-up test. Dani wanted to take a difficult test which she missed the day before.

a difficult

test

which she missed the day before

premodifier

postmodifier

Some Syntactic Categories of Nouns

Nouns (Other Subclasses)

Count Nouns Mass Nouns Proper Nouns

Count Nouns vs Mass Nouns

Count Nouns countable

Singular form (with determiner) & plural form (with & without determiner) He drove his car downtown. The cars have been stolen. Cars are expensive in Japan. (except when the singular N represent the whole group/species/type)
-

Lion is wild. Tiger never eats vegetables.

Mass Nouns un/non-countable noun

No plural form singular, but plural for kinds/varieties/relating to container

Westerners eat bread with every meal. Holland bakery serves several breads. We need some food for lunch. The food court sells Asian foods.

Many words may be mass nouns in one context and count nouns in a different context:

Westerners eat bread with every meal. Holland Bakery serves many breads.

Modifiers

Count noun many Mass noun much

Proper Nouns

names of particular/unique persons, places, and things included in noun subclass because they appear in noun positions behaving like count noun with few restrictions, i.e.

Singular proper nouns usually appear without a determiner.

December is a month for skiing. We talked about Nico. The inside of Gedung Kesenian Jakarta is hot.

However, a determiner is used with proper nouns when such nouns are restrictively modified, such as:

The December in which she married was very cold. It was a December to remember. The Nico I met had bird-nest-like hair.

Proper nouns which are always plural are normally accompanied by the, occasionally by different determiner.

The Appalachians are an old mountain chain. I like your Bahamas since they are beautiful. We are going to visit the Hebrides.

Certain proper nouns are usually singular and take the.

The Museum of Fine Art has a new exhibition. The Atlantic Ocean is rough in winter. We stayed at the Goldiana.

However, they can also be used in the plural.

Several Goldianas have been built in the capitals of provinces. There are two Atlantic Oceans in the Northern Hemisphere, the warm one of the tropics and the cold one toward the Pole.

VERB PHRASES
a verb and all the words and word groups that belong with the verb and cluster around it.

headword/ head

auxiliaries, modifiers, complements (DO, IO, OC, SC)

predicate

Example:
arrived soon arrived

arrived
arrived was waiting may have been taken

late
just as the plane landed at the door by the boy

built
built seemed

a hut
his son a hut gloomy and dirty

became

captain of his class

Some Syntactic Categories of Verbs

Transitive Verbs Intransitive Verbs Linking Verbs

Verbs followed by a complement

Transitive Verbs need object

They ate some bread.

Intransitive Verbs doesnt need object

They walked to school.

Linking Verbs introduce equivalency or descriptive relationships

They looked happy.

Verbs followed by a complement

verb-ing but not to infinitive He enjoyed fishing, not He enjoyed to fish.

To infinitive but not verb-ing He agreed to come, not He agreed coming. Either verb-ing or to infinitive I love eating, or I love to eat.

Verbs taking complements in ing and to- are called catenatives because they can co-occur in chain. - He wanted to stop trying to postpone working.

Grammatical Function
functional elements

subject, object, direct object, indirect object, complement

Label of Function Subject of verb

Grammatical Meaning That which performs the action of a verb, is described or identified, or about which an assertion is made.

e.g. The lion stalked its prey. The prince is happy.

Label of Function
Verb

Grammatical Meaning
That which asserts an action or state

e.g. Nico climbed the coconut tree. Ibnu seemed upset.

Label of Function Grammatical Meaning Subjective That which follows be or Complement verb like become and identifies or describes the subject. e.g. My mom is a housewife. You look happy.

Label of Function
Direct Object

Grammatical Meaning
That which undergoes the action of the verb.

e.g. She bought some cat food. I saw him yesterday.

Label of Function

Grammatical Meaning

Indirect Object

That person or thing to or for whom an action is performed.

e.g. He brought me some flowers. You send me a letter.

Label of Function Objective Complement

Grammatical Meaning That which completes the direct object and describes or identifies it.

e.g. We consider him important. The students elected him class captain.

Label of Function
Object of Preposition

Grammatical Meaning
That which is related to another word by a preposition.

e.g. We believe in God. They walked to school.

Identifying Subjects