Preliminary Development

Sentence Making

Syntax deals with the construction of sentences.

A sentence is a thought expressed in words.

For example

The flowers fade.
The sun is shining.
The boy heeded not his father’s advice.

Socrates was unmoved when the sentence of death was pronounced against him.

Syntax signifies putting together. Putting together is also called synthesis. The words in the preceding example sentences are put together in such a manner as to say, affirm, or assert something.

Words joined as in the following phrases do not say, affirm, or assert any thing.

• the fading flowers
• the shining sun
• the boy heeding not his father’s advice
• Socrates unmoved

A phrase does not say, affirm or asset anything and, thus, it does not express a complete thought.

To express a complete thought, something must be expressed about some entity.

For example

The moon is rising in the east.

The entity here is the moon. This sentence says of the moon that it is rising. When we say or assert something, as we do here, it is implied that we know or believe what we say.

We speak or write as if we know or believed what we say or write.

In addition, sentences can also be constructed when some part of the information is not known.

For example

If we know of the rising, but do not know what object is rising, we can still speak, but so as only to intimate what we know, and seek for what we do not know.
What is rising?
If ignorant of the act, but not of the object, we should write
What is the moon doing?
If we did not know the place, we should write,
Where is the moon rising?

A sentence may express knowledge, or igno­rance. A sentence may also express feelings or desires.

For example

How beautifully the moon is rising in the east!
Give me that book.

A whole sentence or a part of a sentence that expresses a complete thought is called a clause.

The subject of a sentence or clause represents that about which something is said or affirmed.

For example

The trees grow.
The clouds are beautiful.
The child is reading.
Your friend is coming.
The tyrant was beheaded.
Is Boston the capital?

The predicate of a sentence or clause represents that which is affirmed about the subject.

For example

The house is built.
The rain is falling.
The boy learned.
The duck was swimming in the lake.
The daisy looks beautiful.

Note

The predicate is sometimes used to deny, ask for, command, or exclaim, The terms affirm or assert apply in all of these cases.

Each of the examples above affirms one thing about one object.

We may also affirm one thing of several objects or seve­ral things of one object.

For example

Lilies, roses, asters, and dahlias bloom.

The bird chirps, sings, hops, builds a neat, lays eggs, and feeds her young.

Binghamton and Buffalo are cities of New York.

The Red River and the Ohio River are branches of the Mississippi.

Nine and eight are factors of 72.

A, E, I, O, and U are vowels.

The days of the week include Sunday and Wednesday/

The seasons of the year are spring, summer, fall, and winter.

A sentence expresses

• an indefinite thought when the subject or the predicate is a general term without limitations.

For example

Men formed.

• A definite thought, when the subject or the predicate are properly limited.

For example

The men of the company formed ranks.

A common noun, such as men, in the example sentence above, may belong to many classes; there may be few or many men, old or young men, rich or poor men, good or bad men, brave or cowardly men, wise or foolish men.

The verb formed has nothing joined to it to show what, where, when, how, or why men formed.

Observe, here that there is one subject and one predicate. Each, to become definite, many have added words.

A verb, such as formed, may express the action of many objects.

To limit the subject, we may join to it:

• the definite article the to show that some particular men are intended.

The men formed.

• A numeral adjective, to restrict the number.

The twenty men formed.

• A qualifying adjective, to show the kind of men, and thereby to exclude all others.

The twenty young men formed.

• An adjective expression, to point them out by showing how they were regarded.

The twenty young men who were the pride of the town formed.

To limit the predicate, we may add to it:

• An adverb, to determine the time.

The men immediately formed.

• A noun, to show what the men formed.

The men immediately formed a militia.

• An adverbial expression, to show how they formed a combination.

The men immediately formed a militia, that they might free the people from these nightly invaders.

• Thus we have the definite thought intended, namely,

The twenty young men who were the pride of the town immediately formed a militia that they might free the people from these nightly invaders.

Any word, a common noun, a verb, a participle, or an adjective, is a general term when it can apply to any number of individuals. Thus, an adjective, such as white, may apply to many objects.

For example

a white house

white snow

white birds

As the thought becomes more and more definite, the sentence becomes more and more extended, and the definite thought is obtained from the extended thought by various modifications.

A modifier is a word or a group of words joined to a term to limit, extend, or in some way to determine, its application.

For example

men

ten men

all men

the men of the last century

The subject, the predicate, and the modifiers of the subject and predicate form the elements of the sentence.

For example

Caesar’s resignation filled all Europe with astonishment.

Observe here that some elements are single words and some are groups of words, and that each expresses an idea. Uniting of elements into a sentence is called construction, or synthesis. The separation of a sentence into its elements is called analysis.

The first steps in analysis should be guided by the prominent ideas which constitute the thought. In the final analysis, all expressions should be reduced to single words.

Syntax is naturally divided into

• syntax of sentences
• syntax of elements
• syntax of words

At this point, go to Syntax Exercise 1.