Sentence Making

Syntax deals with the construction of sentences.
A sentence is one or more thoughts 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.

A clause can whole sentence or a part of a sentence. A clause consits of a subject and a predicate and expresses a thought.

Syntax signifies putting together. Thus, the words in these example sentences are put
together in such a manner as to say, affirm, or assert something.

Words that are joined as in the phrases do not say, tell, or assert anything. They do not express a complete thought, The following groups of words are phrases. The do not express a thought and, thus, they are not clauses or sentences.

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

To express a complete thought, a group of words must say something about some entity.

For example

The moon is rising in the east.

The entity here is the moon. This sentence says of that entity, the moon, that it is rising. When a group of words assert something, as they do here, it is implied that the writer knows or believes what is written.

A speaker or writer speaks or writes as if knowing or believing what is said or written. If the writer knows of a rising,
but does not know what object is rising, the writer can still write, but can intimate what is known, and seek information on what is not known.

For example

What is rising?

If the writer is ignorant of the rising act, but not of the object, then he should write a question.

For example

What is the moon doing?

If the writer does not know the place of the rising, he should write a different question.

For example

Where is the moon rising?

Thus, 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.

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

For example

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

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

For example

The house is built.
The rain is falling.
The boy learned an important lesson.
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 these cases.

Each of the above example clauses says only one thing about one object. But, a sentence or clause can affirm one thing about several objects, can affirm several things of one object, or even can affirm several things about several objects.

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 infinite thought when the subject or the predicate is a general term without
  limitations.

  For example

  Men formed.

• a definite thought, when the subject and the predicate are properly limited.

  For example

  The brave men formed the winning team.

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

The verb formed has nothing joined to it to show what, where, when, how, or why the men
formed. Observe, here that there is one subject and one predicate. Both the subject and the
predicate may added words to express more definite information.

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

To limit the subject, we may join to the subject:

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

  For example

  The men formed.

• a numeral adjective to restrict the number.

  For example

  The twenty men formed.

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

  For example

  The twenty young men formed.

• an adjective expression to show how the men were regarded.

  For example

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

To limit the predicate, we may join to it:

• an adverb to determine the time.

  For example

  The men immediately formed.

• a noun, to show what the men formed.

  For example

  The men immediately formed a guard.

• an adverbial expression, to show how they formed a guard.

  For example

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

Thus, a writer can create an intended, definite thought.

For Example

The twenty young men who were the pride of the town immediately formed a guard
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
differnt objects.

For example

a white house
white snow
white birds
a white paper

As a thought becomes more and more definite, the sentence becomes more and more
extended, and the more and more 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 meaning.

For example

men
ten men
all men
the men of the last century

The subject, the predicate, and the modifiers of the subject and the predicate are the elements of the sentence or clause.

For example

Caesar’s resignation filled all Europe with astonishment.

Some elements of a clause are single words and some are groups of words often called phrases. It is also possible that a phrase may contain other phrases and clauses.

Synthesis and Analysis

Uniting of elements into a sentence or clause is called construction, or synthesis. The
separation of a sentence or clause 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

The sections following will deal with each of these areas.