Spoken and written languages are advanced forms of communications which people employ to exchange ideas. Because
one language is used by many people, it needs to be structured logically, based on the form of the words and on
their functionality. The form of the words is studied by morphology; the functions of the words are analyzed using
syntax.
Syntactically, the groups of words are structured in:
A. phrases
B. sentences
C. complex sentences
Sentence syntax works with syntactic elements grouped in:
A. principal syntactic elements (subject and predicate)
B. secondary syntactic elements (attribute, object, and adverbial)
Within the sentence structure, syntactic elements are grouped according to their relational functionality
in the following grammatical categories:
1. subject
2. predicate
3. attribute
4. object
5. adverbial
A sentence has one subject and one predicate, and each may be expressed (in turn) explicitly or implicitly. In
order to facilitate syntax analysis, sentences are categorized based on their:
A. structure
B. meaning
C. form
The structure of the sentence allows for the following sub-classification:
A1. unextended sentences (also known as "simple sentences");
A2. extended sentences.
According to their meaning sentences are conventionally categorized as being:
B1. declarative, when they contain a statement;
B2. interrogative, when they are interrogations;
B3. exclamatory, when they have strong emphatic content;
B4. imperative, when they are used to express an order, a plea, an advice, etc.;
B5. optative, when they express wishes;
B6. dubitative, when they express doubt.
Taking into account their form, sentences are:
C1. positive
C2. negative
In order to facilitate syntactic analysis, sentences are commonly re-grouped into four major syntactic categories:
1. affirmations, or "declarations";
2. negations;
3. interrogations (including "negative interrogations");
4. conditional sentences
5. comparative sentences.
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Fragment from LSEG:
syntactic elements.
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Definition (fragment from Definition S1.2 in LSEG)
"Subject" is syntactical name marking/identifying morphological
sentence element in nominative which executes (or suffers in few instances) the action/state expressed ...
Within the sentence/clause structure, the subject is principal syntactic element. The subject is the answer
to the question: ...
Considering their form, subjects are:
1. simple
2. compound
3. double
Morphologically, simple subject is a noun or a noun-equivalent. Further, a noun-equivalent may be:
1. a pronoun
2. an adjective
3. a numeral
4. a gerund verb
5. a past participle verb
6. an infinitive verb
7. any other noun-equivalent
Considering its meaning, the subject can be:
A. grammatical subject (the sentence element in nominative case);
B. logic subject (the true subject executing the action/state of the verb; in most instances it is a
construction in accusative case).
Fragment from LSEG: using compound subjects.
Few important aspects related to syntactical subjects are:
1. using elliptic subjects
2. placing the predicate ahead of the subject
3. using subjects in accusative case
4. using "grammatical" and "logic" subjects
5. subject-predicate agreement
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Definition (fragment from Definition S1.3.0.1 in LSEG)
"Predicate" is syntactical name marking/identifying the verb used
to express the action/state of the subject ...
The predicate is principal syntactic element. It is detected by answering the question ...
Not all verbs can form perfect, meaningful predicates. Generally, the verbs in personal moods may form
predicates, therefore they are syntactically named, predicative moods. The verbs in impersonal moods
cannot form predicates, and they are syntactically named non-predicative moods.
Again, not all verbs in predicative moods may form the predicate alone, in order to transmit a
complete, perfectly meaningful message in a sentence. According to their meaning, the verbs in predicative
moods are further structured into:
1. verbs of complete predication
2. verbs of incomplete predication
According to its structure, the predicate in a sentence takes the following forms:
A. verbal predicate, having complete/incomplete meaning;
B. nominal predicate (has a complex structure).
Further, verbal predicate can be:
A1. a complete predication verb
A2. an incomplete prediction verb
Nominal predicate has two parts:
B1. a copulative (linking) verb named "copula";
B2. a predicative complement, which can be subjective or objective complement.
Predicative complement may be expressed using one of the following:
1. a noun
2. a pronoun
3. an adjective
4. a numeral
5. an adverb
6. an interrogative pronoun or adjective
7. an infinitive verb
8. a gerund verb
9. a participle verb
10. a prepositional phrase
Fragment from LSEG: using predicative complement.
Few important aspects related to syntactical predicates are:
1. categories of copulative verbs
2. using predicative adjectives
3. copulative verbs are followed by adjectives, not adverbs
4. using verbal predicate
5. using appositive predicate
6. using predicate of result
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The subject--a noun in most instances--and the predicate have to agree in number, in order to
build meaningful grammatical constructions. However, nouns may have singular form and plural meaning or
vice-versa.
Fragment from LSEG: subject-predicate agreement.
Few important aspects related to subject-predicate agreement are:
1. subjects taking the predicate in either singular or plural form
2. subjects taking the predicate only in singular form
3. subjects taking the predicate only in plural form
4. "compound subject"-predicate agreement
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Definition (fragment from Definition S1.5 in LSEG)
"Attribute" is syntactical element used to present particular
characteristics of the determined noun. In most instances the attribute is an adjective or
adjective-equivalent. The attribute is in genitive, or it takes the case ...
Within the sentence structure the attribute is a secondary syntactic element.
The attribute is used to mark/identify syntactic elements having the same functionality as adjectives
do: to qualify nouns. Note that in syntax analysis only the functionality of the syntactic elements is
important, not the type/category/form of the morphological sentence elements. Therefore, the attribute may
also be an adverb, article, adjective, numeral, etc.
Many morphologic sentence elements work similar to the way adjectives do, and they are all grouped,
syntactically, into the attributes category. Therefore, the attribute can be:
1. qualifying adjective
2. determining adjective
3. article
4. numeral
5. gerund or participle verb
6. noun working as adjective
7. noun in genitive case
8. infinitive verb
9. adverb
10. apposition
11. prepositional or adverbial phrases
"Apposition" is a particular grammatical construction working as a noun attribute. However,
appositions are a bit different from regular attributes.
Fragment from LSEG: positioning attributes.
Few important aspects related to attributes are:
1. positioning attributes
2. using appositions
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Definition (fragment from Definition S1.6 in LSEG)
"Object" is syntactical element which suffers, directly or
indirectly, the action/state expressed by the predicate. The most common form of syntactical object is ...
The object is a secondary syntactic element.
There are three categories of syntactic objects:
1. direct object
2. indirect object
3. prepositional object
Direct object is used in morphology to define transitive verbs: a verb is transitive if it is
accompanied by a direct object. Direct object may be a noun or a noun equivalent, a pronoun, an adjective, a
numeral, and an infinitive, gerund, or a participle verb. Generally, direct object is positioned right after
the verb it determines, but there are instances when it is separated.
Direct object's place within the sentence structure is very important, because it affects the meaning. A
general rule says, the predicate should not be separated form its direct object (same as for
subject-predicate). However, there are many exceptions; in certain situations, between direct object and its
predicate may be intercalated:
1. an indirect object
2. a prepositional object
3. adverbials
4. an adverbial particle
5. attributes
Indirect object suffers the action of the predicate indirectly, since it is the target/address of
predicate's action. Indirect object is in dative case, marked by the preposition "to" or
"for" ahead, expressed either explicitly or implicitly. Indirect object may be a noun, pronoun,
adjective, numeral, past participle verb working as noun, etc. Regarding the form it takes, indirect object
can be:
1. indirect object without preposition
2. indirect object with preposition
It is fairly difficult to identify prepositional object because it is easily confused for prepositional
adverbial. Generally, prepositional object presents details about how is the action/state of the verb
performed from a different perspective than prepositional adverbial does.
Prepositional objects are in accusative case; indirect objects are in dative case; direct objects are in
accusative case.
Fragment from LSEG: using prepositional object.
Few important aspects related to using objects are:
1. positioning direct object
2. using cognate object
3. using verbs having two direct objects
4. using indirect object with/without preposition
5. placing indirect object
6. verbs allowing only indirect objects without preposition
7. verbs requiring an indirect object to follow a direct object
8. predicates requiring both direct and indirect objects
9. using retained object
10. identical prepositional object and prepositional adverbial
11. using complex object
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Definition (fragment from Definition S1.9 in LSEG)
"Adverbial" is syntactical element used to present particular
circumstances in which the action/state expressed by the predicate is executed. In most instances
syntactical adverbial is an adverb in accusative case, or ...
Within the sentence structure, all adverbials are secondary syntactic elements.
Adverbials describe the circumstances (the environment) in which the action of the verb is performed, or
they present particular, characteristic features. In most instances the adverbial is an adverb, but it can
also be any sentence element or phrase working as adverb.
It is important to note that not all adverbs have adverbial correspondent, and not all adverbials reflect
all categories/subcategories of adverbs.
Fragment from LSEG: chart; categories of adverbials.
Few important aspects related to using adverbials are:
1. detecting each category of adverbials
2. using compound adverbials
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Natural order of the main syntactic elements is very important, and it should not be changed. The
default (or natural, or reference) sentence is structured orderly in: first, the "subject group";
secondly, the "predicate group". The displacement of the secondary syntactic elements from their
default positions is not only possible: it is quite frequent. Generally, when a secondary syntactic element
is moved from its default (natural) place, commas are employed to mark/isolate it.
Equally important is "natural interrogative sentence" order.
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There are many instances when a noun has multiple qualifiers, and there are no absolute rules to handle
their order. Many grammar books strive to implement various models, but there are no logic grounds or
syntactical reasons to support their enthusiastic efforts.
Generally, it is wise to limit the number of qualifiers to three or four in one sentence/clause; for more
than four, a good second thought is strongly recommended, and also using a second clause dedicated to
developing the topic.
Multiple qualifiers may be positioned ahead or after the noun; generally, the shortest in length, the simple
ones, are positioned towards the beginning of the sentence, while the complex ones are closer to the end.
Fragment from LSEG: positioning multiple qualifiers.
NOTE
The book Logically Structured English Grammar does more than just
presenting syntactic elements in details: it explains how to identify/detect them correctly!
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