View source for Syntax

{{redirect|Syntactic|other uses}}
In [[linguistics]], '''syntax'''{{efn|from [[Ancient Greek]] συν- ''syn-'', “together”, and τάξις ''táxis'', “arrangement”}} is the study of the rules that govern the structure of [[sentence]]s. 

The term ''syntax'' can also be used to refer to these rules themselves, as in “the syntax of a language”. Modern research in syntax attempts to describe [[language]]s in terms of such rules, and, for many practitioners, to find general rules that apply to all languages.

Here are some important points about syntax:

* '''Word Order:''' Different languages have different rules about the order in which words must appear in a sentence. For example, English generally follows a subject-verb-object (SVO) order in declarative sentences ("She eats apples").
* '''Phrase Structure:''' Sentences are typically made up of phrases, which are groups of words that function as a unit within a sentence. Common types of phrases include noun phrases (NP), verb phrases (VP), prepositional phrases (PP), etc.
* '''Grammatical Relations:''' Syntax deals with how different parts of a sentence relate to each other grammatically. This includes subjects and objects of verbs, modifiers of nouns, and other syntactic roles.
* '''Sentence Types:''' Syntax also covers the formation of different types of sentences (declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamatory) and how they are structured differently.
* '''Syntactic Ambiguity:''' Sometimes, sentences can be ambiguous because they can be parsed or interpreted in more than one way syntactically. For example, "I saw the man with the telescope" could mean "I used a telescope to see the man" or "I saw a man who had a telescope."
* '''Syntax and Meaning:''' Syntax is closely related to semantics (the study of meaning). The arrangement of words in a sentence can affect the meaning and interpretation of that sentence.

==Related pages==
* [[Phrase]]
* [[Grammar]]

=== Syntactic terms ===
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{{col-break}}
* [[Adjective]]
* [[Adverb]]
* [[Article (grammar)|Article]]
* [[Clause]]
* [[Comparative]]

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* [[Infinitive]]
* [[Noun]]
* [[Phrase]]
* [[Phrasal verb]]
* [[Plural]]
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* [[Preposition]]
* [[Pronoun]]
* [[Superlative]]
* [[Verb]]
* [[Tense]]
* [[Word order]]
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== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
* {{cite book|title=Concise Encyclopedia of Syntactic Theories|publisher=Elsevier Science|location=New York|year=1996|isbn=0-08-042711-1}}
* {{cite book|title=Syntax|series=Critical Concepts in Linguistics|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|year=2006|isbn=0-415-24672-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Graffi|first=Giorgio|year=2001|title=200 Years of Syntax. A Critical Survey|location=Amsterdam|publisher=Benjamins|series=Studies in the History of the Language Sciences 98|isbn=90-272-4587-8}}

== Other websites ==
* [http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/syntax-textbook The syntax of natural language] (Beatrice Santorini & Anthony Kroch, University of Pennsylvania)
* [http://www.allsyntax.com Learn Programming Language Syntax] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070925030239/http://www.allsyntax.com/ |date=2007-09-25 }}
* Various syntactic constructs used in [http://merd.sourceforge.net/pixel/language-study/syntax-across-languages/ computer programming languages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080510185903/http://merd.sourceforge.net/pixel/language-study/syntax-across-languages/ |date=2008-05-10 }}

{{Syntax}}

[[Category:Grammar]]