Signals of Syntactic Structure

SIGNALS OF SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE
 Function words are words with little or no lexical meaning which are used in combining
other words into larger structures. They serve primarily to clarify relationships between
the more meaning-laden elements of linguistic expression, or to introduce certain
syntactic structures like verbal complements, relative clauses and questions. Function
words tend not to enter freely into the word formation process. They resist affixation and
are seldom compounded with other words to form new ones.
There are eight main groups of function words: the noun determiners,
auxiliaries, conjunctions, quantifiers, prepositions, pronouns, and interjection.
a. Noun determiners are words that come before a noun and serve to modify the noun.
They modify nouns by providing context and specificity to the noun. There are three
types of determiner: the articles, possessives, and demonstratives.
1. articles
- the most popular type of determiner.
- can be divided in definite and indefinite article.
- definite article: the article “the”, refers to a specific person, place, or thing.
Using the word 'the' as a determiner, increases the exactness of the subject in a
sentence.
- indefinite article: “a” and “an”, which means that the noun they precede
isn't an exact person, place or, thing; rather, the article creates a more
generalized noun.
Example: The cat eats the mouse's cheese.
A cat ate the mouse's cheese.
2. possessives
- ours, yours, mine, theirs, hers, and his can be used as determiners.
- a possessive determiner provides context in a sentence because it informs the
reader what belongs to the subject.
Example: Her car is over there.
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3. Demonstratives
- Words such as that, this, there, these, and those
- Demonstratives serve as determiners that locate a noun in a specific location.
Example: That guy is a friend of mine.
b. Auxiliaries are “helping” verbs that combine with various parts of other verbs to make
verb phrases.
1. primary auxiliaries
- are the be, have, and do
- be verbs: use to form the continuous tenses and passive voice. (is, are, was,
were)
- have: use to form the perfect tenses
- do: use for questions and negative sentences in the present simple and the past
Simple tenses
2. modals auxiliaries
- include can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, might, must, and ought.
- used to express necessity and possibility.
c. Conjunction is used to link words, phrases, and clauses. The kinds of conjunctions are
coordinating, subordinating, and correlative conjunctions.
1. Coordinating conjunction
- a conjunction that joins two similarly constructed and/or syntactically equal
words or phrases or clauses within a sentence.
- FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)
2. Subordinating Conjunction
- A conjunction that introduces a dependent clause.
- If, because, although, since, whenever, wherever, while, that, etc.

3. Correlative Conjunctions
- A paired conjunction that links balanced words, phrases, and clauses.
- The elements connected by correlative conjunctions are usually parallel--that is,
similar in length and grammatical form.
- both . . . and, either . . . or, neither . . . nor, not . . . but, not only . . . but also
d. Prepositions are the words that indicate location. Usually, prepositions show this
location in the physical world. Prepositions can also show location in time.
- on, in, under, beside, above, below, across, up, down, beneath, from, etc.
e. Pronouns are words that substitute a noun. There are several types of pronouns
including:
1. Personal Pronouns
- include I, you, he, she, it, we, the, us,
- replace nouns representing people.
2. Possessive Pronouns
- are used to show possession.
- my, mine, your, yours, his, her, its, their,
3. Relative Pronoun
- use to add more information to sentence
- which, that, who, whom, whose,
4. Demonstrative Pronoun
- are used to demonstrate or indicate
- this, these, that, those

5. Indefinite Pronoun
- used to replace unspecific things.
- the largest group of pronoun
- all, some, any, several, anyone, nobody, each, both, few, either, none, etc.
6. Reciprocal pronoun
- used for actions or feelings that are reciprocated.
- each other, one another
7. Reflexive Pronouns
- refers to another noun or pronoun in the sentence.
- myself, yourself, herself, himself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves
f. Interjection a word added to a sentence to convey emotion. It is not grammatically

related to any other part of the sentence. In writing, an interjection is typically followed
by an exclamation point.
- Ouch!, Oh No!, Hey!, Oh my God!,
g. Quantifiers express a contrast in quantity. It tells us how many or how much.

- few, some, many, little, a lot, none, less, most more, no, enough, etc.
 Prosody is the patterns of stress and intonation in a language. In addition, prosody is an

important element of language that contributes toward rhythmic and acoustic effects in a
piece of writing. It includes different elements, such as scansion, sound, pace, and
meaning.
 Derivational Contrast is the addition of the prefixes or suffixes that change the world
class.
Example: manage→ manager→ management
lead→ leader→ leadership

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SIGNALS OF SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE

Prepared by: Anne Joshua O. Bautista Page 1

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f. Interjection a word added to a sentence to convey emotion. It is not grammatically

g. Quantifiers express a contrast in quantity. It tells us how many or how much.

 Prosody is the patterns of stress and intonation in a language. In addition, prosody is an

Prepared by: Anne Joshua O. Bautista Page 4

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