Syntax

Syntax (/sɪntæks/) is concerned with the patterns of word order in sentences, clauses and phrases.

Syntactic Units

Theories of syntax assume syntactic units such as syntactic categories and clitics.

Syntactic Categories

Syntactic categories include word classes (e.g noun, verb, preposition etc.) and phrasal categories (e.g noun phrase, verb phrase etc.) Syntactic rules are often described in terms of syntactic categories, such as the rule; determiners go before adjectives in noun phrases

Clitics

Clitics are not as typical in English as in other languages; but examples of clitics in English include contractions and the possessive apostrophe.

Diction

Some theories of syntax focus on diction, or the choices a writer or speaker makes when using word order to effectively convey an idea, or point of view. Syntax can help:

• produce rhetorical and aesthetic effects
• control pace and mood
• create atmosphere

Pedagogy

Common methods and tools for teaching word order include:

• Drilling activities - Particularly, the asking of students to repeat a sentence, clause or phrase, with attention to it’s word order.
• Grammatical formula - Formal representations of syntax for reference
• Unscrambling activities - Activities which involve students putting a scrambled list of words in order, often used for assessment.