1. Faizal Risdianto www.stainsalatiga.ac.id
Syntactic Devices
Faizal Risdianto

2. what’s syntactic devices?
Syntactic devices are tools which show the relationship of a single word to another.

3. Kinds of syntactic devices
1. word order
2. function words and content words
3. subtitution
4. concord and government
5.coordination or conjoining
6.subordination or embedding
7. endocentric and exocentric

4. 1. Word order
This is the most widely used or the most frequently used in English. Indeed the different word order of two sentences will have different meaning eventhough they both have the same word input.
For instance:
The Spider frightened Aunt Matilda.
Aunt Matilda frightened the spider.
The tigers killed the hunter.
The hunter killed the tigers.

5. Another instance:
The men eat (right construction)
* men the eat (wrong construction)
Agla station Karkarduma hai (right hindi sentence)
(next) (is)
*Agla station hai Karkaduma (wrong sentence).
Mera naam Faizal hai (right)
Mera naam hai Faizal (wrong)

6. The essential basis of syntax: words cannot be put together in just any order.

7. 2. Function and content words
Content words: nouns, verbs, adjective and adverb
Verb closely related to adverb
And noun closely related to adjective
Function words: auxiliaries, conjuctions, determiners, interjections, postpositions, prepositions and relatives.

8. Pre,post and circumpositions
Preposition: on the ground, in the city, at my place
Postposition: sixty years ago, the whole night through, his claim notwitstanding (still,yet, all the same).
Circumposition: from now on

9. 3. subtitution/pro-N
It is called “pro-forms”. It functions for the replacement of the previous entity.
For instance in Noun c ases:
I like this tie better than “I like” that one
I like this tie better than Ø that one.
I like this better than that.
John likes cream- He likes cream- He likes it.
This, that, one, ones, the former, the latter etc.

10. Instances in verb cases: (modals and aux)
He likes coffee and she does too. (the use of “do”)
He’ll take coffee and so will she .( the use of “will”/modals).
You’ll go, won’t you?
He went, didn’t he?
If I went, would you?
Will you go? I’d like to ( the “to” for substitution).

11. 4. Concord and government
concord means “agreement in form of one word with another”.
This tie, these ties, one short story, two short stories
I eat
He eats
Smoking kills

12. Government means “the determination of one form by another”
Government means “the determination of one form by another”. The use of this particularly can be seen on the use of verbs and prepositions.
He saw her
*He saw see.
My heart and your heart/My and your heart/our heart
*I heart and you heart/ *We heart
I give it to her
*I give it her/ *I give it to she

13. 5. coordination/conjoining
It is too wordy to say “ john takes cream and John takes sugar”. It is better to say “John takes cream and sugar” or we may conjoin it by differing subjects or verbs
John and marry take cream and sugar
John takes and enjoys cream

14. 6.Subordination/embedding
This is in opposition to the function of coordination or conjoining. It gives additional and attacment function to the sentence.
It can be seen by its English relatives and subordianting conjuctions
“John who likes sugar” (attribute/modifier)
“When john drinks coffee” ( attribute/modifier)
Both clauses need the head of the construction.

15. 7. Endocentric+exocentric
A construction is a relationship between constituents. Constructions are divided into 2 types:
Endocentric  and exocentric constructions.
Endocentric construction is one whose distribution is functionally equivalent to that of one or more of its constituents. A word or a group of words acts as a definable center or head. 
Exocentric
 construction refers to a group of  syntactically related words where none of the words is functionally equivalent to the group as a whole. There is no definable center or head inside the group.

16. Endocentric construction
Some types of phrase contain a HEAD word and have the same formal function in their clause as the single head would:
Too extremely dreadful  (The story was too extremely dreadful)
More  surprisingly different(His story was more surprisingly different)
She who must be obeyed.

17. Endocentric construction
Containing no element that is functionally equivalent to the whole structure (non-headed  or  unheaded)
Some phrases are always exocentric
The boy stood on the burning deck.
Who was the man in the iron mask ?
A basic English sentence (consisting of subject and predicate) is always exocentric, since neither part can stand for the whole:
The boy / stood on the burning deck.

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