Syntax is a part of grammar which deals with combinability of words on the one hand and with phrases and sentences on the other. Unit I SENTENCE STRUCTURE The core of syntax is the study of the sentence. A sentence is a language unit consisting of one or more words combined in accordance with the grammatical rules of the language and serving as the chief means of conveying a thought and the speaker's attitude to reality. Sentences may be regarded - from the point of view of the purpose of the utterance: - from the point of view of their structure and meaning. § 1. Classification of sentences I. According to the purpose of the utterance the following four types of sentences are distinguished declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory. 1) The declarative sentence A declarative sentence states a fact in the affirmative or negative form. In a declarative sentence the subject commonly precedes the predicate. IN Modern English (unlike Modern Ukrainian) the predicate usually may have only one negation: e.g. I have never seen anybody in this desolate place. 2) The interrogative sentence An interrogative sentence usually contains a question or request. It is commonly formed by means of inversion, i.e. by placing the predicate or part of it before the subject, though in the so-called indirect questions the word order is direct: E.g. 1 .Is he still asleep? (a direct question). 1. I don't know if he is still asleep (the subordinate clause is an indirect general question). 2. I don't know why she is still asleep (the subordinate ques¬tion is an indirect special question). There exist the followingj^tpes of questions: a) general questions (or "Yes/No"- questions). They arc questions to the predicate of the sentence and require the answer "Yes" or "Mo" (or "I don't know"). They are usually pronounced wit h the rising tone. In colloquial English such questions may be incomplete and even reduced to one word only: e.g. 1. Ready? (- Are you ready?). 2. Lunch? Why not? b) special (pronominal) questions (or wh-questions). They are questions to the subject or secondary parts of the sentence which require a concrete answer (or the answer "I don't know") and are usually pronounced with the falling intonation. Special questions open with special pronominal, pro-adjectival or pro-adverbial interrogative words (or word-combinations) followed by a general question. Such words are also called wh-words. The main function of special questions is to get more exact information about some action or phenomenon known to the speaker and the listener: e.g. 1. What would you like to eat? ( What is a pronominal wh-word). 2. Where do you live? ( Wherein a pro-adverbial wh-word). 3. What kind of books do you prefer? ( What is a pro-adjectival wh-word). 4. At what time does Tom go to sleep? (At what time is an inter¬ rogative pro-adverbial word combination). How much, how many, how long, for whose sake, etc. are also interrogative pro-adverbial and pro-adjectival word combinations. Note. When a special interrogative word (or word combination) is at the same time the subject of a special question or an attribute to the subject the order of words is direct (like in declarative sentences, i.e. no inversion is used): e.g. 1. Who came first? - John did. 2. Whose pen is lying on the table? c) disjunctive questions (or "tag-questions"). A disjunctive question is a short "yes/no" (i.e., general) question added to a statement (affirmative or negative). Usually, if the statement is affirmative the lag should be negative and vice versa. Cf. 1. You know this man, don't you?
2. You don't know this man, do you? The statement and the tag are commonly separated by a pause in speaking and by a comma in writing. The first part of disjunctive questions is usually spoken with a falling intonation while the interrogative tag is pronounced with a rising intonation. e.g. He lives in Kyiv, doesn't he? The tag is usually added to a statement for confirmation but sometimes the speaker actually already knows the answer; in such cases he uses the falling tone in the tag, which makes the whole sentence sound like a statement:
