English Syntax

Syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing sentences in natural languages. This course aims to familiarize students with the basic concepts of English sentence structures. By the end of this course, students are expected to: (1) understand the hierarchical structures of common English sentences and use tree diagrams to express these structures; (2) judge the grammaticality of English sentences; (3) appreciate structural ambiguities as a result of different syntactic structures; (4)understand the differences between the form (e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc.) and the function (e.g. subjects, predicators, objects, adverbials, etc.) of the constituents.