SYl^TAX. ' 571 



SYNTAX. 



The syntax* of a language deals with that part of its grammar which 

 gives a systematic account of the structure of the sentence and its portions, 

 selects the existing grammatic forms^ and assigns to them their proper places 

 in the composition of the sentence. 



Thus the grammatic forms presented by morphology, and the lexical 

 treasure of a language furnished by the dictionary are but the raw material 

 with which sentences are composed conformably to the laws of syntax. The 

 words found thei-e become true words only when they become constituents 

 of the sentence ; and, to reach their full effect, words and sentences have to 

 be placed in such adequate logical relation to each other as expresses best 

 the meaning of the speaker or writer. 



No sentence can be considered complete in which three elements of 

 speech — subject, predicate, and copula (or substantive verb) — are not 

 expressed or implied. This is true of all languages, although the means 

 for expressing the three elements may widely differ, since the predicate and 

 the copula are frequently embodied in one and the same word. 



The simple sentence, composed by the above-mentioned three parts 

 only, becomes enlarged — the transitive verb by the direct and indirect ; the 

 intransitive verb by the indirect object or complement; and both may 

 become qualified by adverbs (or adverbial attributes). Then the subject 

 and the objects are qualified by attributes of various kinds, which may 

 even appear under the form of a whole sentence. Based upon these funda- 

 mental categories of speech, the whole syntactic material divides itself into 

 the following chapters : 



The predicative relation. 

 The objective relation. 

 The attributive relation. 



*The proper signification of the Greek term st/ntaxis is that of "arrangement", "putting in 

 order." 



