Linguistics, or linguistics - the science of speech, language and communication - studies the most diverse aspects of the structure and functioning of languages. Syntax is a branch of the science of language that studies phrases, sentences, and text. This article is devoted to what exactly and from what point of view experts study.
Phrases
Phrases are such formations in a language that are constructed from ready-made units - words and phraseological units - with or without function words (prepositions) according to certain rules of a particular language. Syntax is a branch of the science of language that studies exactly what rules words are combined into phrases and by what means.
To construct a phrase, it is not enough to take any two words and combine them mechanically. First, they must be connected in meaning. Let's say the words "finch" and "lop-eared" can be easily combined according to all the rules of grammar(lop-eared finches, lop-eared finches, etc.), however, the meanings of these words will resist such a connection. It can take place only if both of these words or one of them are used in a figurative sense. For example, a “chaffinch” can be called a puppy that often freezes, then everything will be all right with the phrase “fold-eared finch”. These are interesting questions, but syntax deals with them indirectly, this is more the field of the science of semantics and semasiology - the science of the meaning of words.
Syntax is a branch of the science of language that studies phrases from the point of view of their formal connection. Syntaxists are interested in the question of why some combinations of words are perceived by native speakers as grammatically correct, while others are not. The simplest example is "blue water" and "blue water". In the first case, the rule of agreement between adjective and noun is violated. In Russian, the adjective (definition) must repeat the forms of the noun (defined) in order for the phrase to be correct. Therefore, syntax is a branch of the science of language that studies the phrase from a grammatical point of view.
Offer
Combinations are constructed from words, and phrases are combined into sentences. Syntax is a branch of the science of language that studies by what rules and according to what models this happens. There are a lot of questions to study and research, and the easiest way to see this is with the example of the difference between languages. Say, in an English sentence, the grammatical basis must includemust include both the subject and the predicate. If the meaning of a sentence does not imply a subject, it must still be presented formally. – It (formal subject, which is not necessary in terms of meaning) is raining.
In the Russian language, the grammatical basis can be presented in one word: "It rains all the time"; "It is cold today"; "It gets dark quickly in autumn." In all these sentences, it is impossible to distinguish subjects and predicates, and at the same time, the main member of the sentences (rain, cold, dusk) is both the subject and the predicate (syntactic functions are realized by them syncretically). More voluminous associations - texts - are also studied by syntax.
Punctuation
Why is it important for all native speakers to understand what syntax is? Punctuation (correct punctuation) is based on syntactic knowledge, therefore, in order to write correctly, it is necessary to understand not only the basics, but also the nuances of syntax. For example, it is impossible to understand where to put a comma in a complex sentence without knowing what a complex sentence is and not being able to find the boundaries of its parts.
Thus, syntax is a science that studies texts, the laws of sentence formation and combining words into phrases. Knowledge of punctuation is based on syntax.
