syntax

• word


  this refer to the smallest fully meaningful unit
• phrase 


  this is a single piece of information made up of more than one word. It will not contain a subject and a verb
• clause


  A single piece of information made up of more than one word which contains a subject and a verb
• sentence


  this conveys a complete idea. It must contain at least one clause
• tense


  formed by conjunctive verbs in a sentence. Past and present tense
• active voice


  expresses the action of the verb. directly linking it to the person or thing carrying out the action
• passive voice


  changes the focus of the sentence by reordering it

  subject becomes passive agent

  replaces verb with past tense
• aspects


  refer to the duration of an event within a particular tense
• imperative


  give orders, instructions, advice or directions
• declarative


  statements that give information
• interrogative


  instructions
• exclamative


  sentences ending in an exclamation mark
• minor 


  complete and meaningful statements that dont have a subject and verb combination
• simple


  • must have a subject and a verb
  • should express a complete thought
• compound


  two simple sentences joined by conjunction
• complex


  a sentence containing a subordinate clause or clauses
• subordinate clause


  depends on a main clause for its meaning

  forms part of a complex sentence
• compound-complex


  two or more independent clauses

  at least one subordinate clause
• independent clause


  make sense on there own

  every sentence contains one main clause
• coordinate clause


  two or more independent causes

  joined by coordinating conjunction

  • and, but, so, nor, for, or, yet
• relative clause


  connected to a main clause by a word such as which, that, whom, when, where, who
• syndetic list


  has one 'and' or other conjunction at the end
• asyndetic list


  no conjunction in it at all
• poly-syndetic list


  has a conjunction between every word
• syntactical parallelism


  when one clause in a sentence corresponds with another

  sentence structure correspond with one another
• anaphora


  repetition of words or phrases at the beggining of successive clauses
• epistrophe


  repetition of words or phrases at the end of successive clause
• symploce


  combination of anaphora and epistrophe: both begging and end
• hypophora


  asking a question then answering it
• chiasmus


  reversing or inverting the words of one clause in the next
• anadiplosis

  repeating the last words of one clause in the next one
• noun phrase


  The subject or object a sentence

  can be replaced by pronoun
• verb phrase


  the portion of a sentence that contains the main verb and auxiliary
• conditional clause


  begins with if

  describes something probable or possible