| Syntactic equivalents are syntactic
structures that have interchangeable syntactic
functions. Replacing one syntactic equivalent for another will
not change the overall structure of the sentence or clause, but it will
change the semantics and general appearance of the sentence or clause.
The most common syntactic equivalent is the pronoun. The pronoun stands in the place of a noun and has the same function as the noun would have in the same position: "John looks at the dog". "He looks at the dog". "John" and "He" are syntactic equivalents that have the syntactic function of subject in each of the two sentences. The following is a list of basic syntactic equivalents for modifier syntactic functions (the most common and simple):
Consider the following sentence: "The hot sun shines brightly" "hot" is an adjectival modifier adjective. The relative clause "which is in the sky" is also an adjectival modifier and could replace "hot" in the sentence. The participle "shining" would do the same. All would modify the noun "sun" "brightly" is an adverbial modifier adverb. It is interchangeable syntactically with the adverbial clause "when it is noon" or the prepositional phrase "in the sky" and all would still modify "shines". |
Other Sentence Structure Topics
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Last Updated March 18, 2003 Questions, comments and corrections should be sent to Brian K. Harvey, Kent State University |
