grammatical construction

Thân thiện

He writes a sentence on the board to explain a grammatical construction.

Definition

Noun: 1. A sequence of words arranged according to the rules of grammar to form a meaningful unit within a sentence. This refers to any syntactically correct grouping of words that functions as a single element, such as a phrase, clause, or the entire sentence itself. The term emphasizes the structure and arrangement of the words. 2. The specific way in which words are combined to create a particular meaning or effect. This meaning focuses on the choice and order of words, which can sometimes be unusual or distinctive.

Examples

• As a syntactic unit:
  • The grammatical construction "in the old house" functions as a prepositional phrase.
  • Linguists analyze the grammatical construction of complex sentences.
• As a specific word arrangement:
  • The poet's unusual grammatical constructions made her work difficult to parse.
  • I concluded from his awkward constructions that he was a foreigner.

Advanced Usage

• Theoretical Linguistics: In construction grammar, a construction is a fundamental unit of grammar, a form-meaning pairing that can be a word, an idiom, or a general syntactic pattern (e.g., the "ditransitive construction" as in "She gave him a book").
• Analysis: The term is used to discuss the correctness, complexity, or style of a word grouping. One might critique a "clumsy construction" or praise an "elegant construction."

Variants and Related Words

• Construct (verb): To build or form by putting parts together. (e.g., ).
• Syntax (noun): The set of rules and principles that govern sentence structure and the arrangement of words.
• Constituent (noun): A word or a group of words that functions as a single unit within a hierarchical structure.

Synonyms

• Phrase
• Clause
• Word group
• Syntactic structure
• Wording
• Phrasing

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Turn of phrase: A particular or distinctive way of expressing something.
  • His clever turn of phrase made the speech memorable.
• Figure of speech: A word or phrase used in a non-literal sense for rhetorical effect.
  • "Time is a thief" is a common figure of speech.

Học thuật

Noun

1. a group of words that form a constituent of a sentence and are considered as a single unit
   • I concluded from his awkward constructions that he was a foreigner

Từ đồng nghĩa

• construction
• expression