Microsoft Word Theoretical Course of English Grammar

Nino Kirvalidze
10
The politician’s speech
was offensive. 
His manner
was offensive. 
All these expressions, and infinitely many more, can combine with ‘…was offensive’. So they 
all have the same syntagmatic relation with the rest of the sentence, as they can all figure in the 
same position in its structure, i.e. they all have the equivalent function that of a subject as a 
constituent in sentence structure. In this respect they can all be classed paradigmatically as 
noun phrases. Paradigmatic relations between lingual elements are especially evident in 
classical paradigms of categorical forms of parts of speech. The minimal paradigm consists of 
two oppositional forms. This kind of paradigm we see, for instance, in the expression of the 
category of number: 
boy – boys
. More numerous paradigms are observed in the expression of 
grammatical categories of adjectives (
big – bigger – biggest
) and verbs (play – plays – played – 
will play; play – is playing – has been playing, etc.). 
Unlike syntagmatic relations, paradigmatic relations between lingual units cannot be di-
rectly observed in sentences, that is why they are referred to as relations “in absentia” (“in the 
absence”).
The forms of language at any level are organized along these two dimensions or axes. 
They combine into larger structures along the horizontal (i.e. linear) or syntagmatic axis: 
sounds or letters combine to form morphemes; morphemes combine to form words; words 
combine to form phrases; phrases combine to form sentences; sentences combine to form a text. 
When different forms have the same potential to occur in the same structural context and are 
therefore equivalent in function, they are paradigmatically associated as members of the same 
class of items.
It is necessary to see that this two-dimensional mode of organization provides the poten-
tial to generate infinite expressions from a limited number of language means. Besides this, 
these two interdependent dimensions or relations between lingual elements represent the basic 
principles for the linguistic analysis at all levels.