Theme: syntax in oe contents I. Introduction II. Main body. Structural relations of old english

2.1. Ways of expressing syntactical relations

These may be classed under three headings: agreement, government, joining.

Agreement

This is mainly used in attributive groups, to denote the syntactical relation between an adjective (or pronoun) and the substantive (its head word). E.g.: micle meras fersce 'large fresh-water lakes', mislicum ond maniʒfealdum bisʒum 'different and manifold occupations' (dative plural), sealtne sæ 'salt sea' (accusative); also between pronoun and substantive: ōðre hwalas 'other whales', ðære bec 'that book' (dative).

Government

This is a type of syntactical connection on phrase level characterized by a substantive or pronoun standing in a certain case (accusative, genitive, or dative) dependent on the head word requiring this particular case. Some verbs require the dependent substantive to be in the accusative case (these are the so-called transitive verbs), as in: leoð wyrcan 'compose songs', andsware onfōn 'receive an answer', ʒesomnian pa men 'assemble the men'. Other verbs require a dependent substantive to be in the genitive (this is usually the case when the verb denotes an idea of attaining, or reaching, or touching an object), as in: nēosian luses 'approach the house', bidan windes 'wait for the wind', hlyste minra worda 'listen to my words'. Lastly, a verb may require a substantive to be in the dative, as in: hyre sæde 'said to her'. Government by adjectives is much more limited in scope. An adjective usually requires a dependent substantive to be in the genitive, as in: morpres scyldiʒ 'guilty of murder'; wrætta full 'full of treasures', syfan elna lanʒ 'seven ells long'. Only rarely does an adjective require its dependent substantive to be in the dative. This is the case, for example, in the phrase ʒōde hāliʒ 'holy to God'.

Joining

An adverb referring to a verb or an adjective is connected with it without any formal means, by what is usually called joining ʒretan frēondlice 'greet in a friendly way', miclelæssa 'much smaller'.