In your school life you have learned (or perhaps you are still learning) about different linguistic facts, including: noun, adjective, subject, predicate, adverbial adjunct, etc. However, it is very likely that he has not learned how such matters are divided into parts of grammar, nor about what actually is. morphosyntax. For this reason, we are willing to provide you with the necessary knowledge on a subject of such importance – often required in public exams and university entrance exams.
This time, the morphosyntax is nothing more than morphological and syntactic analysis, performed simultaneously. But for its understanding to be carried out in a plausible way, it is necessary to understand, above all, that the morphological analysis concerns the ten grammatical classes; and the syntactic analysis refers to the functions performed by a given word, being it inserted in a clause context.
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So, putting everything we said into practice, let us analyze the example in question, taking into account both analyses:
Students were winners.
Morphologically, we have:
The - definite article (plural)
students - noun
were - verb to be (inflected in the perfect tense of the indicative way)
winners – in this context represents an adjective, but can also act as a noun.
Syntactically, we conclude that:
The students - simple subject
were winners - nominal predicate, depending on the connecting verb
winners - subject's predicament
It is necessary, therefore, to establish the difference between class and function to understand how morphosyntax is processed, as a word can move between one position and another.
Vania Duarte
Graduated in Letters
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
DUARTE, Vânia Maria do Nascimento. "Morphosyntax"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/gramatica/morfossintaxe.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.