Synonymous Structures in English Syntax

Abstract

Synonymy is one of the most important sources of the wealth of language and is closely related to the problems of stylistics, speech culture, language changes and language improvements. In linguistic literature the term synonymy is increasingly frequently used in relation to different language elements: sounds, word forms, morphemes, syntactic constructions. Recent developments in the studies of grammatical synonymy have led to a renewed interest in syntactic synonymy which is at the heart of our understanding of grammatical synonyms. The purpose of this article is to review the recent research into syntactic synonymy, taking into consideration the attempts of different linguists to define syntactical synonym, determine the criteria of synonymity and examine the synonymous structures in English syntax.