Summary By Andrew Radfor Radford

As chapter one and two of Syntactic theory and the structure of English book, by Andrew Radford, were introductory, one would assume that chapter three would go just a further step in explaining syntax for someone with no previous knowledge of syntax, as promised. One is not being sure if the problem is that the audience (me) speaks English as a second language, or if it is just the audience's (me again) slow mind, or if it is simply the nature of the subject of sin-tax which makes it difficult to process and comprehend. Terms are presented in an intense manner, a bunch at a time, with each term's abbreviation and function, along with their definition in the Glossary and Abbreviation section of the book. For someone who has no previous knowledge of syntax, it is not as easy as he makes it seem.

One might say that this is due to his way of simplifying his style by speaking what learners might think, and dealing with their possible confusion about the subject. But too many assumptions, when one doesn't know which is right and which is not, is distracting. For example, in 1.7 Radford suggests that English is a "head first" language without pointing out that it is not always the case, in 3.3 he gives examples of what seems like complements before heads, and then he explains that they are specifiers not complements. The author wonders if English is not always a head+complement language, tempting the reader to believe so, then while explaining specifiers he goes back to saying that English is always a head+complement language.