【正确答案】正确答案：Syntax is a branch of linguistics that studies how words are combined to form sentences and the rules governing the formation of sentences, or the study of the interrelationships between elements in sentence structures.(2 points) The form or structure of a sentence is governed by the rules of syntax. These rules specify word order, sentence organization, and the relationships between words, word classes and other sentence elements. We know that words are organized into structures more than just word order.(3 points)For example: a. The children NP(watched the firework from the hill). b. The children VP(watched the firework)PP(from the hill).(3 points) Here is a single string of words that without any change of order can have two quite different meanings, each corresponding to a possible structure.(2 points)

【答案解析】解析：考查句法学的概念。句法学是指研究语言中词组合成句子的支配规则，或者简单地说，是研究句子的构造。因为通常认为句子是语言中最大的语法单位，所以句法长期以来是语法研究的核心。如乔姆斯基提出的转换生成语法，是通过考查句子的表层结构及深层结构来描述句子的生成及转换的理论。