ABSTRACT
The concept of structure is fundamental to the study of syntax. But it is a very general concept that can be applied to any complex thing, whether it’s a bicycle, a commercial company, or a carbon molecule. When we say of a thing that it is complex we mean, not that it is complicated (though of course it may be), but that
(a) it is divisible into parts (called constituents),
(b) there are different kinds of parts (different categories of constituents),
(c) the constituents are arranged in a specifiable way,
(d) that each constituent has a certain specifiable function in the structure of the thing as a whole.
