Sintaksis tadqiq qiladigan asosiy birliklar so`z birikmalari va gaplardir. So`z birikmasi – semantik va strukturaviy jihatdan bir-birini taqozo qiladigan kamida ikkita mustaqil so`zlarning birikishidan hosil bo`lgan birlik. Ingliz tilida so`z birikmalarining quyidagi turlari bor: 1) teng bog`langan: Nick and Jack, boy and girl, the sun and the moon; 2) tobe bog`langan: beautiful girl, good doctor, politially active; 3) predikativli: Nick’s singing, him to sing, him changed, it being dark. So`z birikmalari o`zaro sindetik va asindetik bog`lanishi mumkin. Sindetik bog`lanish deganda biz, bog`lovchilar orqali bog`lanishni tushunamiz (everybody but him, he and she, neither Jack nor Nick), asindetik bog`lanish deganda esa, hech qanday qo`shimchalarsiz bog`lanishni tushunamiz (handsome boy, Nick the singer, King Arthur).