This volume is intended to provide for deficiencies in existing syntax textbooks. The authors thoroughly discuss the fundamental assumptions of the syntactic enterprise at a level which will forestall many of the erroneous inferences common to students of syntax. In addition, the editors also provide a brief account of the so-called 'standard' theory, and how the current frameworks for syntactic description have evolved to differ from it. With such background discussions of the evolution of various descriptive devices, the volume provides a context for understanding both older and current issues in linguistic literature; the authors have supplied a means for understanding the context of subsequent theoretical proposals and their antecedents. A Practical Guide to Syntactic Analysis is intended as a reference text for linguistics students, but is equally of interest to scholars.