[...] The meanings are encoded in ʻwordingsʼ: grammatical sequences, or ʻsyntagmsʼ, consisting of items of both kinds – lexical items such as most verbs and nouns, grammatical items like 'the' and 'of' and 'if', as well as those of an in between type such as prepositions. The relation between the meaning and the wording is not, however, an arbitrary one; the form of the grammar relates naturally to the meanings that are being encoded.
- Halliday (1985), Pag. XVII