1.
Synthetic language vs. analytic language
综合语
&
分析语
English is a synthetic language
English is characterized by frequent and systematic use of inflected forms(
屈折形式，即单词加上语言要素改变的形式
) to express grammatical relationships, and as a result, it has ample variations in terms of tense, aspect
体（进行体、完成体）
, number and case.
Chinese is an analytic language
Chinese is an analytic language, namely, a language that mainly conveys relationships between words in sentences by way of helper words, that is, particles
小品词（与动词构成短语动词的副词或介词）
, prepositions etc. as opposed to using inflections
词尾的屈折变化。
The
difference between the two is that the synthetic language composes or synthesizes multiple concepts into each word, while analytic language break up or analyze concepts into separate words.
例：
The high-altitude plane was and still is a remarkable bird.
该高空飞机过去是，现在仍然是一架了不起的飞机。
分析：
In the
English sentence, the words was and is express different tenses already, the past tense and the present tense. While in the Chinese version, we have to resort to the helper words
过去
and
现在
to show the different tenses.
2.
Hypotaxis vs. Parataxis
形合
&
意合
H
ypotaxis is the grammatical arrangement of functionally similar but unequal constructs, i.e. certain constructs have more importance than others inside a sentence. Parataxis favors short, simple sentences.
English favors hypotaxis whereas Chinese favors parataxis. English is like a tree, whose branches are all intertwined. Whereas Chinese is like a bamboo whose stems build upon one another.
Example
例：
The boy, who was crying as if his heart would break, said, when I
spoke to him, that he was hungry because he had had no food for two days.
男孩哭得很伤心，我问他怎么了，他说他太饿了，已经两天没吃东西了。
