Structure

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For other uses, see Structure (disambiguation).

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The structure of something is how the parts of it relate to each other, how "it is put together". This contrasts with process, which is how the things change and a structure is how they are connected.

Structure is the fundamental property of every system, see systemics. Every structure has to have its carrier physical system. On the other hand, a "pure" structure can be also considered as an abstract system.

Dramatic structure refers to the way that scenes and/or acts follow each other in a play, i.e., in Hamlet, Hamlet's "Get thee to a nunnery" scene with Ophelia follows his "To be or not to be" soliloquy, while in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948 film), the order of these two dramatic highlights is switched around. A play with good dramatic structure cannot be easily changed without upsetting the way the plot unfolds or the way characterization is developed.

Identification of a structure is a subjective task, because it depends on the criteria assumed for the recognition of its parts and their relations/relationships. In this sense, the cognitive identification of a structure is also goal-oriented and depends on available knowledge.

Structure is frequently used as the synonym of an invariant system with well distinguished parts and the connections between them.

Both reality and language have of the goals of general semantics, and of science, is to create and use language the structure of which accurately parallels the structure of reality.