[php] syntax error, unexpected T_VARIABLE

There is no semicolon at the end of that instruction causing the error.

EDIT

Like RiverC pointed out, there is no semicolon at the end of the previous line!

require ("scripts/connect.php") 

EDIT

It seems you have no-semicolons whatsoever.

http://php.net/manual/en/language.basic-syntax.instruction-separation.php

As in C or Perl, PHP requires instructions to be terminated with a semicolon at the end of each statement.