Theocratic Aid To Kingdom Publishers

Lesson 38

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

Knowing words is one thing; skillful use of them in constructing sentences is another. Few words by themselves express a complete thought. They are the material from

which complete thoughts are expressed. And there is no shortage nor rationing of sentence-building material. There is a plenty of words. Hence the material is not the problem, but the skillful putting-together of it to convey in pleasing phrase the thought one wishes to present is the problem.

When one expresses a complete thought he has made a sentence, because a sentence is the expression of a complete thought. It is composed of a group of words, and is, therefore, a composition. Generally, a sentence contains a subject and a predicate. It should end with a period or an interrogation mark or an exclamation mark, depending upon its structure. If the sentence makes an assertion or declaration, it is called a declarative sentence. Imperative sentences are those which command, entreat, or give directions. The exclamatory is employed to express strong emotion, and the interrogative asks a question. The first two (declarative and imperative) are ended with a period, the third (exclamatory) takes the exclamation mark, and the last type mentioned calls for the interrogation or question mark. Sentences extend from one full pause to another.

Sentences (except in the case of sentence-words, such as Help! Halt! Amen, which, because of their context or the circumstances under which they are uttered, express a complete thought in themselves) are divided in two parts, subject and predicate. The subject is the person or thing spoken about; the predicate is that which is stated concerning the subject. Grammatically speaking, sentences may be divided into four classes: simple, complex, compound, and compound-complex. The classification is determined by the number and nature of the clauses that make up the sentences. A clause is simply a part of a sentence, a group of related words containing a subject and a predicate. If the clause can stand alone, and expresses a complete thought, it is termed a principal or independent clause. If the clause does not express a complete thought, but is dependent upon further material for its full meaning, it is spoken of as a subordinate or dependent clause.

The simple sentence consists of one independent clause.

The complex sentence consists of one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses. The dependent clause displays its subordinate position in the sentence in being attached to the main clause by a subordinating conjunction, such as when, if, after, etc.

The compound sentence is composed of two or more independent clauses, generally joined together by a coordinating conjunction, such as and, but, or, etc. Often, however, the coordinating conjunction may be omitted and the two clauses separated by a semicolon.

The compound-complex sentence is composed of two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.

An illustration will make these sentence structures clear. Jehovah's witnesses have often said, "Religion will be destroyed." This emphatic statement is complete. It contains a subject (religion) and a predicate (will be destroyed). It is one independent clause. Hence it is a simple sentence. If, however, one states, "When Christ Jesus executes judgment religion will be destroyed," the sentence ceases to be simple. The clause "when Christ Jesus executes judgment" does not express a complete thought, and is therefore a dependent clause. Its presence turns the once simple sentence into a complex sentence.

Back to the original illustration, "Religion will be destroyed." Information with respect to what will occur after religion's destruction might be added as an independent clause: "Religion will be destroyed, and the pure worship of Jehovah will prevail throughout the earth." By means of the coordinating conjunction and two principal clauses are united and the result is a compound sentence. What about the compound-complex? Combine all the elements used in the foregoing and that is the type composed, thus: "When Christ Jesus executes judgment religion will be destroyed, and the pure worship of Jehovah will prevail throughout the earth."

It has been shown how sentences fall within one of the categories of declarative, imperative, interrogative, or exclamatory; also one of the groupings simple, complex, compound, or compound-complex. But there is still another classification: sentences are either loose or periodic. The loose sentence is one so constructed that it can be brought to a grammatical end before the actual conclusion has been reached and still make sense and be complete. The ninth one of the Ten Commandments reads: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." That sentence could be ended after the word "witness" and still be grammatically correct. It is, therefore, a loose sentence. The periodic sentence is in contrast thereto. It cannot be ended before the last word is reached. The eighth commandment is of this type: "Thou shalt not steal."

One thing to be closely watched in sentence structure is the correct placement of modifiers. Modifiers limit or restrict the meaning. They may be only one word, or a phrase, or a clause. In any event, they should be placed next to the word or words that they modify. This assures clarity of expression and meaning. One might say, "I do not like grapes." That means any kind of grapes. Another might say, "I do not like sour grapes." Here the grapes disliked are limited to sour ones. Sour modifies or restricts the meaning, and it is placed next to the word it modifies. It would be obviously out of place anywhere else. But not all placement of modifiers is so obvious; so this must be watched to insure clarity of expression and avoid statements that can be taken two ways (such statements are called ambiguous).