How to decode a sentence? Just like we build a single word from individual letters, we also build a sentence from individual ideas. To help us understand a sentence, this book will divide the ideas of a sentence into different foci, and then look at each focus in light of its own rules and patterns. This system of a specific focus and usage will be called an approach, and we will begin our understanding of an approach to a sentence in two ways: form and function.
The form looks at the words in a sentence, highlighting:
- the spelling of a word
- the choice of words (vocabulary)
- the grammar used to connect words in a sequence
- the order of the words in a sequence
The function looks at the ideas presented in a sentence and highlighting their specific roles in the sentence:
- syntax
- the order of ideas in a sentence
The meaning of a sentence is made by combining both form and function, and then merging the sum with context. These three terms (form/function/meaning) are different foci in the same sentence, as we already discussed in cognitive processing. They require their own knowledge and understanding, but also have to be thought about in relation to each other. A lot of information!
One of the strengths of this method is that the organizer shows the relationship between the different forms, and the relationship between the different functions. and then between form and function.
A quick note: This book defines grammar as the system connecting words together, and syntax as the system connecting ideas together.
Leave a Reply