Sententia = Subjectum + Praedicatum

The Romans created our English sentence structure.

Part II: Parts of a Sentence

The Romans never made it to Ireland, and that’s made all the difference.

The Irish language, unlike English, has been mostly unaffected for more than 2500 years (or longer, according to my cousin who claims that they have spoken Irish in Ireland since the beginning of time). It is not surprising, therefore, that the vocabulary, pronunciation, and, most notably, the structure of the sentence itself in Irish is completely different than those in English. The language of every place which was dominated by the Roman Empire absorbed the unique sentence structure of Latin. Yet, like a fish in the middle of the ocean, we don’t appreciate that structure in which we’ve been raised and which has always surrounded us. Our sentences, in fact, are so beautifully ordered that they are able to diagrammed, and have been for centuries. This is all due to the Romans and their lovely, logical Latin. (If this is your first visit to Manuscribit, you are very welcome! I suggest that, for best results, you begin with the first post and work your way through. Obtain a sketchbook for necessary doodling.)

So we will begin our study of the Parts of a Sentence by declaring the primary rules of sentence structure inherited from the Romans: FIRST comes the identification of the person or thing about which we are communicating, while SECOND comes the indication of the action or trait we wish to communicate about that person or thing, and THIRD both elements are required to make a sentence.* This seem so logical that we would wonder why any other language would do it differently. Yet, the Irish (and many other languages not impacted by Latin) do. For example, when we respond to “How are you?”, we say, “I am fine.” In Irish, however, the response (Ta me go maith) is literally translated “Is me good.” In English, I would say “He is talking” while the same statement in Irish (Ta se ag caint) is verbatim translated “Is he at talking.” Rome still matters. *(Note: While words in Latin sentences can be written in any order, because declension and conjugation indicate which role each word plays in the sentence, the traditional order and requirements, stated above and passed on to English, still apply. Because English has so little declension and conjugation, sentence structure is even more vital for correct communication.)

The name given to that first part of the sentence is derived from the word Subjectum which literally means the underpinning or foundation. (Do you recognize “sub” as one of our Latin prefixes?) This part is always required to come first because this is the foundation of the sentence or the basis upon which it is built: it is the raison d’etre for the sentence. The name of the second section which followed is derived from the word Praedicatum which is translated as the announcement, report, or that which is to be known. (Dictus means speech or words spoken; Prae/Pre means before or in front of others, or publicly.) In short, the Praedicatum declares what we need to know about the Subjectum. These two major subsections of a sentence are, of course, known as the subject and the predicate, in that order, and both are still required to make a complete sentence. In fact, we can draw a line between those two portions of the sentence, putting everything pertaining to the subject on the left side, and everything pertaining to the predicate on the right side. This is the initial step in diagramming of a sentence and understanding how all of the section and subsections fit together.

Next week, we will begin our in depth study of Parts of the Sentence with the Subject.

In the meantime, write down the following sentences in your sketchbook, and draw a vertical line between the subject and the predicate. The correct answers will follow below. (Remember that the subject and the predicate are much more than a noun and a verb.)

1. Jane stayed.

2. Jane, my youngest sister, stayed home.

3. My youngest sister, Jane, quietly stayed home with her dog, Bowser.

4. Our dear Jane, who is my youngest sister, called on the phone while quietly staying home with her old dog, Bowser.

5. Our dear Jane, who is my youngest sister and an avid reader, called on the phone after choosing to stay home with her old dog, Bowser.

Until next week, may God’s peace be with you.

And the line between the Subject and the Predicate should be drawn:

1. After Jane

2. After sister,

3. After Jane,

4. After sister,

5. After reader,