Verbum Tip 4e: Bible Browser - Sentence types

MJ. Smith · November 2020

Please be generous with your additional details, corrections, suggestions, and other feedback. This is being built in a .docx file for a PBB which will be shared periodically.

Previous post: Verbum Tip 4d Next post: Verbum Tip 4f

Facet: Sentence types

Documentation

Parks, James. 2016. Sentence Types Dataset Documentation. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife.

Notice that the common fourth sentence type, exclamatory sentence, is omitted from this analysis.

Definitions from the documentation:

[quote]A declarative sentence is usually seen as an assertion of fact. And it usually uses the indicative mood and the most prototypical word order. The subjunctive mood is also used for declarative sentences. The purpose of declarative sentences is usually to express statements of fact.^{^[1]}

An interrogative sentence is usually seen as an information question, though rhetorical questions also utilize the interrogative type. An interrogative sentence usually uses the indicative mood, like declarative, but it uses a different word order in most cases. Where the prototypical word order is verb initial, an interrogative sentence places the questioned constituent in the initial position. The purpose of interrogative sentences is usually to request information from another person.^{^[2]}

An imperative sentence is usually seen as a command. And it usually uses the imperative mood and the most prototypical word order, like the declarative type. However, the subject of the command is usually left unexpressed, and is referenced only through the agreement features of the verbal morphology. The purpose of an imperative sentence is usually to issue some directive to another person or group of people.^{^[3]}

In the interest of full disclosure, I have trouble with the definition of declarative sentence. Compare the definitions from Wikipedia:

[quote]Sentences can also be classified based on their purpose:

A declarative sentence or declaration, the most common type, commonly makes a statement: "I have to go to work."
An interrogative sentence or question is commonly used to request information—"Do I have to go to work?"—but sometimes not; see rhetorical question.
An exclamatory sentence or exclamation is generally a more emphatic form of statement expressing emotion: "I have to go to work!"
An imperative sentence or command tells someone to do something (and if done strongly may be considered both imperative and exclamatory): "Go to work." or "Go to work!"[4]

The difference is in the Faithlife use of “fact” vs. the Wikipedia use of statement. Fact has a specific meaning that does not apply to much of scripture i.e. passages that are poetic, mythic, legal . . .

[quote]A fact is an occurrence in the real world. The usual test for a statement of fact is verifiability—that is whether it can be demonstrated to correspond to experience. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by experiments or other means.

For example, "This sentence contains words." is a linguistic fact, and "The sun is a star." is an astronomical fact. Further, "Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States." and "Abraham Lincoln was assassinated." are both historical facts. Generally speaking, facts are independent of belief and of knowledge.[5]

I would suggest that confusing statements with facts is a significant cause of error in Biblical interpretation.

Bible Browser

Set up: Start with NRSV à Literary Types: Saga, Abraham

Select Sentence Types: Imperative Sentence à People God

While there are better ways to find commands of God within the Saga of Abraham, this is a method that uses the limited facets of the Bible Browser that we have seen.

Note the use of two colors in the highlighting.

Interactive

No interactive deals with Sentence types.

Context Menu and Information Panel

The Information Panel does not contain data from the Sentence Types dataset.

In the Context Menu, the standard functions of initiating searches and copying the search argument are available. The search arguments are:

{Section <Sentence = Declarative>}
{Section <Sentence = Imperative>}
{Section <Sentence = Interrogative>}

Note this is not consistent with the pattern on Literary Types. BUG: inconsistent copy search argument from Context Menu

Search

Initiating a Bible Search from the Context Menu when an imperative sentence is selected yields:

Visual Filter

Step 1: Create a Highlighting Palette appropriate for highlighting sentence types.

Note the use of regular, bold, and italic fonts minimizes the interference of this filter with the system supplied visual filters.

Step 2: Create a Visual filter using the Highlighting Palette.

Step 3: Apply the filter to a passage of Scripture:

Note the bold:

QUIZ:

How many results are there in the Longacre genre of Behavioral in books written by John contain interrogative sentences?

How many results are there in the Household Code with imperative sentences?

^{^[1]} James Parks, Sentence Types Dataset Documentation (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2016).

^{^[2]} James Parks, Sentence Types Dataset Documentation (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2016).

^{^[3]} James Parks, Sentence Types Dataset Documentation (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2016).

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_(linguistics)#By_purpose 11/19/2020 9:00 PM

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fact 11/19/2020 9:07 PM