Make A Better Sentence Flow

What is a “Sentence Flow”?

A sentence flow as we understand it within the context of our bible study sessions is a copy of the biblical passage under study but written in such a way as to highlight through a series of line breaks and indentations the elements of the sentences that compose the passage.

A text like Mark 4:24-25 might look like the following in print.

²⁴He also told them, “Take care what you hear. The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you. ²⁵To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

In the form of sentence flow, it would look like the following:

²⁴He also
told them,

“Take care
what you hear.
The measure
with which you measure
will be measured out
to you,
and
still more
will be given
to you.

²⁵To the one
who has,
more will be given;
from the one
who has not,
even what he has
will be taken away.”

The above example illustrates that a sentence flow

• is the exact copy of the text
• is made with a lot of line breaks and indentations of varying lengths

There is more however to a sentence flow that just indentations and linebreaks. If you would notice, it is easier to see particular words and phrases that stand out in the sentence flow, e.g. “measure”, “more”, “has/has not”. Further, phrases that we often don’t pay enough attention to, stand out quite easily and makes us as not only what the text means but its immediate context. For example, who is the “He” and the “them” here? The opening line already forces us to ask about the text that goes before Mark 4:24-25. In this case, Jesus is the “He” (from verse 13) and the “them” is the “Twelve” (from verse 12) who ask him about the meaning of the parable of the sower (in vv. 3-9). This assessment of the text of Mark 4:24-25 helps the reader to see it as part of the explanation Jesus gives his intimate circle of disciples. Finally, the sentence flow also helps the reader see that each of the verses can still be divided into smaller phrases, each having their own meanings. In the illustration below, we have divided verse 24 into 24a, 24b, 24c and verse 25 into 25a and 25c. These divisions will serve for a detailed study of the passage in question.

Notice too that with the sentence flow of Mark 4:24-25, one can immediately identify the parts of the passage:

• The main clause is formed by 24a, all the rest, from 24b-25a, is the object clause of the verb “told”.
• The verse 24b is an imperative and the rest from 24c-25b is an explanation of why it is important that the Twelve take heed of what they hear.
• In the phrase “the measure with which you measure”, the first “measure” is a noun and the second a verb.
• Verse 25a repeats the idea in 24c; verse 25b is the contrary idea of verse 25a
• The content of what one has in verse 25a is what has been measured out in 24c.

Given the above analysis that our sentence flow allows us to make of Mark 4:24-25, we have not yet fully understood the meaning of the passage. But the analysis already gives us a hint of the passage’s meaning which can be confirmed later on by a study of the context of the passage. For the moment, we know that Jesus is telling the Twelve to carefully understand what is being told them since by understanding (what is measured out) they will be able to understand more (more will be given). If they don’t make an effort to understand (what one has not), they will not be able understand at all (what one has not will be taken away.) This interpretation is confirmed by Jesus’ words in verse 13.

Jesus said to them,
“Do you not understand this parable?
Then how will you understand any of the parables?”

What I have described above simply shows that the sentence flow is a tool for analysis that allows one to understand a passage better. Finally, one can also add that since one actually copies the text of Mark 4:24-25 “intelligently”, the process also helps one to remember the passage.

How does one make a good sentence flow?

1. Practise. A good sentence flow is not easily constructed. One will have to keep making sentence flows every time one has to study a text. Habit makes things easier.

2. Review your Grammar and Syntax. At least be sure what a “noun” and a “verb” means, at first. Then go on to review what you have learned about the different kinds of sentences, “clauses”, and the other “grammar things” you learned in school. A basic knowledge of grammar is essential to any reading. Sentence flows don’t teach you grammar and syntax; sentence flows require from one the basic knowledge of the parts of a sentence and how phrases in a sentence are related.

3. Always break down verses sytematically. Don’t begin cutting up a verse from the beginning. First see it as a whole and then break it down to two parts first, then try to see whether you can still break down the parts into smaller parts. Take this verse for example:

On that day, as evening drew on, he said to them, “Let us cross to the other side

I would first cut up the verse thus

[Part A]On that day, as evening drew on, he said to them,
[Part B] “Let us cross to the other side.”

Part A has the main clause “he said to them” with “On that day” and “as evening drew on” as the temporal clauses (It answers the question: When did Jesus tell them to cross to the other side?). So I would cut it up thus, with the temporal clauses not indented but keeping them apart.

On that day,
as evening drew on,
he said to them,

Part B is the object of the verb “said” and can be divided thus:

Let us cross
to the other side.

After the process, one should have something like the one below.

On that day,
as evening drew on,
he said to them,

Let us cross
to the other side

4. Use indentations effectively. Indentations in a sentence flow should help you see similar words or phrases. In the example below, the three requirements for discipleship are easily seen because of the indentation:

“Whoever wishes
to come after me

must deny himself,
take up his cross,
and follow me.

Again, the violent actions of the tenants of the vineyard towards the son are easily identifiable in the way they are NOT indented and lined up with the tenants’ actions (the verbs “saw” and “said”)

But when the tenants saw
the son,
they said
to one another,

‘This is the heir.

Come,
let us kill him
and acquire his inheritance.’

They seized him,
threw him
out of the vineyard,
and killed him.

5. Color your sentence flow. Make your sentence flow a work of art, even if it is for you alone to appreciate. Underline, encircle nouns, verbs, adjectives, similar phrases with different colors. That way, when you make your detailed analysis of a passage, it would be easy to recognize purpose clauses and verbs with different subjects. For an example of this, see the sentence flow I made for Matthew 21:33-43.

Conclusion

The sentence flow is a tool for analysis, nothing more, nothing less. But like all tools, the more it is perfected, the better it serves its purpose. It is a tool that becomes better the more you use it. At first, the sentence flow may feel like it is preventing you from reading a biblical passage and understanding it differently from the way you did before. The fact however is that it would force you to see a biblical passage in a new way, that is, more attentively, carefully and objectively. By creating sentence flows, the process of studying a biblical passage is raised to a different level: it becomes more detailed and attentive to parts that make up a text. The creation of a sentence flow is just the inital part of the study of a biblical passage, but even at this level, one already experiences the conviction of the Church that to understand the spiritual sense of the Scriptures, that is, the message of the Holy Spirit who inspired the text, one must pass through the literal sense of the text, even if it is through a translation.

Tags: christian scriptures, sentence flow, studying scriptures, translations