Parse a sentence before judging it: Grammar, Round 1

1 Learn

You will be able to

Work out what each word and clause in a short passage is doing before deciding whether you agree with it.
Say what relation a connective such as because, although, therefore or unless asserts, and spot one that the facts do not earn.
Separate a sentence's letter (the arrangement of its words) from its sense (its plain meaning), in Hugh of Saint Victor's order.
Tell a grammatical fault from a false claim or an invalid inference.

LibraryThe Seven Liberal Arts, Hands-On: Logic, Proof and the Quadrivium · The trivium in practiceGrammar's practice, parse before judging, and its made thing: a parsed passage with an error log.2 min glance · 6 min
LibraryHugh of Saint Victor's Didascalicon: Wisdom First, Then Order · Method: letter, sense, inner meaningHugh's order of exposition: the letter (the fit arrangement of words), then the sense, then the inner meaning.2 min glance · 7 min
LibraryEnglish Expression Mastery: Words, Sentences, Paragraphs and Speech · Core exercisesSentence combining shows that because, although, therefore and unless assert relationships, so each must be earned.2 min glance · 7 min
LibraryThe Trivium as One Art: John of Salisbury and Sister Miriam Joseph · Sister Miriam Joseph: one act of communicationGrammar as the art of inventing symbols and combining them to express thought, concerned with the thing as it is symbolised.2 min glance · 6 min
LibraryThe Trivium as One Art: John of Salisbury and Sister Miriam Joseph · John of Salisbury: logic in the broad senseGrammar as the part of logic that gives initial instruction about words, the starting point of all liberal studies.2 min glance · 6 min
LibraryThe Trivium as One Art: John of Salisbury and Sister Miriam Joseph · Where this could be wrongA sentence can be grammatical and false: the three arts work together, but their standards stay separate.2 min glance · 6 min
LibraryChoosing a Language to Study for Reading: Latin, Greek, French, German and Beyond · What each language realistically trainsInflected languages such as Latin and Greek mark a sentence's relationships instead of leaving them to word order.2 min glance · 5 min

2 Practise

Answer each card from memory, then grade yourself honestly. The cards join your review deck and come back just before you would forget them.

recall
What three things does Hugh say the exposition of a text includes, in what order, and what is each?

Show answer
The letter (the fit arrangement of words), the sense (the ready and obvious meaning on the surface) and the inner meaning (the deeper understanding found only through interpretation and commentary). Inquiry runs in that order: letter, sense, inner meaning.
apply
A student skims a hard chapter and starts arguing about what the author really meant before working out its long sentences. What would Hugh's method of exposition have the student do instead?

Show answer
Start with the letter: work out how the words are arranged. Then state the sense, the plain meaning on the surface. Only then seek the inner meaning through interpretation and commentary, and finally gather the chapter into a brief outline to keep in memory.
explain
Why does the page say 'Because the service is running, users cannot log in' is a problem even though the grammar is fine?

Show answer
Connectives such as because, although, therefore and unless assert relationships between ideas, so each must be earned. The facts say only that the service is running, users cannot log in, and the cause is unknown; 'because' invents a causal link the facts do not support.
recall
How does John of Salisbury define logic in its broadest sense, and where does grammar fit?

Show answer
As 'the science of verbal expression and [argumentative] reasoning', which includes all instruction relative to words. Grammar is the part of logic that gives initial instruction about words, the starting point of all liberal studies.
apply
A grammatically clean speech persuades its audience, but its main argument is fallacious. In Miriam Joseph's terms, which arts did the speaker exercise well and which badly, and why does the page keep separate standards?

Show answer
Grammar (the thing as symbolised) and rhetoric (the thing as communicated) went well; logic (the thing as known) failed. The page holds that the arts are united in the act but keep separate tests, so a text can pass two and fail the third.

3 Prove it: the mastery check

5 questions drawn from a pool of 11. The pass mark is 80%. There is no time limit, and you can retake it with new questions; your best result counts.

4 Prove it: the performance task

Parse a passage before judging it

Choose a published passage of 60 to 120 words that makes a claim, for example from a newspaper, a policy, a manual or a book. Do not use your own writing or a private message. Copy one sentence of 15 to 25 words that contains at least two connectives, and work on it in Hugh of Saint Victor's order. (1) The letter: write the sentence out one clause per line and underline every connective, such as because, although, therefore, unless, but or so. (2) For each connective, say in plain words what relation it asserts between the parts, and whether the passage gives grounds for it. (3) The sense: state what the sentence plainly says in one sentence of your own. (4) An error log: list anything you misread on a first pass and any grammatical slip in the source, kept apart from any doubt about whether the claim is true. Only then (5) write one line saying whether you agree, and why. Allow about 30 to 45 minutes.

What to hand in: A one-page parse with the source passage quoted at the top, or a link to it, then the clause lines, the connective notes, the plain sense, the error log and the verdict. Save it on the page or download it.

Check your work against the rubric The chosen sentence is written out one clause per line, and every connective in it is marked. Each marked connective has a note that says in plain words what relation it asserts between the parts, and whether the passage gives grounds for it. The plain sense is one sentence in the learner's own words, that keeps the sentence's main claim and each reason or condition it states, and adds none. The error log keeps grammatical slips and misreadings apart from doubts about whether the claim is true. The verdict on whether to agree comes after the parse and gives a reason.

Your work Or a link to it (optional)

Saved only in this browser. To keep a copy, download it or export your progress.

5 Discuss: the seminar

Read the text, then think, write or talk through the question with someone. There is no answer key: the aim is a better question.

Grammar · Round 1

Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, I.8.13 (Book I, chapter 8, section 13)J. G. Pilkington's translation (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 1, 1887), public domain, as revised for New Advent. Read the whole of section 13, where Augustine describes how he learned to speak.
Dionysius Thrax (attributed), The Art of Grammar, sections 12 to 25 in Davidson's numbering (12 the word, 13 the sentence and the list of eight parts, 14 noun, 15 verb, 19 participle, 20 article, 21 pronoun, 23 preposition, 24 adverb, 25 conjunction)Thomas Davidson's 1874 translation, 'The Grammar of Dionysios Thrax' (Journal of Speculative Philosophy 8, pp. 326-339), public domain. Davidson thought the work genuine, but its authorship is now disputed: Vincenzo Di Benedetto argued in 1958 and 1959 that only the opening sections go back to Dionysius (2nd century BC) and that most of the rest, including the parts of speech, was written in the 3rd or 4th century AD. Leading scholars at first rejected his argument, but it is now widely accepted by specialists (status: Provisional, taken from a general reference summary and not checked against Di Benedetto's papers). Read it as the short school grammar that shaped later Greek and Latin teaching, not as the certain work of one author. Other editions number the sections differently.

Augustine says he learned to speak by watching which things his elders named and moved towards, and by reading their faces, glances and tones. Dionysius sorts the words of a sentence into eight kinds. What does each account assume a word is, and which of the two explains better how a child first learns what a word means?

Augustine says he gradually gathered what things words were the signs of. Are all eight of Dionysius's parts signs of things, or do some, such as the article and the conjunction, do a different job?
Dionysius defines a noun as a declinable part of speech signifying something concrete or abstract (section 14). Is 'nobody' a noun by that test, and what does the test miss?
Augustine's account suggests that a child learns a name by seeing an elder say it and move towards the thing. What is left to learn after that, and who must already know what?

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Parse a sentence before judging it