This is what Cyrus king of Persia says, “The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah.” – Ezra1:2
Build sentences in the order of 5W1H
The Kingdom of Israel in the north disappeared due to the invasion of Assyria. Assyria was later destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire (modern-day Iraq), which had long contested for supremacy in the Middle East. The Neo-Babylonian Empire, having become the new power in the Middle East, invaded the Kingdom of Judah, the remaining part of the Israelite nation, in 587 BC, destroyed Jerusalem, and took the Israelites as captives.
However, the Neo-Babylonian Empire also fell, conquered by the Persian Empire (modern-day Iran) in 536 BC. Interestingly, the king of this empire proclaimed that he was commanded by the LORD to build a temple. As a result of this event, the Israelite captives were gradually able to return to Jerusalem.
The history recorded in the Old Testament ends with the story of the exile period, encapsulated in Nehemiah. Including the special story of the exile period, Esther, the historical books of the Bible total 17 volumes. Together with 5 books of Psalms and 17 prophetic books, the Old Testament comprises 39 books.
For about 400 years thereafter, there were no special self-records of the Israelite nation, similar to the absence of records during the 400 years the family of Abraham lived in Egypt. This 400-year period is significant in world history, as it saw the birth of many philosophies and religious ideas through figures such as Siddhartha (~483 BC) in India, Confucius (~479 BC) in China, and Socrates (~399 BC) and Plato (~357 BC) in Greece. Many scriptures were also written in Israel during this period but were not included in the Bible we see today. These writings, not included in the Bible, are called the Apocrypha, a term contrasting with the Biblical canon, which consists of the texts selected as the Bible.
To understand the hardships experienced during this period, one must refer to the records of other historians. The Persian Empire, which had destroyed the Kingdom of Judah, fell to Alexander the Great of Greece in 332 BC. The Israelites were subsequently ruled by the Greeks and, after Alexander’s death, came under the dominion of his generals, including the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt and the Seleucid dynasty in Syria. Although there was a period of independence achieved by the prophet Mattathias and maintained by the Maccabean dynasty, this independence lasted only 72 years before coming under the invasion of Pompey of Rome, turning it into a Roman client state. Later, Herod, a Jew and an Idumean, sided with the Roman Emperor Caesar and was appointed by him as king of the Jews. This Herod would emerge in the coming era of Jesus.
Interregnum is a concept used to refer to an unstable and chaotic period between one era (regnum) and another. It can be said to represent the interim period when one era has ended and the next has not yet begun, similar to the biblical story mentioned above. Let’s also have a moment of such transition as we conclude our discussion on verbs.
Recalling the five patterns of English sentences we learn in school and our two principles of English; they are as follows:
- Pattern 1: S + V
- Pattern 2: S + V + C (Complement)
- Pattern 3: S + V + O (Object)
- Pattern 4: S + V + I.O (Indirect Object) + D.O (Direct Object)
- Pattern 5: S + V + O (Object) + O.C (Object Complement)
The differentiation of English sentences into these five grammatical patterns ultimately revolves around the verb. Pattern 1 involves intransitive verbs that complete the sentence by themselves, Pattern 2 involves linking verbs that require a complement, Pattern 3 involves transitive verbs that take an object, Pattern 4 involves ditransitive verbs that take two objects (to whom + what), and Pattern 5 involves complex transitive verbs that require an object complement.
The form of the sentence changes depending on the verb. We examined English expressions in a slightly different approach from the above five patterns, defining a “word order formula” based on two simple principles and solving curiosities in that order. Let’s recall our English principles.
Principle 1 of English (Conclusion-first principle): English starts with the conclusion, beginning with the subject + verb.
Principle 2 of English (Curiosity-solving principle): English solves curiosities in order after drawing a conclusion.
S+V+(who+what)+[where+why+how+when]
Comparing our “word order formula” with the five grammatical patterns, we can see that “who” and “what” primarily become the object, and occasionally the complement or object complement. Objects and complements simply move to their positions in order without any special changes, essentially just a lineup of words. This may be how most languages initially expressed themselves, without the differentiated roles of nouns, adjectives, adverbs, simply laying out words for communication.
As languages developed rules for word change and introduced new parts of speech like particles (similar to prepositions), they likely evolved to be more sophisticated. Indeed, when learning a new foreign language without systematic grammar, everyone tends to spill out a few known words without any order or rules.
However, even in such cases, the words with important meanings are spoken first. Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that the high-priority interests of “who” and “what” appear right after the verb as objects or complements.
Subsequent additional words might have evolved into adverbs with the help of prepositions serving the role of particles to distinguish them from the preceding objects and complements.
While objects and complements do not change themselves, their use varies with the verb. Ultimately, the verb determines much of the sentence. Thus, mastering verbs essentially means mastering half of English. Recalling the types of verbs, verbs that require an object are transitive, and those that do not are intransitive. If a verb requires a complement, it is incomplete; if it can stand alone, it is complete. These can be classified into complete intransitive, incomplete intransitive, complete transitive, and incomplete transitive verbs.
These verbs are also given nicknames or special names based on their specific attributes. For example, complete transitive verbs that take two objects are called ditransitive verbs in English and give-type verbs in Korean for their nuance of giving. Incomplete transitive verbs are called complex transitive verbs in English, and among these verbs, those with specific similarities are grouped together and called causative verbs or perception verbs. Below is an attempt to categorize these verbs by type.
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