After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. – Luke 2:46
Build sentences in the order of 5W1H
There are very few records of Jesus’ childhood. The scene mentioned above is recounted by the 43rd book of the Bible, the Gospel of Luke, and tells of an event when Jesus was 12 years old. After attending a festival in Jerusalem with His parents, the young Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without His parents’ knowledge, and they returned home without Him.
“After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. – Luke 2:43”
“Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. – Luke 2:47”
This is the only record of Jesus’ childhood.
If the first sentence from the example were made into a separate sentence, it would typically be expressed as “They found him in the temple courts after three days.” Here, the timing of “after three days” is emphasized by placing the “when?” expression at the beginning of the sentence.
S+V+(who+what)+[where+why+how+when]
Remember, the basic structure of an English sentence is: Subject + Verb + (Direct Object/Indirect Object) + [Optional: where, why, how, when].
Now, let’s examine the ‘when?’ component of our sentence structure. To indicate time, the most straightforward approach is to use time-specific adverbs. If an appropriate time adverb isn’t available, you can create one using prepositions, similar to how you would for location adverbs.
Commonly used time adverbs include now, then, early, late, before, ago, yesterday, today, tomorrow, and expressions used idiomatically or in combination with other words like overnight, all night. Time adverbs like the ‘now’ in “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.” often modify the verb at the beginning of a sentence, but it’s more common for them to be placed at the end. This reflects the prioritization of interests by English speakers.
“He guided them with the cloud by day and with light from the fire all night. – Psalms 78:14”
“Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him. Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight. – Deuteronomy 19:13”
If an appropriate word cannot be found among adverbs, one must create it themselves, again using prepositions. The previously discussed at, on, in can be used in the same conceptual way for time as they are for space.
The “point” preposition at is used to indicate a specific time, as in at 10 o’clock, at 9:30, at night, at noon, at fifty, just as it indicates a specific location in space. The “space” preposition in is used when there’s some duration between times, as in in March, in the spring, in 2000, in the 21st century, in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening.
“Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back–whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. – Mark 13:35”
Meanwhile, the “surface” preposition on is used for slightly longer durations but specifically defined dates and times, like on Sunday.
“In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. – 1 John 4:17”
Therefore, even for a morning or an afternoon at a specifically defined time, it’s expressed as ‘on this morning,’ not ‘in this morning.’
“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” – John 20:19”
When expressing more than one point in time, like places, it’s typical to list the more specific time first, followed by the longer duration. This is because of the prioritization by English speakers. Other frequently used prepositions related to time include in, within, after, till, by, since, from, for, during, through.
“Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world – Luke 11:50”
“Do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert. – Hebrews 3:8”
Expressions like day after day, year after year also create terms for daily or annual, and phrases like the day after tomorrow.
“Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. – Psalms 19:2″
‘Before’ is a word that corresponds to ‘after’ and is used similarly, though it means the opposite, indicating ‘before’ in time. ‘Before’ and ‘after’ can function as conjunctions, prepositions, or even stand alone as adverbs.
“My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die. – Genesis 45:28″
In the above Bible verse, ‘before’ is used as a conjunction. We will take a closer look at conjunctions later.
“It was Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath. – Mark 15:42”
In this instance, the preposition ‘before’ is placed before the noun ‘Sabbath,’ forming the adjective ‘before the Sabbath.’ The term ‘Sabbath’ originates from the Hebrew word ‘Shabbat,’ meaning ‘to stop’ or ‘to cease,’ referring to the time from Friday evening to Saturday evening when Jews rest and observe holiness. Today, it is used to mean the Sabbath.
“The king’s hand was restored and became as it was before. – 1 Kings 13:6”
‘Before’ stands alone here, functioning as an adverb meaning ‘previously.’
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