Last Updated 7/19/00
 
 
Nexus and Modification 
-- The Simplicity of English Sentence Structure
(Or, What the Grammar Books Failed to Teach)
Note: The following discussion uses a number of grammatical terms ("clause," "verbal," etc.) which you are not expected to know. You will learn what they are as you study the KISS Approach. The purpose of this essay is to explain the simplicity of English sentence structure (as opposed to the way it is explained in many grammar books.) To understand that simplicity, the concepts of nexus and modification are very important; the essay refers to other concepts to give you a preview of how understanding nexus and modification will make other constructions easier to understand.

     If we look at grammar, not as an end in itself, but as a tool for analyzing (and thus better understanding) texts, we find that almost all of English sentence structure can be reduced to two simple principles, nexus and modification.1

Nexus

     Nexus is the driving force of sentence structure. Having finished one sentence, readers expect to find a subject in the next sentence. Then they expect to find a finite verb. Depending on the meaning of the verb, they then expect to find a complement. This set of expectations gives English its basic sentence pattern:

Subject / Finite Verb / Optional Complement

Nexus is the relationship between the parts of this pattern. Note that the pattern is, in fact, established on readers' expectations. If one of the  preceding sentences had suddenly stopped

This set of expectations gives.

readers would be confused, wondering what is is that the set gives. Expectations, in other words, pull the reader through the text.

Modification

     The nexal pattern (S/V/C) forms a series of slots which are usually filled by a noun, finite verb, and then another noun:2

Boy / hit / ball.

The preceding sounds awkward because we normally use modifiers to clarify the meanings of the words in the main slots. Words that modify nouns are called adjectives and words that modify verbs are called adverbs. Note that they are called "modifiers" because they literally modify the meaning of the word they describe. Whereas "boy" can mean any boy, "the boy" refers to a specific boy.
     Modifiers can themselves have modifiers, as in "the very young boy," where "very" modifies "young" which in turn modifies "boy."  In general, words which modify modifiers are the same words which modify verbs. They are therefore also called "adverbs."

End of Basic Principles

     These two principles, nexus and modification, apply to 99.9% of the words in almost any text.3 This may seem like an overly simplistic explanation, but it isn't. The tremendous power of English sentence structure comes from embedding one nexal pattern into another. The following briefly explains how one nexal pattern can function as a noun or a modifier in another nexal pattern. Linguists refer to this placing of one nexal pattern in another as "embedding." 

Two Types of Nexal Patterns

    The preceding discussion of nexus implied that the verb is at the center (the core) of the nexal pattern. Differences in the way that verbs function result in two different types of nexal patterns. Consider the function of "won" ("win") in the following sentences:

1. Mara won the race.
2. He knew that Mara had won the race.
3. He saw Mara win the race.
4. He saw Mara winning the race.
In the first two examples, "won" is at the center of a nexal pattern, the words in which can stand as acceptable sentences: "Mara won the race." "Mara had won the race." In the last two, however, the words in the nexal patterns that revolve around "win" can not stand as acceptable sentences. Both "Mara win the race." and "Mara winning the race" are nexal (S/V/C) patterns, but neither, by itself, forms an acceptable English sentence.
     To distinguish these two types of patterns, we refer to the first (examples one and two) as having "finite verbs" and as being "clauses." Some sentences, as in example one, are formed from one clause. In other cases, as in example two, a clause can occupy a noun slot in another clause: "He knew something." "He knew [that Mara had won the race]." Clauses can occupy any "Noun" slot in another clause: "[That Mara won the race] is [what he did not expect]."
     When the verb in a nexal pattern cannot stand as a separate sentence (examples three and four above), we refer to the verb as a "verbal." As you will learn in the KISS approach, every verb, in context, has to be either a finite verb (the center of a clause) or a verbal. You will also learn that there are three (and only three) types of verbals. Here, however, we are interested in the fact that verbals themselves are nexal patterns and that they are embedded in other nexal patterns. In the examples above, the verbals are embedded in the complement slot: "He saw something." -- "He saw Mara win the race." "He saw Mara winning the race." Note that, like clauses, verbals can fill any "noun" slot in a sentence -- "Winning the race surprised Mara."
     Thus far we have seen that the core of English sentence structure is the S/V/C nexal pattern, that the words that occupy those slots can be clarified by modifiers, and that nexal patterns can be embedded in the "noun" slots of other nexal patterns. We have one more thing to look at.

Nexal Patterns as Modifiers

     Consider the following four sentences:

1. The house that burned down was old.
2. He burned the house because he wanted the insurance money.
3. Rushing to the fire, a fireman was hurt.
4. He burned the house to get the insurance money.
In the first two examples, each consists of two clauses, but in neither case does the embedded clause fill a slot in the main S/V/C pattern. In the first example, the embedded clause ["that burned down"] functions as an adjective modifying "house." In the second example, the embedded clause ["because he wanted the insurance money"] explains why he burned it, and thus functions as an adverb to "burned." Thus, in addition to filling "noun" slots, clauses can function as modifiers.
     Examples three and four show that verbals can do the same thing. In example three, "rushing," which is itself modified by the prepositional phrase "to the fire," functions as an adjective modifying "fireman." And, like all verbals, "rushing" has a subject.4 If we ask "Who was rushing to the fire?" the answer, according to this sentence, is "the fireman." In example four, the verbal ("to get") explains why he burned the house, and thus functions as an adverb to "burned." It has a complement ("the insurance money"), and also an implicit subject -- himself.5

That's all there is to it:

1. Nexal (S/V/C) patterns form the core of English sentence structure.
2. The words in those patterns are usually modified by adjectives and/or adverbs.
3. Nexal patterns (clauses or verbals) can be embedded in other nexal patterns, either in noun slots, or as modifiers.
As the research and instructional sections of this website demonstrate, these principles account for 99.9% of the grammatical connections in any English sentence. It will take a little time and thought to learn to identify constructions, but it is not nearly as difficult as most grammar books make it appear to be.

Nexus, Modification, and the KISS Approach.

     For reasons discussed elsewhere, the KISS approach begins (Level One) with prepositional phrases, 99.5% of which function as modifiers (adjectives or adverbs). Level Two focuses on the identification of finite verbs and their nexal patterns. Because nexal patterns based on finite verbs are clauses, Level Three focusses on identifying and distinguishing the types of clauses. Level Four then adds the nexal patterns of verbals. Level FIve mops up with six additional constructions, some of which are also based on nexal patterns. Nexus and modification -- they are the essence of English sentence structure.

Notes

1. The idea behind this comes from Jespersen's, The Philosophy of Grammar. Jespersen calls them "nexus" and "junction," and, like most grammarians, he gets into some very complex discussions of them. Those complexities, however, tend to obscure the important basic principle.

2. For the sake of simplicity (and focus), I am ignoring here the predicate adjective as complement, as in "Bill is tall."

3. The only exceptions are Interjections and Direct Address. "Interjection" comes from the Latin for "thrown in," and interjections (usually words such as "uh," "well," "gee," "oh") can, for practical purposes, be ignored in considering how sentences work.  "Direct Address" can also be ignored as it simply refers to naming the person spoken to, as in "Bill, come here."

4. Subjects of verbals are often implied rather than stated, but they are always there to be understood. No one, for example, would expect the verbal "swimming" in "Swimming is good exercise." to apply to earthworms. 

5. If he did not burn it to get the money for himself, the sentence would have to be rephrased: "He burned the house so his wife would get the insurance money."
 
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