Lesson 8 | Levels of logic
Bracketing stages
The principle of the "low-hanging fruit"
Determining a difficult connection when the rest of the passage remains uncombined can be overwhelming. So don't do it! There are no rules that you must begin by connecting brackets at the beginning of the passage. A better approach is to simply look first for the low-hanging fruit. That is, start with the places where the connections seem most clear. As you do so, you will discover that this often brings clarity to the more difficult spots.
Make connections within sentences before moving to the bigger pieces
Quite often this will involve starting on the sentence level. While it is certainly not a rule, much of the time sentences are first connected within themselves and under a single bracket before connecting to the remainder of the passage.
For most people, most of the time, the above approach of starting with single sentences will prove most helpful. But not always. Depending on the passage and how God has wired you to think, there are times you will want to try one of the following strategies.
Start with the major units
If you see a major division in the text right away, then draw the larger brackets and complete that relationship—there is no need to wait. A common example where you would do so is in a narrative when you read “[so-and-so] said” followed by a quotation by that person. These two pieces connect to one another in an Idea-Explanation relationship, as the quotation fills out the content of what was said. Given that this is not difficult to see, you would do well to connect these pieces from the start. After you have done so, you can then relate the pieces within the quotation.
Draw brackets and then indicate relationships
Other times, you may find it fairly easy to see which propositions and pieces join together, while the precise way they relate proves more difficult. In such a case, start by drawing your brackets without relationships. You can then circle around to determine exactly how the pieces relate, now that the structure of the passage has already been fleshed out.
