Lesson 5: Complex Sentences
Substantivals
Substantivals
sub·stan·ti·val a word or group of words that functions as a noun
Substantivals are stand-ins. A pronoun replaces (or stands in for) a noun, and a substantival is a word or group of words doing the same thing. One of the most common types of substantival is dialogue within text.
Substantival Quotes
Think about the sentence, “Paul said many things.” In this sentence “said” is a transitive verb, and the direct object—that is, what was said—is “things.” But what if we want to express exactly what those “things” are?
Paul said, “I really love coffee and basketball.”
Now the direct object “things” has been replaced with a whole sentence. The whole sentence is the “things.” The sentence is a group of words, including a verb, that is functioning as a noun—in this case, as the direct object of the sentence. So the quote is a substantival. There is no parsing label for substantivals, because the substantival is made up of other smaller units which receive their own labels.
Even though our parsing does not have a special label for a substantival, our diagrams will show it visually with a special shelf.
This is the substantival shelf. It is placed with the split end sitting where the noun that the substantival is replacing would have been.
Looking at the diagram you can see the beginning of our base sentence, “Paul said…” sitting on a subject-verb shelf. Then we add the object shelf. But since our direct object is not simply a word, but rather a whole substantival clause, we place the substantival shelf’s foot in the DO’s spot. Everything on and/or attached to the substantival shelf is part of that direct object. In this case, as we’ve seen, the substantival is a whole sentence, and so it includes another subject-verb shelf, direct object shelf, and split shelf to accommodate the dual direct objects and coordinating conjunction.
Take a look at our Super Sentence diagram. Can you find the substantival? It is Carl’s quote, “Hey Carl, be happy with simple food that can help to focus the mind, lest the dog or the rabbit outwit you.” Everything attached to that substantival shelf—the prepositional phrase, the subordinate clause, and the relative clause (which we will cover in Lesson 6)—all of these are part of that substantival direct object!
The Substantival “That-Clause”
Another common convention you will see is the word “that” being used as a conjunction to introduce a substantival. This is called the “that-clause.”
“And when I saw that you would not save me, I took my life in my hand…” (Judges 12:3a)
Think about the simple sentence, “I saw Jenny.” The subject pronoun is “I,” the transitive verb is “saw,” and the direct object is “Jenny.” It is a straightforward sentence. But what if “Jenny” were to be replaced by a full sentence? This would be similar to the substantival quotes situation we looked at above. In Judges 12:3, the words “you would not save me” is a substantival standing in for the DO. What was seen? “You would not save me” was seen. What is the word “that” doing? It is only introducing the substantival.
In a “that-clause” the word “that” is only there to connect the substantival clause to the main sentence. It serves no other function. This makes it an exception when we label it because, though it is a conjunction, it is not coordinate or subordinate, but rather an indefinite, unique sort of conjunction. We will label it with a single C.
When we diagram a “that-clause,” we place the word “that” on the vertical leg of the substantival shelf.
Simple Substantivals
When the substantival is a simple adjective acting as a noun, we do not bother bringing in a shelf for it, but simply diagram it in the noun spot it is filling. In this well-known verse from the Beatitudes (Matt 5:3), “poor” is a substantival. Poor is an adjective, but here it is not modifying anything but rather standing in for an implied noun phrase (something like, “poor people”) and filling the role of subject noun.
Notice that you need to rearrange the above sentence in order to parse it correctly: “The poor in spirit are blessed.” The beatitudes are poetic in the way they are written, and the genre of poetry takes freedom when it comes to word order.
When adjectives are substantivals, they will be preceded by the word “the.” This type of substantival is extremely common in Scripture. You will see countless examples like “The righteous will rejoice…” (ps 58:10), “…how long shall the wicked exult?” (ps 94:3b), “…repay to the proud what they deserve!” (ps 94:2b), and people-group substantivals like “When the Philistine arose…” (1 Sam 17:48).