Lesson 5 | Test Your Arc/Bracket
#1 | Reconstruct the Scene
The first verification marker is met by completing a wooden paraphrase.
As a detective seeks to reconstruct the events of the crime, you are seeking to reconstruct the message of the text in your own words. With your initial bracket already built, you are now aligning things left-to-right. That is, you are transposing the logic from your bracketing relationship choices over to the paraphrase in your MINE column to verify your bracket’s integrity.
Purposely Write Poorly!
The word “wooden” is often utilized in literature concerning translations. A wooden translation is one that properly accounts for all the grammar of the original language, without considering whether it flows well or sounds nice in the translated language.
In the same way, the first draft of your paraphrase should be written in wooden fashion as regards the logic. That is, write your paraphrase strictly in line with the relationships chosen in your current bracket. If your bracket truly communicates the appropriate logic, then your paraphrase will make sense. But if it does not, the fact that your paraphrase doesn't follow will indicate that the bracket should be changed.
Paraphrasing Principle:
Think like this when you write your first draft, “If the logic between these two propositions is really a [enter-relationship-here] then my paraphrase should make sense when I write it like [enter-paraphrase-structure-here].
Example:
If the logic between these two propositions is really a progression then my paraphrase should make sense when I paraphrase it as a list in sequential order.
Investigative Example: Isaiah 40:1–5
As I was writing out my first-draft paraphrase of this passage, it quickly became obvious to me that some relationships needed to change in verses 1 and 2.
I first noticed that “furthermore” does not at all seem to be the true connection between vv. 1 and 2, as if comforting Jerusalem and speaking tenderly to her were different things. I considered changing it to Idea-Explanation, but then noticed how both 2a and 2b answer the “How?” question. How is the “voice” supposed to comfort Jerusalem? By speaking tenderly and by crying to her. So, I changed my bracket and paraphrase in several ways to reflect this new, refined understanding.