Do you know?

Since the function of this column is not to preach a sermon to either Christians or non-Christians, I shall concentrate as usual on some aspects of the use of language.

First let me deal with punctuation in an effort to show you its importance. In speaking, the inflection of the voice — its pauses, its stresses — its rise and fall — will generally indicate to the listener the speaker’s meaning.

The reader, however, needs to see punctuation marks if he is to take in at first glance the meaning intended by the writer.

The first two lines of the following hymn admirably illustrate the point:

“Jesus lives! No longer now

Can thy terrors, death, appal us.”

If you listen to many Anglican congregations sing that hymn, you will get a wrong impression of the doctrine of the Church on the subject of Easter. This is how it sounds to the unfamiliar ear:

“Jesus lives no longer now!”

That is contrary to the Church’s teaching.

Read the line yourself, note the punctuation, and you will realise the difference.

“Jesus lives!” The use of the exclamation mark demands that you pause there, and gives a completely different meaning from what you heard before.

I remember the distant past when I was a choir girl at St John’s Church, Barbados, where my brother, Collis, was the organist.

On Easter morning, the sound of the pipe organ filled the church majestically, and we burst into triumphant song: “Jesus lives!” There was a pause to give full force to the significance of that statement. Then we continued:

“No longer now can thy terrors, death, appal us.”

Who could fail to be filled with hope for the future? (No sermonising, Giuseppi! Back to the use of language!)

Let me close today’s column by reverting to the Principal Parts of Verbs, a topic to which much attention needs to be paid.

I shall make reference to two sets of verbs on this occasion - (1) “lie” and “lay”; (2) “rise” and “raise.”

The principal parts of “lie” (to be in a horizontal position), are “lie, lay, lain.”

The principal parts of “lay” (put down), are “lay, laid, laid.”

The principal parts of the verb “rise” are “rise, rose, risen.”

The principal parts of the verb “raise” are “raise, raised, raised.”

Here are two sentences illustrating the use of the third principal part (or past participle) of each of the verbs “rise” and “raise,” beginning with the latter:

(a) Jesus Christ was raised from the dead.

(b) Jesus Christ is risen indeed! Allelui?.