subordinating remaining phrases

Subordinating Remaining Phrases

Ephesians 2:1-3

The following slide has our passage of Ephesians 2:1-3

And you were dead

in the trespasses and sins

2 in which you once walked,

following the course of this world,

following the prince of the power of the air,

the spirit that is now at work

in the sons of disobedience

3 among whom we all once lived

in the passions of our flesh,

carrying out the desires of the body and the mind,

and were by nature children of wrath,

like the rest of mankind

Now we will begin the process of subordinating

● The first step is to identify all the types of phrases. Identifying all the phrases will help us find the main

subject and verb. Refer to your cheat sheet if need be

And you were dead (conjunction)

in the trespasses and sins (prepositional)

2 in which you once walked, (prepositional)

following the course of this world, (participial)

following the prince of the power of the air, (participial)

the spirit that is now at work (unmarked)

in the sons of disobedience (prepositional)

3 among whom we all once lived (prepositional)

in the passions of our flesh, (prepositional)

carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, (participial)

and were by nature children of wrath, (conjunction)

like the rest of mankind (unmarked)




● Notice that most of the phrases are participial and prepositional. This will work to our advantage, as

we have learned that the main verb cannot be a participle






● Now let’s work on finding the main verb. We can automatically eliminate all the participial and

prepositional phrases








● This leaves only the unmarked and conjunctional phrases, four phrases in total









● The very last phrase, ‘like the rest of mankind’ does not have a verb. Therefore, we can automatically

eliminate that, leaving only three other phrases to examine






the spirit that is now at work (appositional)















● The very last phrase, ‘like the rest of mankind’ does not have a verb. Therefore, we can automatically

eliminate that, leaving only three other phrases to examine

● The other three phrases do have verbs so we must look at them to see if they qualify to be the main

verb(s) of our passage

The first phrase, ‘And you were dead’ qualifies as it has a finite verb (dead with the helping verb)

● The first phrase, ‘And you were dead’ qualifies as it has a finite verb (dead with the helping verb)

● The second phrase, ‘the spirit that is now at work’ is actually a relative phrase within an unmarked

phrase. The verb would be ‘is at work.’ The subject can be tricky because the two phrases have been

left together. Had we split it into two pieces the subject would have actually been ‘that.’ This doesn’t

seem to fit the pattern for a main verb, so we can safely eliminate this phrase






● The third and final phrase, ‘and were by nature children of wrath’ does contain a finite verb and should

be considered







be considered

● There is one thing that we can do to determine if this phrase qualifies. This is where our observation

step will come into play. The phrase actually follows on the heels of a participial phrase, completing

the thought of it. The context also tells us that this phrase is actually in the middle of a thought.

Therefore, we can eliminate this phrase, as well







be considered

● There is one thing that we can do to determine if this phrase qualifies. This is where our observation

step will come into play. The phrase actually follows on the heels of a participial phrase, completing

the thought of it. The context also tells us that this phrase is actually in the middle of a thought.

Therefore, we can eliminate this phrase, as well

● This leaves our very first phrase, ‘And you were dead’ as our main phrase. Everything else will

somehow modify this phrase. Now we can begin the process of subordinating our other phrases

When subordinating phrases we will be indenting the phrase underneath the word it is modifying. In this

way we will be able to see the text flows and the points that author is trying to make. Let’s begin!



We must begin to ask the 5wh questions in order to determine how the other phrases are subordinate



We must begin to ask the 5wh questions in order to determine how the other phrases are subordinate

Let’s try the first phrase

And you were dead

in the trespasses and sins

2 in which you once walked,




in the sons of disobedience

3 among whom we all once lived





● We want to know which word(s) the phrase, ‘in the trespasses and sins’ is modifying


● Prepositional phrases often act as an adjective, describing which one or what kind. They can also

function adverbially, that is, they can modify a verb or tell us where something takes place




● We then ask, “which one or what kind are we in trespasses and sins?”





● This phrase doesn’t seem to be acting like an adjective, so we will try to ask “where or how are we in

trespasses and sins?”







● This question seems to fit well. It answers the ‘where’ question by telling us that unbelievers are

dead in the location of their trespasses and sins







● This question seems to fit well. It answers the ‘how’ question by telling us that unbelievers are dead

in their trespasses and sins

● We then simply indent the phrase underneath the word ‘dead’ to show that it is being modified by

this phrase

And you were dead

in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked,




in the sons of disobedience 3 among whom we all once lived





A quick note:

Be aware that several phrases can modify a single phrase. There is a way to test this and we will cover it

in another video. For now, just understand that sometimes all phrases are not necessarily subordinate to

their following phrases

If you remember our lesson on splitting the passage into propositions you may remember when we talked

about lists


about lists

We have a list present in this first subordinate phrase so we want to show that by spacing out the first

word in the list and indenting any other items in the list underneath the first word

And you were dead

in the trespasses

and sins 2 in which you once walked,










about lists



Of course, this is not an absolute necessity. But it is a good practice to break off all lists. Many times they

yield interesting things


about lists





Now we will continue with each phrase in this way until we have completed our entire text flow diagram


about lists






Advance through each slide to see how I have chosen to subordinate. If you have questions feel free to

use the ‘Q & A’ option under the slide controls. I will answer your questions as soon as I can


about lists






Advance through each slide to see how I have chosen to subordinate. If you have questions feel free to

use the ‘Q & A’ option under the slide controls. I will answer your questions as soon as I can

Eventually, you will run out of room in the margin. I will demonstrate how to deal with this as you advance

through the slides

And you were dead

in the trespasses










And you were dead

in the trespasses





in the sons of disobedience 3

among whom we all once lived





This is where we will run out of room in the margins. To rectify the situation we indent the following phrase

only partway across the page. We then draw an arrow to the word that is being modified and continue to

subordinate as usual




If you find that this does not work well try setting your margins to 0.5.” If this still does not work simply

subordinate the phrase underneath the modified phrase instead of the word

And you were dead

in the trespasses














If you find that this does not work well try setting your margins to 0.5.” If this still does not work simply

subordinate the phrase underneath the modified phrase instead of the word

Now that we have drawn our arrow to the modified word we can continue as usual

And you were dead

in the trespasses











And you were dead

in the trespasses








carrying out the desires of the body

and the mind,



How did you do? Don’t worry if you didn’t get exactly what I got


Sometimes words can seem to modify several words. For example, you may have noticed that I indented

‘carrying out the desires’ underneath of the word ‘passions’




Does it modify ‘passions’ or ‘flesh?’





I chose to indent under ‘passions’ because the genitive phrase, ‘of the flesh’ is really modifying ‘passions,’ as

well. But it would not necessarily be wrong to indent underneath ‘flesh’







Many times you will have to make subjective decisions like this. The best thing to do is to continue asking

questions about the text itself and then make a guess based on the context







Many times you will have to make subjective decisions like this. The best thing to do is to continue asking

questions about the text itself and then make a guess based on the context

Just remember to continue practicing. It will take time to absorb all that we’ve gone over so far, so don’t be

too discouraged

End video

subordinating remaining phrases

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