A juxtaposed sentence presents propositions that share a syntactic value but are not united, but appear consecutively.
In order to clearly determine the meaning of the term juxtaposed sentence , which concerns us now, it is important that we proceed to establish its etymological origin. In this sense, we can say that both words that give it shape derive from Latin:
• Prayer comes from “oratio”, which means “speech”, and which in turn emanates from the Latin verb “orare”, which is synonymous with “to speak solemnly”.
• Juxtaposed, for its part, is the result of the sum of two Latin components: “iuxta”, which can be translated as “union”, and “positus”, which is the participle of the verb “ponere” (“to put”).
What is a juxtaposed sentence
Sentences are, in a grammatical sense, units of meaning made up of one or more words. There are no smaller syntactic constituents that are capable of transmitting logical propositions. Juxtaposed , on the other hand, is an adjective that names what is located immediately or next to a certain thing .
Juxtaposed sentences , therefore, are those whose propositions share a syntactic value but are not linked or united , but rather appear followed by one another. The comma , the semicolon and the colon are the most frequent symbols to separate (and, in turn, link) the propositions that form this type of sentences.
The propositions that form a juxtaposed sentence make complete sense.
Some examples
Let's look at an example. The expression “It's already late; Let's go home" is a juxtaposed sentence made up of two parts ( "It's late" and "Let's go home" ). Both propositions have complete meaning (that is, they could be understood even when they appear isolated). The semicolon allows juxtaposition and gives shape to the juxtaposed sentence.
“It's hot, I'm going to turn on the air conditioning” is another example of a juxtaposed sentence. “It's hot” and “I'm going to turn on the air conditioning” are the two successive propositions that, in this case, form the sentence juxtaposed through a comma.
With the use of the colon, we can find juxtaposed sentences like the following: “Tension in Gaza: the Israeli government announced that it will carry out new bombings.” As can be seen, the two points link the juxtaposed propositions “Tension in Gaza” and “The Israeli government announced that it will carry out new bombings.”
It must be clarified that, many times, the ideas of each proposition are united, but without having to use a link. It should also be noted that the aforementioned propositions can not only be independent of each other but can also form compound sentences. And all this without the juxtaposition being affected at all.
Some clear examples of this are the following: “Eva arrived late to class, the teacher was offended. In all likelihood she will be expelled” or “Manuel is going on vacation in fifteen days. When I return we will go on a getaway together to the beach.”
Juxtaposed, coordinated and subordinate sentences
We can say, therefore, that juxtaposed sentences are one of the three types of compound sentences that exist. The other two are:
• Coordinated, which use connecting links, giving shape to five types of sentences within them: disjunctive, adversative, copulative, explanatory and distributive.
• Subordinates, which are those that depend on another sentence that is considered main.