When studying the autobiographical essays of a group of 600 nuns, a scientist discovered a secret to predicting which nuns would get Alzheimer’s disease and which wouldn’t. What was the secret, hidden in the sentences of the essays?
Subject: Syntax/Alzheimer’s Disease - Nun Study
Event: Time magazine reports on the Nun Alzheimer's Study, 2001
The maker of a sentence launches out into the infinite and builds a road into Chaos and old Night, and is followed by those who hear him with something of wild, creative delight. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ronald Reagan died at his home in Bel-Air, California on June 5, 2004. Certainly much has been written about Reagan’s political career as governor of California and as the 40th president of the United States, but after his career in politics was over, Reagan accomplished something unique. On November 5, 1994, he announced to the world that he had Alzheimer’s disease, the brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills.
In a short handwritten letter, Reagan explained his desire for privacy, but also his desire to raise public awareness for the millions afflicted with Alzheimer’s. With his characteristic candor and optimism, Reagan closed the letter by saying: “I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead” (1).
The disease is named after a pioneer in brain research, Alois Alzheimer, a German doctor who described the abnormal brain tissues of one of his patients in 1906.
On this day in 2001, Time magazine contained a cover story tracing the search for the causes and a potential cure for Alzheimer’s. One study of particular interest involved a group of more than 600 nuns. Scientist David Snowdown of the University of Kentucky began studying the nuns’ personal and medical histories, looking for clues that might solve the mystery behind why some people get Alzheimer’s and others don’t.
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
Snowdown became interested in autobiographical essays that the nuns had written when they entered the order in their early 20s. He analyzed each essay for its idea density and grammatical complexity, and the results provided some interesting insights. Snowdown discovered that the nuns whose essays contained grammatically complex sentences were the same nuns who six or more decades later were free of any signs of Alzheimer’s. Conversely, those nuns who used mainly simple sentences were the same nuns who contracted Alzheimer’s. By examining the nuns’ early writing, Snowden was able to predict with 85% to 90% accuracy which nuns would have the disease 60 years later (2).
There is no evidence yet that teaching students to incorporate complex sentences into their writing will prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s in later years. However, one thing is certain, a healthy menu of intellectual pursuits, including writing, in your younger years doesn’t hurt. Another certainty is that good writers use a variety of sentences. A key to writing varied sentences is a clear understanding of the difference between simple sentences and complex sentences.
Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason: What was the key difference in the nuns’ autobiographies that indicated whether or not they contracted Alzheimer’s disease later in life? What are the key components of a Compound-Complex Sentence?
Knowing the major types of sentence types allows writers to revise and edit their sentences, making them more varied and clear. Below, the following four types of sentences are explained: simple, complex, compound, compound-complex. Notice that the definition given for each sentence is a Meta-Sentence, that is, the definition is written in the form of the sentence being defined. Each definition is followed by an additional example:
A simple sentence is a sentence with one independent clause — a group of words with a subject (noun), a predicate (verb), and a complete thought.
Example: Bill completed his homework.
A compound sentence is a sentence with at least two independent clauses; often the two clauses are connected by a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS), a semicolon, or a conjunctive adverb — such as “however,” “therefore,” or “then.”
Example: Bill completed his homework, and Jane wrote a report on penguins.
A complex sentence is a sentence that contains one independent clause and at least one dependent (adjective) clause.
Example: Bill, who owns a dog named Huck, sat studying for his math test.
OR
If a sentence has a single independent clause and at least one dependent (adverb) clause, it is a complex sentence.
Example: Bill was angry because his dog chewed up his homework.
A compound-complex sentence is a sentence that contains two independent clauses, and it also includes at least one dependent clause.
Example: There were a lot of good things to watch on television, but Bill, who always gets his work done on time, sat doing his homework instead.
Challenge - Four Ways to Make Sentences Flow: Select a topic you know well and write four sentences on that topic, writing one sentence of each of the four types: simple, complex, compound, and compound-complex.
Sources:
2-Lemonick, Michael D. and Aice Park Mankato. “The Nun Study.” Time Magazine 14 May 2001.
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