You can picture 'sentence' as one whole thought said all the way through — a string of words with a subject and a verb that stands complete on its own. In Latin the same word also meant 'an authoritative opinion, a decision', so the second picture a judge gives you is the completed, spoken-out verdict.
From the word’s history
From Latin sententia 'opinion, way of thinking, judgment, decision', an irregular formation from sentire 'to feel, perceive, be of an opinion'. A sentence was first an authoritative opinion put fully into words — which later split into a grammatical complete statement and a judge's pronounced decision.
來自拉丁文 sententia（意見、想法、判斷、決定），由 sentire（感覺、認為、持某種看法）而來。最早指「把一個權威的看法完整說出來」，後來一邊落到語言上成為「一句完整的話」，一邊落到法庭上成為法官「宣判的決定」。
etymonline.com/word/sentence; Oxford English Dictionary (sentence, n.)
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原始詞典資料13 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
sentencenoun/ˈsɛn.təns/
- 1
datedThe decision or judgement of a jury or court; a verdict.
- The court returned a sentence of guilt in the first charge, but innocence in the second.
- A branch that has played a significant part in the history of its territory is under sentence at the end of the summer timetables, so far as its passenger services are concerned.
- 2
The judicial order for a punishment to be imposed on a person convicted of a crime.
- The judge declared a sentence of death by hanging for the infamous child rapist.
- The murderer, he recalled, had been tried and sentenced to imprisonment for life, but was pardoned by a merciful governor after serving a year of his sentence.
- 3
A punishment imposed on a person convicted of a crime.
- 4
obsoleteA saying, especially from a great person; a maxim, an apophthegm.
- Men (saith an ancient Greek sentence) are tormented by the opinions they have of things, and not by things themselves.
- I am told that she writes well, and that all her letters are full of sentences.
- 5
grammarhuman-scienceslinguisticsA grammatically complete series of words consisting of a subject and predicate, even if one or the other is implied. In modern writing, when using, e.g., the Latin, Greek or Cyrillic alphabets, typically beginning with a capital letter and ending with a full stop or other punctuation.
- Near-synonym: clause
- The children were made to construct sentences consisting of nouns and verbs from the list on the chalkboard.
- 6
human-scienceslogicmathematicsA formula with no free variables.
- 7
computingcomputing-theoryengineeringAny of the set of strings that can be generated by a given formal grammar.
- 8
obsoleteSense; meaning; significance.
- Noght o word spak he moore than was neede, / And that was seyd in forme and reverence / And short and quyk and ful of hy sentence […]
- now to the discourse itself, voluble enough, and full of sentence, but that, for the most part, either specious rather than solid, or to his cause nothing pertinent.
另外 2 個記錄的用法
- 9
obsoleteOne's opinion; manner of thinking.
- My sentence is for open war.
- The book of ſentences, which rendered the name of Peter Lombard ſo illuſtrious, was a compilation of ſentences, and paſſages, drawn from the fathers, whoſe manifold contradictions, this eminent prelate endeavoured to reconcile.
- 10
archaicA pronounced opinion or judgment on a given question.
- [I]f it may bee lawfull to iudge or giue any ſentence thereof, it [the author of the book of Ruth] was either Samuell, or ſome other godly Prophet vnder the raigne of Saule, [...]
- By them [Martin Luther's works] we might pass sentence upon his doctrines.
sentenceverb/ˈsɛn.təns/
- 1
To declare a sentence on a convicted person; to condemn to punishment.
- The judge sentenced the embezzler to ten years in prison, along with a hefty fine.
- Nature herself is sentenced in your doom.
- 2
lawTo decree, announce, or pass as a sentence.
- “We are empowered to deliver thee to prison; yea, the law commands us to sentence death upon the abettors of this mischief.[…]"
- So as far as the older generation of German Lutherans were concerned, the abolition of the mother language sentenced death upon the church as they knew it.
- 3
obsoleteTo utter sententiously.
- Let me heare one wise man sentence it, rather then twenty Fooles, garrulous in their lengthened tattle.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。