Different English sentence patterns in the Anatomy textbooks – a cross sectional study on simple sentences from selected chapters of Anatomy books

Abstract

Background: Sentence patterns are formulas to illustrate the design of basic English sentences. It is possible to present different English sentence patterns within Anatomy textbooks in a simplified manner. It will enhance the understanding level of English in the context of Anatomy.

Objective: To identify different English sentence patterns in simple sentences from the Anatomy textbooks for medical undergraduates of Bangladesh.

Materials and methods: The research was descriptive type of cross-sectional which was carried out in the Department of Anatomy, Bangladesh Medical University, Dhaka from March 2022 to February 2023. At first simple sentences were identified among the selected sentences of the recommended Anatomy textbooks for Bangladeshi medical undergradu- ates. Then different sentence patterns were identified among the simple sentences.

Results: The most frequently occurring sentence pattern was SVC (subject + verb + complement) pattern (21.68%) and SVO (subject+ verb+ object) pattern among eight sentence patterns. Eight sentence patterns three more sentence patterns were also found in the selected chapters from the Anatomy textbook.

Conclusion: There are various sentence patterns in the Anatomy textbooks. It will be easier for medical undergraduates to understand Anatomy easily if different sentence patterns could be identified in the textbooks. This approach may facili- tate the medical undergraduates' comprehension of sentence meanings with reduced effort, potentially reshaping their perception of Anatomy as a challenging subject.

CME J 2025; 4(1); 25-32