The above is a very underwhelming sentence and can easily be ignored or discarded as it does not really contain any vital information. However, this particular configuration of letters and punctuation is acting a space filler and an example for this lesson in fully understanding an idea through word meanings and sentence structure.
"Yesterday" is an introductory phrase in that it provides important information that applies to the sentence's meaning, setting, and back story. This particular word is letting the reader know the time that the actions relayed by the statement took place. So before we learn the action or subject of the sentence, we know the time...yesterday."Stephen" is the subject of the sentence. This means that the whole sentence was created to explain what the subject, Stephen, did. Subjects are like the bread in a sandwich, while the fillings (actions) and toppings (describers) may change the bread will always be there as the staple. We are thus learning what action Stephen took that was important enough to be expressed through written communication.
"Ate" is a verb. Verbs are the action that is being preformed by or to the subject of the sentence. Verbs give motion to the sentence. Without this type of word, the subject simply exists without movement or activity..."Yesterday, Stephen." Yesterday Stephen existed. While it is important to know what the sentence is about it is equally important to know what is taking place. The verb choice sets the tone for the idea as words like "decimated" or "ran" bring very different images to mind.
"The muffins and the broccoli" is a phrase known as the direct object. A direct object answers the "What?" question. Stephen ate what? The muffins and the broccoli are the answer. The sentence can be called complete without a direct object but it would lack possibly vital details. Yesterday, Stephen ate...a rhino...a hamburger...Manhattan. I think you get the picture. Like the verb, the direct object and alter the magnitude of the atmosphere of the sentence. Eating a rhino is much more epic than eating a hamburger...unless it is a hamburger the size of Manhattan (but that is a different topic).
The fact that I ate muffins and broccoli is not really that big of a deal and possibly not even worth the bits of data that it takes to transport it to you to read. But the point of this email was not to share my dietary habits with you but to explain and hopefully deepen your appreciation of the power of words and the way in which they are organized. While the words are simple, the depth is not.
The fact that I ate muffins and broccoli could tell you that I care about getting my vitamins but still enjoy fun food. It could also imply that the fact that I told you that I ate the food yesterday was so important that I had to put it first...I could have told you the timeline at the end or not at all. The fact that I am telling what I ate must mean that those muffins and broccoli were a pretty big deal in my life.
The fact that I have spent almost a page over-explaining this whole event to you should make you think that the first sentence of this whole rant most be HUGE in order to be worthy of an entire blog entry...
How about another example.
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
