sentences

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of sentence.

   Her essay opened with two short sentences that set the tone for the whole piece.

   The judge handed down lighter sentences to the first-time offenders.

   Note

   One spelling serves very different plurals: the grammarian's units of subject and predicate, and the court's penalties. Surrounding words do the sorting, as in two short sentences in an essay or long sentences for repeat offenders. Logicians use it too, for formulas with no free variables. The same spelling is also the verb meaning "condemns", so "the judge sentences" and "the sentences" are told apart only by their neighbors.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of sentence.

   The judge sentences repeat offenders to longer terms under the new guidelines.

   If the tribunal sentences the defendant today, the appeal window opens immediately.

   Note

   The verb takes the convicted person as its object and puts the penalty after to: the court sentences him to five years. Only a singular subject takes this -s form, so the judge sentences but the judges sentence. Poets once stretched the verb to decreeing anything as a sentence. An older use, now obsolete, meant to speak sententiously. Keep it distinct from the plural noun, which shares the spelling.

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