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I want to talk about English grammar in technical terms. Example, I might want
to discuss 文型:

> Every English sentence must have a main verb.

I would say:

> 英文{えいぶん}では、文章{ぶんしょう}にいつも本動詞{ほんどうし}がついている。

To me, saying 文章 in that context sounds good, but the meaning is a little
weird. I think of 文章 as really meaning "document(s)".

How should one say "a sentence" in the context of a technical discussion about
English sentence structures.

**Note**. My dictionary defines 一文 as "a sentence", yet I've never heard a
native say いちぶん. Though, my listening skills are not the best...
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2016-01-26T03:46:47.203
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2016-01-27T23:58:39.603
2016-01-27T23:58:39.603
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word-choice english-to-japanese
When talking about English 文型, how to say "a sentence"? 文章?
As you have correctly guessed, 文章 refers to a group of sentences/paragraphs.

To refer to a single sentence, simply use
[文](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%96%87), which is perfectly fine as a
technical term, too.

一文 means "one sentence". It's used when one needs to emphasize "one".
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2016-01-26T03:55:58.733
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2016-01-26T03:55:58.733
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answer
In such cases, _katakana_ センテンス is better, like 「英語のセンテンスには必ず本動詞がある。」, because
文 is ambiguous and can mean "a sentence" or "writings（文章）". Any good Japanese
dictionary must have センテンス as an entry.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-26T11:05:17.673
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answer