What is grammar, what is syntax, and where does an ablative of respect fit?
Though they might not reveal the answer to the mysteries of the universe, these and similar questions have vexed frustrated students and their lecturers from time to time. Essentially (and thankfully) the problem for students and their lecturers is of a practical nature: how can one show that one understands the text?
Twentieth century science, with its strong leaning towards the elementalist, provides an easy answer: if one can reduce the complicated into parts, show how each part works in relation to the others, and show how these parts can be reassembled to recreate the original, then one has demonstrated understanding.