A key phrase that everyone should be aware of since it can also be used to clarify scriptural passages is the phrase "yea, even." There is a very simple way to interpret this phrase. Whatever subject is placed immediately after this phrase explains the subject immediately before the phrase. Even when versification splits the thought into two verses and the second verse starts with the phrase. For a simple example, in Mosiah 9:154 [21:14], "And they did humble themselves even in the depths of humility; and they did cry mightily to God; yea, even all the day long did they cry unto their God, that he would deliver them out of their afflictions." The phrase "even all the day long did they cry unto their God" is an additional explanation for "they did cry mightily to God."

This phrase is used 185 times with complete consistency. It is possible to extend this grammatical rule to anyplace where the terms "yea" and "even" appear separately. The term "yea" is used 1390 times and "even" is used 700 times in the Book of Mormon and this grammatical rule applies in all cases. An example is in II Nephi 3:36 [4:21], "He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh." This is a powerful statement about the strength of God's love.

What this means to interpreting the geography is that there is a grammatical rule that can add a further description about a relationship that would otherwise be confusing to interpret without this grammatical rule. As an example in Alma 22:9 [50:9], "And it came to pass that when Moroni had driven all the Lamanites out of the east wilderness, which was north of the lands of their own possessions, he caused that the inhabitants who were in the land of Zarahemla, and in the land round about, should go forth into the east wilderness, even to the borders, by the sea-shore, and possess the land," indicates that the people did not only go through the east wilderness to get to the seashore, but that the east wilderness itself extended to the borders of the sea.