Sentence-Diagramming has a purpose!

For all those sentence-diagram haters and those that deem sentence diagramming pointless
and boring… you have every right to your opinion but please consider, just for a moment, the
thought that diagramming sentences is significant and can be effective in learning English and
creating strong sentences; however, the most popular sentence diagram (shown below), which
was “developed by Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg over a hundred years ago,” (Capital
Community College Foundation) could use an update or simplification.

Ex. The two of them were lost in the cave.


http://www.lifestreamcenter.net/DrB/Lessons/TS/diagram.htm

What is the significance of sentence- diagramming, one may ask?
Dr. Carolyn O. Burleson creator of the Learning Stream website explains the purpose of sentencediagramming:
Since part of the writing process involves editing our work, we need to know how to
recognize complete thoughts and how to vary our sentence structure. This makes our
writing more coherent as well as more interesting to read. Understanding the functions of
parts of speech in a sentence and their relationship to one another can be very helpful in
learning to construct good sentences.
http://www.lifestreamcenter.net/DrB/Lessons/TS/diagram.htm

Or how can sentence-diagramming possibly be effective?
As mentioned by the CCCF’s grammar website, sentence-diagramming serves as a tool to help visual learners spread out the parts of the sentence to get a better understanding of what is going on with the independent idea (or sentence). http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/diagrams/diagrams.htm

*Here is a simplified sentence–diagram that I am proposing:

^Shapes can go in any order- whichever order is easiest for the individual student.

Main Parts of a Sentence:
Simple Subject - (the word(s)/noun(s)/pronoun(s) that the idea or sentence is about) - goes in the square
> Conjunctions (coordinating)
Simple Predicate - (the word(s) that tells/makes up the main action in the sentence)- goes in the diamond
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Modifiers in subject (or adjectives)- go in the rectangle
Modifiers in predicate (or adverbs; adjectives)- go in the triangle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Direct Objects (noun(s)/ pronoun(s) that receives the action of the subject and is found in the predicate of the sentence)- go in the large circle
Indirect objects (noun(s)/ pronoun(s) that receives the direct object) - go in the small circle connected to the large circle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phrases (prepositional; infinitive; gerund; participial) – go at the top of oval
> can be in both subject and predicate > both in same oval
Dependent Clauses (noun, adjectival, adverbial) and subordinating conjunctions – go at the bottom of oval
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http://www.lifestreamcenter.net/DrB/Lessons/TS/diagram.htm

Dr. Burleson goes over in detail the steps that one can take to help understand the individual
parts of a sentence (regardless of the type of sentence-diagramming with which an individual
chooses to work):

A sentence (to be a sentence) at the very least must have a Subject (noun or pronoun) and a Predicate (verb). The remaining words in a sentence serve to describe, clarify or give us more information about the subject or the verb. A diagram arranges the parts of a sentence like a picture in order to show the relationship of words and groups of words within the sentence.

Step #1
Look for the VERB in the sentence. A verb is a word that shows action (dance, sing, walk, run, etc.) or state of being (am, is, are, was, were, etc.) Ask the question, "What action is taking place, or what happened in the sentence?" The answer you get will let you know which word (or group of words) serves as the verb in the sentence.

Step #2
Find the SUBJECT of the verb (the person or thing that performs the action). Ask the question, "Who? or What?" before the verb. The answer you get will let you know which word (or group of words) serves as the subject of the verb.

Step #3
Find the DIRECT OBJECT. (If there is one in the sentence, it is the person or thing that receives the action of the verb.) Ask the question, "Whom? or What?" after the verb. The answer you get will let you know which word serves as the direct object of the verb.

Step #4
Look for ARTICLES (a, an, the) or POSSESSIVES (my, your, his, hers, its, their, Joe’s, Maria’s, etc.) Ask the question, "Whose?"

Step #5
Look for ADJECTIVES (words that describe or limit a noun or pronoun). Ask the questions, "Which one? How many? What kind? What size? What color? "

Step #6
Look for ADVERBS (words that modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs). Ask the questions, "How? When? Where? How much? Why?"

Step #7
Look for PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES. (These are groups of words that begin with
a preposition and end with a noun or pronoun which is the object of the preposition. Together they serve the same function as an adjective or an adverb.)

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Sentence-diagramming is not for everyone, especially for some learners who do not learn
visually, but avoiding this learning method altogether is not necessarily the best idea either.
Sentence-diagramming is what one makes it. A simplified version such as the one I suggested can be a useful way to build a solid foundation of sentence structure understanding and to establish adequate writing practices.