Diagramming sentences is fun.
- Thread starter Bartholomew
- Start date
Searching through one of his texts, I find:
Eek. Long, snaking prepositional phrases. Not really sure what to do when two complete sentences are hooked together like that. I'm only a beginner.
Eek. Long, snaking prepositional phrases. Not really sure what to do when two complete sentences are hooked together like that. I'm only a beginner.
Go on. It's good for you. Bring in a couple to class. Your teacher will be ecstatic.
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Did I mention that once I'd finished with my quals I put all the books and articles I had by or about the works of Samuel Richardson, D. H. Lawrence, and Henry James in storage?
I hope I never, ever, see them again.
I hope I never, ever, see them again.
That's doubly mean.
First he's have to read a sentence by Henry James, and then he'd have to diagram it.
One of these days, just to prove I can do it, I'm going to finish a book by Henry James. Then I'm going to hit myself over the head for a couple of days to forget I did.
Then you'd have to finish a book by Henry James, just to prove you can do it.
Also, lol.
I thought you objected to semicolons.
I do, but not to good writing. Remove the semicolon, and this is very good writing.
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I worked on a mainframe program designed to diagram sentences, back in the days of punch cards.
We got a prototype working OK and then I keyed cards for some Henry James.
We killed the print spool queue because the diagram wouldn't fit on the plotter printer.
It was very much not good, and I had comps sci students mocking me for months.
We got a prototype working OK and then I keyed cards for some Henry James.
We killed the print spool queue because the diagram wouldn't fit on the plotter printer.
It was very much not good, and I had comps sci students mocking me for months.
One might not believe semantics is important in dissecting syntax. An old joke (ISTR it's been attributed to Groucho Marx) clears that up:
Time flies like an arrow.
Fruit flies like a banana.
Time flies like an arrow.
Fruit flies like a banana.
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
Is a legitimate sentence in English. It goes back to a linguist joke on the Linguist Listserve in c. 1992, by Dr. William J. Rapaport.
Is a legitimate sentence in English. It goes back to a linguist joke on the Linguist Listserve in c. 1992, by Dr. William J. Rapaport.
One of my required classes - finished it in late '09 - was a senior-level, English-grammar course. I haven't looked at a sentence diagram since and hope that I won't have to look at those awful things here.
I flunked that test in high school. I never understood the reason for learning diagramming to begin with. Still don't.
I don't, honestly, see any reason for most people to have to learn diagramming.
That said, I have sometimes put up a diagrammed sentence, or diagrammed one, because some students learn visually in startlingly effective ways when just parsing the sentence won't help them nearly as much.
That said, I have sometimes put up a diagrammed sentence, or diagrammed one, because some students learn visually in startlingly effective ways when just parsing the sentence won't help them nearly as much.
I've said the same many times. Exceptions are those who teach grammar for another tool in their box. The occasional visual you mentioned is one of its uses.
The most fun diagramming I recall was in a methods and materials demonstration way back in teacher core classes. It employed cutouts of clothing to dress a stick figure:
Verbs, the necessary element in any sentence were a basic dress or pair of trousers. The second most necessary were nouns as shirts or blouses. The other parts of speech were items of clothing and accessories to dress out the sentence.
The class had everyone participating.
Diagramming is awfully useful in things like epigraphy--I took a seminar on Continental Celtic epigraphs where we would as a class try to figure out what the letter groups we were reading were, in terms of parts of speech--which would in turn give us clues about the language and ultimately, sometimes, the meaning.
It's quite fun to do group sentence diagramming in that context, as well as useful.
Once upon a time, I taught an eighth grade English class, and one of the things we did was diagram sentences.
The students loved it.
They were fascinated by the idea that all the pieces of the sentence were logically connected. They loved sentences that spread out over all three of the blackboards.
This was, of course, a long time ago. We still had blackboards.
The students loved it.
They were fascinated by the idea that all the pieces of the sentence were logically connected. They loved sentences that spread out over all three of the blackboards.
This was, of course, a long time ago. We still had blackboards.
Once upon a time, I took an eighth grade English class, and one of the things we did was diagram sentences.
The students detested it, but pretended to love it because we all liked the teacher.
Oh, and this was back in blackboard days, too.
Never in my lifetime since that class have I diagrammed a sentence. I now teach freshman-level English composition at my local university. The universal reaction I have from students when I ask if they've had to diagram sentences is X-rated. The instant some administrator insists that I diagram sentences is the instant my resignation letter hits that person's desk.
Diagramming sentences has as much utility for learning how to write as studying phrenology has for learning how people's brains work.
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