Diagramming sentences is a way to
visualize how the different parts of a sentence fit together.
The subject of a clause goes in one slot, the verb in another,
and so on.
Words that modify another word are attached to the word they
modify. The method we use to attach them indicates what the
relationship is between them.
The system was perfected in the nineteenth century
by Kellog and Reed. It is the same system (with minor modifications)
used in Kolln and Funk's Understanding English Grammar, 7th
edition, which we are using in our English 328 class.
Websurfers
can go through the process sequentially, one step at a
time, by clicking on the "next page" links at the top and
bottom of each page. If you want to jump to a particular
section, you can click on the appropriate link of this
table of contents:
1. Diagramming
Sentences and Phrases: The Two Main Lines
2. Where the Lines Stop on the Baseline
3. Imperative Commands and Vocatives
4. The Noun or Noun Headword
5. Verbs
6. Subject Complements (alias Predicate Nominatives)
7. Direct Objects
8. Object Complements
9. Indirect Objects
10. A Note About Indirect Objects
11.
Adverbs
12. Prepositions
13. Conjunctions Linking Compound Verbal Phrases
14. Conjunctions Linking Compound Adverbs and Compound
Adjectives
15. Conjunctions Linking
Two Independent Clauses (i.e.,
Compound Sentences)
16. Subordinate Conjunctions
With Dependent Clauses (i.e.,
Complex Sentences)
17. Adverbial Objectives
18. Infinitive Phrases
19. Relative Clauses
20. Relative Clauses With a Bend
